# Small Maintenance Tip



## Wing_Nut (Mar 6, 2005)

Here's a small bit of info that may make your life a little better. I wanted to get the winter wiper blades off the GTO but didn't want to just pop the 1 yr old factory blades back on. 

I also noticed that the factory drivers side wiper assembly has a wind fairing on it to create downforce and keep the blade in contact with the glass. I didn't want to give that up either.

I found that Bosch makes a blade they have branded ICON. It has a wind fairing built into to the entire length of the blade. Expensive ($23 bucks apiece), but I bought a pair. The first thing you notice when you take them out of the package is that they are limp!!! They seem to have no embedded metal for rigidity. Should hug the window really well. 

Sure enough, when the blades hit the window, they clamped to the glass like a wet chamois. Even at the outer edge of the passenger side where the glass curves sharply they were in contact with the glass.

I can only imagine that at speeds of 35-65 mph the air pressure would increase the contact. Anyway, I had a chance to test them in the rain once so far at speeds from 25-85 mph. Excellent!!! You get the full 22 inches of cleaning from the blade.


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## flyer469 (May 19, 2006)

Driving your car in the rain?:confused .. 
That is good to know,, will have to look for them


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## Clueless (Mar 2, 2006)

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to remember this when I eventually need new wipers.

(BTW, any one else think the factory ones kinda suck? My car only has 1350 miles on it, and the passenger wiper in particular only cleans part of the window.. it is like a "rainbow" pattern of clean streaks intermingled with streaks of crud.)


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## StarCaller (Jul 12, 2005)

did you buy a 422A & a 420B or did you buy 2 A's?


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## Wing_Nut (Mar 6, 2005)

StarCaller said:


> did you buy a 422A & a 420B or did you buy 2 A's?


I bought one 422A and one 422B. The sales person didn't seem to know much about them and their application guide didn't cover the GTO. I figured A&B was driver/passenger and a 22" blade is a 22" blade. The mounts were compatible.

Anyway there seemed to be no difference between the two. This was confirmed when I opened the package. The A&B are identical as far as I can tell.


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## Mean Goat (Aug 18, 2005)

[


Wing_Nut said:


> I figured A&B was driver/passenger and a 22" blade is a 22" blade.


Am I correct that the stock 20-inch passenger side blade was replaced with a 22-inch one?

I just did some measuring on mine. An extra inch on the inside end of the blade makes the blades almost touch in the parked position. Another inch on the outside end makes it touch the windshield seal, according to my measurements.

If you do have 22-inch on both sides, do they work ok?


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## Wing_Nut (Mar 6, 2005)

Mean Goat said:


> [
> 
> Am I correct that the stock 20-inch passenger side blade was replaced with a 22-inch one?
> 
> ...


Outside edge has about 1/4" clearance. About 3/4" clearance in the middle. Top of the arc comes within 2 1/2" of the roofline. Works fine.

You could go with the shorter blade. It's not the length that is great about these but the way they hug the glass.


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## StarCaller (Jul 12, 2005)

had the same thoughts as Mean Goat & did some measuring, too.
same results, but I think a 21" would be perfect.
guess that's what I go for.
(& I think I'll take two A's, because apparently there ain't any clearance problems with the hood...)


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