At the beginning of last year, the wiper blades on my old car started to squeak and leave streaks of water across the windscreen. The price of a pair of new original manufacturer wipers gave me a shock, so I decided to look into aftermarket options instead. After reading and watching dozens of reviews, comparisons and lab tests, we found that silicone wiper blades offer exceptional durability and performance, they naturally resist UV rays, extreme heat, freezing cold, and ozone, lasting up to three times longer than traditional rubber blades.
To make sure we had firsthand experience, we bought wiper blades from several brands around the world, starting from as little as NZ$23 per pair, to more than US$140 per pair. Our testing covered basic rubber blades, rubber with PTFE coating, silicone, silicone with surface coating, and finally silicone with infused water-repellents. Based on our own real-life daily use during rainy weather, the silicone blade with infused water-repellent stood out clearly as the best performer.
After speaking with a number of wiper manufacturers, we partnered with the one that has the most experience in silicone wiper blades with infused water-repellent technology. The company is based in Tokyo, Japan, and has been in the wiper business for more than 50 years. They produce rubber and silicone wipers for various major automotive manufacturers, also produce OEM wipers for several world's leading wiper brands, manufacturing their products for the Asian market.
Just like our filaments, where we always insist use top-grade raw materials, we chose this manufacturer's highest-tier silicone blend for our wipers. In lab tests, this formula lasted almost twice as long as the wipers produced for one of the world's top brands that they OEM. In terms of structure, our wiper uses the hybrid design. It features an internal frame with multiple pressure clips to secure the silicone refill evenly against the windscreen, combined with an external aerodynamic shell running across the top. This structure distributes wiping force equally across the entire windscreen, while the aerodynamic shell uses airflow at highway speeds to press the blade firmly against the glass.
On pricing, we have always believed in sharing products we like at a fair price. We will price our Wondershop silicone wipers in a similar price range to rubber wipers from top brands, no arm and a leg required (we deeply regret buying those US$140 wipers).
One thing we are still working on: we have not yet had enough time to compile a complete database of wiper sizes and wiper arm types for all cars in New Zealand. And as far as we can tell, no such database exists publicly, whether free or paid. For now, customers interested in our silicone wipers will need to measure the length of current wiper blade and identify the wiper arm type in order to select the correct adapter. We will be providing clear photos of each wiper arm type and its corresponding adapter, along with a full installation video very soon.
