[Note - I posted this at the end of an older Windshield Wiper thread, but figured it was going to get lost, so I created this new thread]

I am a fairly recent (1.5 yr ago) Honda purchaser and lurker on the board. I appreciate all the good advice I have read here.

I just bought Rain-X Latitude wiper blades for my 2007 Accord. They are that newer style thicker curved blade and were pretty pricey ($45 for the set). I installed them and tested them. They wiped very well where they made contact with the windshield, however, I noticed they left a frisbee sized un-wiped spot in front of the driver eyes down to the bottom center of the windshield.

I looked more closely and found that the blade was not able to press down in the center because the wiper arm "stabilizer" (the plastic u-shaped piece attached to the wiper arm close to the door side that helps keep the wiper straight because the driver's side wiper is so long - 26") was keeping the thicker-than-normal curved wiper blade from making full contact with the wiper arm.

I removed the "stabilizer" (it was secured by one small philips screw to the wiper arm) and then the new wiper blade worked perfectly with the windshield washer fluid - however, no rain or snow tests yet.

Question - will the removal of the wiper arm "stabilizer" cause me a problem down the road, perhaps allowing the wiper blade or arm to twist under the weight of snow or pouring rain on the highway?

Anyone have an opinion on or any experience with this?

Thank you.

 

As a follow-up to my thread, during yesterday's wet snow, I had accidentally left my wipers on when I parked at work. During that time, about an inch-and-a-half of heavy wet snow had accumulated on my windshield.

When going home, I started the car to get the defrost going before scraping the snow off with my snow brush, I was surprised by my wipers coming on when I turned the key. They wiped the snow right off and had no problem with it.

Seems that the removal of the stabilizer from the wiper arm will be all right, perhaps because the Latitude wipers are so thick and sturdy.

 

I guess this would count as necro-ing maybe, but I was having the exact same problem with my Rain-X wipers as well that you described and suspected it had to do with that plastic "stabilizer"

I'm taking mine off on lunch break today and will report back with the results. I'm glad to hear that it's really easy to remove that piece, though, I didn't look into it too hard because I hadn't been experiencing a lot of rain lately.

 

You can get refills for the original blades. They are about $10, and the wipers work like new again.