snow wiper blades, what do you use?

I have ordinary beam-type (Bosch Evolution or the like) installed year-round. They are not specifically snow wipers, but they don't have hinged joints to ice up and stop conforming to the glass, so they do ok.

I have the car in ECO mode most of the time, but that does lock out the 700 watt supplemental electric heat. If I need to defog/deice the windshield right away when the engine's not warmed up yet, I'll turn ECO off. The supplemental heat hardly makes any difference you can feel (it's only about an eighth of the normal heating capacity you've got when the coolant is hot), but it sure makes a difference in how fast the cold car clears the windshield. (I'm driving a Gen 3 ... I guess you don't have ECO in the Gen 2, and I don't know the technical details for Gen 4.)

I usually don't do anything different with the temp setpoint ... if the car's cold, it's probably far enough below whatever temp I have set for the heater to go max hot anyway, without any need to increase the setpoint.

Sources of truck accessories have wiper heaters for sale. They are like long skinny adhesive versions of rear-window defogger elements. You can apply them down low on the windshield glass where the wiper blades park. I learned of them a few years ago and thought they sounded useful, and the Prius windshield goes so low beyond the dash you could probably apply it in the right place and barely even see it. But we've been getting less winter every year here, not more, so I've never pursued the idea further.

 

I've had great luck getting overstock/leftover blade assemblies for all of our cars at steep markdowns from rock auto. The idea is that nearly every brand/model works great for the first few months. So I buy them for $1.50-6.00 apiece and replace them every 6 months, and it's been working.

 

we have also had good luck with the Bosch beam type blade. we use the Icon model year round.

 

Rain-X Latitudes all year round. Wax all the external glass surfaces (see Chris Fix's method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJkfrY2owb0 ); as for tyres: Antares Ingens A1 in the summer on the OEM 16" rims, and Antares Ice Grip 60 (studded) on a set of 15" steelies from late November until end of April.

 

There are heated wiper blades in the market. I have never tried it on my cars, but maybe worth the try.

Sells at Walmart for $20 single 24inch blade. Not sure what other sizes they come in, or if they will fit on Prius.
Type S 24in Heating Wiper Blade - Walmart.com
That said, I have had good success using TOYOTA OEM blade with RainX -30F windshield fluid.
Rain-x -30f De-icer Windshield Washerfl - Walmart.com
Bit expensive for washer fluid, but it will not freeze on the windshield when spread into a thin film with wiper even at sub-zero temp. My AC is always set at 70F Auto and I very seldom use the front defroster once the ice and snow accumulated overnight are gone.

 

@prius_deep if you could be a little more specific about your location, it'd help responders.

 

You mean “road” isn’t enough.

Not sure how you can be from “road” either.

 

We're plus 8C here right now, and over in Toronto, it's -7C, brr... They're predicted to have lows of -19C next Wednesday.

 

60 and not a cloud in the sky here.

27 and overcast where my folks are out east.

I love best coast winters.

 

I think if I felt the need, I would first try the heat element that applies at the base of the windshield where the blades park ... you just buy that once, and have only normal wiper blades to replace when they need it.

 

are we talking about blades freezing to windshield, or trouble clearing snow when driving in a blizzard?
is there such a thing as a snow blade?

 

Yeah, it's not clear what OP wants to accomplish. I think the heated blade mentioned above, as well as so-called "winter wiper blade" with rubber boots around the metal part of the blade, are to prevent wiper freezing onto the windshield when the wiper is not in use while parked. For that, I just stand the wiper arms up off from the windshield before leaving the car. For clearing snow while driving, I really think any goodquality wiper blade would do a job with low freezing point washer fluid.

 

Back before I discovered beam-style blades, I could have trouble in winter weather when the hinge points of a traditional blade would ice up and stop hinging. Then the blade would just be one stiff shape, and the only place where it would fit the curvature of the windshield would be the exact spot where it was fitting when the joints froze.

Back in the day, there were drives where I would frequently have to pull over, get out, bust the ice off all the hinge points and make the blades bend again, then resume driving.

The first solution I remember on the market for that problem was the "snow" blade or "winter" blade, which was a regular hinged/jointed wiper blade all contained in a big ugly rubber boot to keep the snow and ice away from the joints so they wouldn't ice up.

But since beam blades have been on the market, they seem to work about as well, having no hinged joints to ice up in the first place, and they look a whole lot less fugly.

 

Yap, I use to use those ugly winter blades.

 

I've been putting Rain-X on for a while...Many times. And can say they are junk and won't buy them again.