Wiper blades Bosch or ANCO

I like Bosch Icons

Bosch Icons. They last forever, and do a great job. I love mine.

I've survived two seasons or more using the Bosch (silicone?)wipers on my Tacoma.

I got ANCO 31 series blades from Amazon for like $8. They are working fine.

I've always used Bosch icons and get at least 2 years out of them @ 12k miles per year

I put on Bosch Icons at the start of the winter and they've held up decently well. Not spectacular when there's ice build up on the windshield but otherwise good

Right on the package, in a star burst on mine. Unmissable. If you can't see it, it's not ClearMax, just regular, and those Icons definitely will not fit Mk 7 R.

Bosch Icons The Bosch Icons do fit the 2016 R, as I just successfully installed them. You need to find the ones that are clearly marked on the outside as "Clearmax 365" which is the newest version, and it comes with a small plastic bag inside containing two optional adapters, one being the #4 that we need for the R. You snap off the adapter that is shipped from the factory installed on the blade, and replace it with the #4 adapter which allows it to fit perfectly on the R. The install instructions that come with the blade leave a lot to be desired, so just make sure you install the new adapter with the arrow pointing in the same direction as the one on the blade.

Bosch Icons At least near me in Central Ohio, O'Reillys Auto Parts has plenty of the ClearMax 365 version of the Bosch Icons that we need, whereas I struck out at AutoZone/CarQuest.

I bought a 13" replacement blade from the local Wal-Mart: manufacturer 'Anco', part number 31-13. Price at my store was $4.57. It looked like it would slip right in to replace the entire wiper & blade assembly... but unfortunately, the 'cage' is too wide, and it won't fit into the A3 rear wiper receiver. -So -having spent the money & opened the pack, I decided to try using the blade and metal reinforcing 'springs' in the old (Audi OEM) wiper blade. I had to bend one 'claw' of the replacement Anco blade open, to get the new insert and metal strips out (the strips have a 'lock' which prevents them sliding out). Then I had to persuade the OLD rubber blade and spring-steel reinforcement strips out of the OEM blade assembly. -This was a bit tricky, but I was able to to slide them out. Then I slipped the new rubber and metal reinforcement strips into the old OEM blade assembly... but be sure to slip the 'clip' end in LAST, and also make sure that the three little 'teeth' on the inside faces are alongside the rubber, so that they grip it and prevent it from slipping out. UNFORTUNATELY... the replacement 'blades' are about a quarter of an inch too short, and the end away from the clips doesn't support the rubber all the way to the furthest 'claw'. -This means that if you try to run them this way, the rubber will eventually slip out from the end of the blade, leaving the 'claw' to scratch the glass. I bodged a 'fix' by re-using the OLD metal blades AS WELL AS the new ones. -You have to do this on both sides. -It's an absolute bugger to get them in all the way, would probably be a little easier if you 'lubed' up the slots that they have to slide in (the rubber slots alongside the other metal blades) with a dish soap solution or something similar, but -using a pair of pliers and some creative curse words, I got them to slide in. So... for less than five bucks I got something to work. HOWEVER... It's about a quarter of an inch shorter than the OEM blade, it's a WHOLE lot of farting around, and I think every time I do this from this point onward, I'm going to just buy the OEM blade and have done with it. -The saving is about $3, and the hassle and all of the fiddling simply isn't worth it.