Rob, following your advice, I just purchased new wiper blades for my 1993 Saab 900 in preparation for the coming winter months but the wipers are missing part of the windshield. I spent the extra cash and picked up a pair of frameless wipers, but they aren't fully cleaning the windshield at the outer edges.
I'm thinking of going back to my old set and trying to replace just the rubber part.
Any thoughts Rob?
Thanks, Calvin
I'm with you on this one Calvin. I have tried those armless or frameless wipers and not only did they leave spots un-wiped, at highway speeds, they tended to chatter and lift off the windshield - definitely not safe.
For those of you unfamiliar with this design, you often see them on new, high-end cars. This type of wiper blade looks like a single strip of rubber, with no metal frame holding the rubber insert.
Although I've been told that this design is supposed to be superior to conventional metal-framed blades, I have not experienced much success with them, especially during the winter months. The inherent design of these blades does not permit as much flexibility as the "old fashioned" metal-framed blades.
Calvin, in your case, this is made all the worse by the design of the windshield on your Saab. That generation of vehicles built from the late 1980s to the early 1990s had an extreme curve at the outer edges, or "A" pillar sections of the windshield. This makes it difficult for all but the most flexible of blades to fully clear the windshield. If I were a manufacturer, I'd have Saab windshields set up all over the place in my lab - it has to be the toughest test for a wiper blade.
Until wiper blade manufacturers can increase the flexibility of frameless wipers, my suggestion is to stick with a good quality winter design for this time of year. Often these will come with a Teflon coating or even a thin rubber cover to prevent snow and or ice from sticking. With a metal-frame design, if the wipers aren't wiping all the way to the edges, you have the option of bending the metal slightly to bring the end of the blade around the curvature of the Saab's windshield.
Finally, if your car is going to spend the night outside, at the end of the day, pull the wipers off the windshield. This will prevent the blades from freezing to the glass.