Invisible Glass Ceramic Silicone Wiper Blades by Kiran Parmar
After a blistering hot summer on record, we are finally enjoying some cooler weather as Autumn approaches. So now is a good time to get our cars ready for the darker and unsettled months that lay ahead. You can read our ultimate winter guide here, but first we need to talk about glass and rubber!
Last year we were delighted to review a fantastic, ergonomic tool made by Invisible Glass that enables car owners to effortlessly clean the inside of their windscreens and side glass; the Invisible Glass Reach & Clean Tool, you can read our full review here.
Did you know that Invisible Glass also make wiper blades? We couldn’t wait to fit a set to the Free Car Mag Audi A6 and put them through their paces!
In the United Kingdom we receive an average annual rainfall of about 1,150 mm, with long-term country averages hovering around 1,200 mm to 1,300 mm. This means on average about 150 to 160 rainy days! You would therefore expect the UK motorist to be ‘on the ball’ when it comes to changing their wiper blades, but did you know that windscreen wipers account for roughly 2.7% of all MOT failures. That is a staggering 5.5 million vehicles a year!
Just imagine driving at 70 mph on the motorway in heavy rain with severely reduced visibility with worn out wipers chattering across the windscreen on the fastest setting and you the driver cannot see the vehicle in front – a truly terrifying thought! As you read this paragraph, you are most probably thinking to yourself, ‘when did I last change my wipers?’ Yes, that’s correct, a decent set of wiper blades may help you to spot a hazard early on and help you to take the appropriate and possibly lifesaving action before it is too late.
Invisible Glass have created a high endurance blade designed to last four times longer than an ‘OE’ standard blade, tested to an impressive 2 million wipe cycles compared to 500,000 cycles of an ‘OE’ blade!
The exclusive ceramic coating used in ‘Ceramic Silicone’ helps to protect the wiper blade from harmful UV and ozone rays as well as protecting the rubber edge from premature wear. The durable silicone rubber element not only performs in extreme temperatures (-62o C to +90o C) but also applies rain repellent coating to the windscreen with each wipe, repelling water from the glass and allowing it to simply bead off.
Invisible Glass have constructed the blades with state-of-the-art beam blade design meaning the blade is in maximum contact with your screen and even pressure distribution is applied across the entire blade length. The integrated asymmetrical ‘WindBeater’ air foil resists buffeting and wiper lift in windy conditions at high motorway speeds.
Invisible glass wiper blades are available in lenghs 14 inches to 28 inches and suitable for all main wiper arm types meaning they are compatible with more than 95% of vehicles on the road.
Installation to our Audi A6:
- In the Audi MMI, activate the ‘wiper service mode’ which brings the wiper arms to highest point for ease of removal/ installation.
- Remove old OE wiper blades.
- Clean the windscreen with Invisible Glass ‘Glass Cleaner’ – this powerful cleaner removes oily dirt, grease, fingerprints, smudges, road grime, dead insects, etc from your glass. Use a clean microfibre cloth or Invisible Glass Reach & Clean Tool to help you. If your windscreen has previously had rain repellent coatings applied to it, you can use Invisible Glass ‘Glass Stripper’ to remove any old coatings as well as stubborn water spots, and road film. Never use new blades on a dirty windscreen as the microscopic and visible contamination on the glass will be transferred to your new wipers.
- Alternatively, you can use Invisible Glass ‘Clean & Repel’ which features the cleaning power of IG ‘Glass Cleaner’ with a long-lasting rain repellent that sheds rain, sleet, and snow. This product will complement the technology of your new wiper blades.
- Fit the new Invisible Glass wiper blades to the wiper arm; Inside the box you will find four adapters and a handy A4 sheet of paper with diagrams and QR codes which take you to the appropriate video for your vehicle. Audi, SEAT, Skoda, VW and Ford use the ‘22mm Push Button’ system so you will need ‘3H-8’ adapter. Simply slide the adapter onto the wiper arm first, then click the wiper into place making sure the wind spoiler is facing the correct way; – you want the wind spoiler facing up towards the sky, this will ensure the wind pushes the wiper down towards the glass as the air passes over the wiper blades as the car gets up to speed. You can also fit the adaptor onto the wiper first then fit the whole assembly to the wiper arm as shown in the video below:
- With the wiper blades fitted, spring the wiper arm back down so the new blade is in contact with the screen. To activate the water-repellent coating, run the wiper blades on the medium speed setting for three minutes on a wet windscreen. Do this in rainy conditions, or spray a garden hose at the screen, or spray the windscreen washer jets for 3 seconds every 15-20 seconds. Do not run the wipers on a dry screen!
The Free Car Mag team were really impressed with how easy it was to install the new wipers and their incredible technology; we look forward to further testing them over the autumn and winter. In the meantime, you can read more about Invisible Glass Wipers here.
Happy autumnal motoring everyone!
