safulop

Hi all,

just bought a 1987 S4, it was fairly pristine but a little neglected, so wiper blades are shot.

The front wiper arms look like the same on my 1985 944, which take standard snap-in blades. What type of blade, and what length of blade, is best for an S4?

Plus I notice the rear blade is a bit different; they have them in stock at Pelican Parts, so I guess I will special order, but it seems that the front blades I could just buy at a regular parts store.

Thanks for tips,

Sean

Speedtoys

They are nice standard snap in types.

Im tall, and I hate tiny blades.

My 88 S4's are sposed to be 19", I replaced them with 22" Bosch Icons. No clearance issues, could go a little longer, if I had to..but wont be in the rain too much anyhow.


And..the book at the store said the rear was the same, and yes, a longer one would fit nicely there too, it looks like, but I havent done that one yet.

dr bob

The original Bosch blades have a wind deflector on the driver's side. If you still have those, you can buy refills by length for them. They all take a 'Narrow' refill. Tape measure for length. American lengths in inches end up about half an inch longer than the frame, so insert from the bottom and leave the little surplus at the top.

There have been several discussions about which blade or refill is better. Search is your friend here. Some of the discussions remind us that the old grease in the wiper motor gearcase will be solid, and the blades will chatter. You may be able to find lower-friction blades that help some with that problem at least until you decide to pull the wiper motor assy and refurb it.

Alan

I have Bosch ICON's all round (they also have an integrated wind deflector shape) - Adapting the rear "side pin" blade to Icons is a little work but a much longer blade will fit and covers much more hatch glass area. I have posted on this ages ago.

Alan

JoeTaylor

I just replaced all the wipers, including the rear one, on my '88 S4 with Rainguard replacements at the local auto parts store.

It took all of 15 mins, what an improvement vs. having the old ones!

The replacement blades were complete with arms, which is fine, I just saved the ones on the car just in case they were original.

danglerb

I just bought some RainX Latitudes for all our non 928's, seem pretty nice so far.

BTW I hate the 928 wiper system, sounds like some old VW, so maybe I should be looking at new grease and maybe rubber isolators or something.

karl ruiter

I am using 20" Bosch evolution blades and liking them fine.

cold_beer839

Bosch Icons all around. Just measure your old ones and add some lenght if you want more coverage.

Landseer

I've got icons on 3 928s.
They suck.

Speedtoys

Details?


Cuz..ive been running Icons for..well, since they came out on all of my cars and trucks..loved em.

Landseer

They started-out fine, but after a few months all seemed to have a harder edge and became less capable of following the glass contour. They were fairly expensive compared to the alternatives and didn't, despite what appeared to be a superior design, live up to the expectations I had. Same thing happened on the Suburban. Maybe I got hold of a bunch of them for which the edges get harder.

Sorry to be derisive, but after buying based on glowing reports, I expected more.

Speedtoys

Fair nuff.


Maybe theyre not so good on 'curvier' glass?


Dunno.

Landseer

In some cases the edge doesn't roll over early enough on the return on any given stroke.

I'm still using them, but also looking for something else.

safulop

I went to the parts store today and bought some slightly cheaper imitation of the Icon---still expensive, though, so I hope they work. Have to make sure the blade faces forward though (duh).

When I removed the old snap-on blades, I noticed that they are some vintage deal, with little Icon-style spoilers on the wiper blade in anodized metal. Would be cool to somehow stick old-style "refills" into the vintage blades. Can you still buy wiper refills, you know the kind that don't come with the whole blade frame, they are just the rubber strip?

-Sean

safulop

Oh btw,

what good is an Icon type blade on the rear wiper? There is no need for the cool downforce action, so why not just use a simple $5 blade? Plus, those cheap blades usually have the side-pin mounting available, that's what I always used on my 944 rear wiper for this reason.

-Sean