The Best Winter Wiper Blades [2023]

Why the Right Windshield Wipers Matter

Windshield wipers are an important part of a vehicle’s functionality and safety. This is also a part of the car that is the most often overlooked. You may not realize it until you are driving through a snowstorm and realize that they don’t work. That feeling is not only scary, but it is dangerous.

Windshield wipers aren’t a one size fits all item. Depending on what climate you live in, weather conditions and vehicle type are important factors in picking the right blade.

What to Look for in a Winter Windshield Wiper Blade

For regular use up north, in the cold and snowy winter climate, good windshield wipers are a must. You want something that can withstand the cold and snow without freezing. These are the important features to look for when deciding on a good winter windshield wiper.

Frame Style

There are multiple styles of windshield wipers on the market today, but when you are talking about windshield wipers that will be used in the extreme cold, then you need a beam style wiper. Windshield wipers for winter are designed with frameless beam wiper technology. This means that the blade is run along with one, continuous, curved beam. This beam style works so well because it doesn’t have any moving parts.

The conventional style windshield wipers have a frame structure that uses spring tension to create pressure on the blade, keeping it held against the glass. This creates problems because this structure needs to be able to flex to keep its tension. In the cold, water will get into this structure and freeze, keeping the blade from being able to flex and will cause inconsistent contact with your curved windshield.

The beam style is frameless, which not only gives it infinite contact points for even, consistent coverage on the glass but it also makes it thinner so that it won’t hold snow and ice.

Blade Material

Your windshield wiper blade material matters for many different reasons. A lousy blend of rubber will crack or dry out in extreme weather conditions. Ozone degradation will also cause pitting on the blade. When this happens, the windshield wipers will begin to leave streaks on your glass and cause chatter and noise as they wipe.

Because of this, when choosing a windshield wiper for extreme cold, you need to choose one that has silicone in the rubber. It doesn’t have to be 100% silicone, but it does need to be some kind of silicone blend. This silicone will give it a much higher resistance to the cold. It also lowers its freezing point so the rubber will stay soft in low temperatures meaning that it will remain flexible, giving you consistent contact on curved glass.

Air Spoiler

Beam style windshield wipers usually have a built-in air spoiler. They are specially built with holes or ergonomics so that when the air hits them, it actually forces the blade down onto the glass instead of lifting off. This is great for winter time when the wind from snowstorms and blizzards would tend to lift off other styles of wipers—making them useless when you really need them most.

Enclosed Housing

You want to make sure that your windshield wiper has an enclosed housing. The housing is where the metal wiper arm from your car attaches to the windshield wiper. The piece it connects to always flexes with the arm. Since your car windshield is curved, it needs to be able to flex to stay in contact with the glass. An enclosed housing ensures that snow and ice don’t build up and freeze on this piece, causing it to become rigid.

OUR FAVORITE WINTER WINDSHIELD WIPERS!

Best Overall

One of the best windshield wipers for winter is the Bosch Icon. This all-season wiper blade consistently gets ranked #1 for performance and excels even further with its affordable price point. Bosch is a company that is well known for quality and craftsmanship, and they certainly upheld their reputation when they built these windshield wipers for winter.

These winter windshield wipers feature a beam blade so that it won’t be affected by snow or ice buildup. It also has an enclosed tension spring to keep out water and ice. Ensuring that the windshield wipers can work properly even in the coldest winter conditions.

The Bosch icon features what they call an ‘exclusive rubber technology’ that can withstand the cold temperatures of winter.

These windshield wipers are rated to withstand temperatures as low as -27 degrees Fahrenheit. This rubber also gives it a 40% longer lifespan than other premium blades. This is not 40% over conventional blades but 40% more than their best competitors.

This is a huge mark for Bosch and the feature that pushed it into the #1 spot.

Bosch also marks their blades with an A or a B depending on the specific curvature of your car’s windshield. Since maintaining consistent contact with the windshield is the most important feature of any good windshield wiper.

This will make sure that there are no gaps in the blade’s contact with the windshield, giving you a more uniform wipe every time. Looking up your car’s correct windshield wiper blade size will ensure that you get the perfect blade to fit your car’s glass.

Best Price

These are Aero Windshield Wipers for winter. This company makes OE, or original equipment, windshield wipers for many different companies.

This means that they supply the blades for the cars from the factory, showing that these big manufacturers trust them to consistently supply high-quality windshield wipers for their cars. Luckily for us, Aero also sells these blades aftermarket, and they do so at a pretty fantastic price!

These windshield wipers feature a beam design and an enclosed weather-resistant spring tensioner. Aero’s windshield wipers also feature a micro-precision-cut wiping edge to ensure that no water or debris or winter snow is left behind to cause streaks.

It also features a dual tensioned spring strip for even downforce on the blade. Consistently keeping it in contact with the glass evenly across the blade.

This reduces noise and chatter both while in use and under cold or windy conditions. The rubber used in their all-season blades is an industrial Grade AAA rubber, rated to withstand -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

These blades also come with an industry-leading 6-month warranty ensuring that their winter windshield wipers will work as expected in the cold, snow, and rain or your money back. 

If you’re interested in a budget windshield wiper then you may enjoy our article on some of the best windshield wipers for the money.

Best Blade with Anti Frost Coating

Last but certainly not least is the Rain X Latitude 2-in-1 windshield wipers for wintertime. These come from the makers of the famous Rain-x windshield water repellent spray.

Now Rain-x is one of the biggest manufacturers of windshield wiper blades in the world. They also retain an amazing reputation for quality and durability as well as being known for innovation and constant updates when it comes to their products.

Rain-x has many different variations of windshield wipers, but when it comes to the best windshield wipers for winter, the Rain-X Latitude 2-in-1 is the clear choice.

These windshield wipers feature a beam style blade with enclosed tensioner just like the others and perfect for winter weather.

It also has a precision cut blade with a synthetic rubber blend to endure extreme weather conditions. As well as a spoiler for added downforce to ensure even coverage against the glass and make sure that the blade doesn’t experience any lift while driving. This gives the blade a secure fit against the windshield for a more uniform wipe. 

What these winter windshield wipers have that the others don’t is a Rain-X water-repellent coating built into the blade. This is the 2 in Rain-X 2-in-1. When you first install these windshield wipers, you will run them against a dry, clean windshield for 2 minutes.

This will transfer the coating from the windshield wipers to the windshield glass, sealing the glass and giving it a slick rain resistant coating. This coating for the winter months will also resist snow and ice, increasing visibility and giving this wiper major bonus points in the contest for best windshield wipers for winter!

Honorable Mention

No proper review of winter windshield wipers would be complete without mentioning the PIAA Si-Tech (silicone technology) wiper blade. PIAA has become a well-known manufacturer for its production of silicone wiper blades.

Building a blade out of silicone makes it last two times longer than a traditional rubber blade. It also gives these windshield wipers an extreme resistance to the winter cold, summer heat, and ozone degradation. All things that will cause a blade to get too hard, too soft, or begin to crack.

PIAA also says that this silicone wiper blade, as it drags across your windshield, adds a film of water-resistant silicone.

They go so far as to suggest that you’ll no longer need to apply a water-resistant coating again. Saying that just running the blades when it rains is enough to keep the coating active on the glass. This makes these windshield wipers great for winter because this coating works for snow and ice as well.

As for how these windshield wipers will hold up in the winter, they should do extremely well. The frameless design means that it won’t catch snow or ice. The enclosed spring housing will keep out water. And the windshield wipers silicone blade means that this wiper can handle extreme winter temperatures without getting too stiff.

These solid winter windshield wipers also got an honorable mention because although they can be a little pricey upfront. They come with removable blades.

This means that next time the windshield wiper needs to be changed, you don’t have to order a whole new set. You just order a new blade and replace them on the frame. This can save you about 70% off of your original purchase, as well as keeping these plastic windshield wipers out of our landfills.

Why Didn’t PIAA Make the Top 3?

So with all of these amazing stats, why aren’t these windshield wipers in the #1 spot for our winter category? Well, unfortunately, that is because of some negative anecdotal reviews.

While we like these windshield wipers, we’ve heard that the water-resistant silicone coating may not work as well as you might hope. And they’ve had a few problems with these windshield wipers not lasting as long as they should so while they’re definitely good enough to get a mention from us.

They’re not quite up to par with some of the bigger brands.

How to Know When it’s Time To Change Your Wipers

Windshield wipers, especially in the winter, should be changed on average about every six months to a year or when the following starts to occur:

• They leave streaks of water on the glass
• They make noise, skip or chatter as they wipe
• There are visible cracks in the blade

How to Increase the Life of Your Windshield Wipers

As windshield wipers for winter become more sophisticated, they also become better and more efficient. But like most things in life, this often means that they also come with a bigger price tag. So if you do buy some of the high-end windshield wipers this winter or even the cheaper ones for that matter, here are a few ways to extend their life.

• Keep your windshield clean, a smooth surface means reduced friction and a long wiper lifespan.
• Keep your car in the garage out of the elements. If you don’t have a garage use a Windshield Snow Cover to protect them from direct exposure from wind, snow, and ice.
• Place a sheet under your windshield wipers so that they won’t freeze to the glass.
• Lubricate the blades with a rubber restorer every time you clean the car. We recommend and use Aerospace 303. This will moisturizer the rubber and protect it from UV damage.

How to Change a Wiper Blade

How to Find the Correct Size Windshield Wipers for Your Car

Finding high-quality windshield wipers for winter that fit your needs and your price range can be hard enough.

Then you have to try and track down the correct size windshield wipers for your car. And usually, the sizes for your driver’s side and passenger side will be different. So instead of you have to get out your tape measurer and go figure it out yourself.

We’ve found this amazing site that tells you exactly what size you need for your specific make, model, and year. Go see for yourself at MyWiperSize.com