Both these wipers are molded from natural rubber and provide reliable performance in rainy conditions. Their pre-installed connectors allow easy installation, making these wipers user-friendly.
Lets take a quick look at both wipers:
- Weatherbeater is a conventional wiper blade while Icon specifies a beam design.
- Both products include pre-installed connectors but the arm connector of the Icon is weather shielded.
- Asymmetric spoiler of Icon uses its aerodynamic design to increase blade-to-screen contact, and maintain consistent pressure.
- Weatherbeater has less wiping efficiency than its competitor.
- Dual-precision springs enable the Icon blade to adjust its shape according to the curvature of the screen.
- FX dual rubber profile makes the Icon long-lasting in comparison.
- Weatherbeater has a longer warranty from its brand.
- Weatherbeater ranks more affordable than its competitor.
Weatherbeater shows a strongly built traditional blade design. With its galvanized and hinged steel frame, it shows good resistance against corrosive agents.
Additionally, it carries a longer replacement warranty from its manufacturer.
Conversely, DynamicFit technology is employed in structuring Icon beam design. Taking advantage of its aerodynamic spoiler and dual tensioned springs, it presents smoother wipes, leaving no droplets and producing no chatter. Graphite blending improves the quality of rubber making it more flexible and strong.
When compared with Weatherbeater, Bosch Icon specifies graphite enhanced rubber, shows superior wiping ability, provides better coverage, and prevents early wear off due to extreme weather but it comes for a higher price and with a lesser manufacturer warranty.
Table of Contents
Side By Side Comparison:
| Details | Bosch Icon | Rain X Weatherbeater |
| Material | Tensile steel FX dual rubber (natural rubber blended with exclusive graphite) | Natural Rubber Galvanized steel |
| Available blade sizes (inches) | OE Arm (13 to 28) Hook Arm (13 to 28) | 10 to 28 |
| Blade type | Beam | Conventional |
| Blade Material | Rubber coated steel bar and springs | Steel bar concealed with Rubber |
| Warranty | 30 days replacement | 90 days replacement |
What do their design tell us?
Icon specifies a better design and material quality than its competitor because patented Bosch’s beam technology and dual rubber compound are used to construct this spineless wiper.
The curved blade shape and shielded connector further enhance its efficiency and durability.
In contrast, the Weatherbeater ranks at a lower position because its traditional blade and multi-jointed frame allow lesser wiping efficiency than the competitor.
Due to the rigid structure, it carries fewer pressure points and becomes a flimsy accessory in storms and rain.
Their Rubber composition:
Both these blades are made from natural rubber but Icon has a better composition in comparison.
Bosch uses ClearMax 365 rubber technology to construct its blades, soft rubber core is covered with a powder-coated shell made from graphite-blended polymer.
The material profile of Weatherbeater scores lesser than the competitor because it has been prepared from a natural rubber material.
It is neither blended with graphite nor enhanced by any additive coatings.
Frame type and shape differences:
The curved frame of the Icon stands comparatively better due to patented wiper technologies by Bosch.
DynamicFit and beam bending tech. enable the blade to adopt shape according to the curvature of the windshield.
This makes it more suitable for modern vehicles as windshields nowadays are mostly curved.
Likewise, it specifies an aerodynamic joint-less spoiler that utilizes air pressure in its favor and maintains a consistent rubber-to-screen connection.
Weatherbeater shows a conventional design, characterizing a hinged metallic frame in which a linear rubber-covered blade is fitted.
An advantage of this structure is that the rubber blade can be demounted and replaced.
Galvanized steel makes its spoiler relatively stronger but its rigidity is more of a demerit when used over curved windshields.
Moreover, the blade can break away from the frame due to heavy winds and splash-jerks in thunderstorms.
Arm connectors of both wipers:
Both wipers are easy-to-install and can be mounted without any help from the service station.
It just takes a few seconds to mount Bosch Icon on the vehicle’s connector arm.
The double-locking connector ensures a secure attachment and its multi-clip ability makes it compatible with different arm fitments.
It is available for both hook and OE arm types. Moreover, it is a weather-shielded connector having a protective cover to safeguard against rust, corrosion, and snow /dust build-up.
Weatherbeater can also be easily installed as a small J hook adapter is pre-installed over it.
Besides that, it has a multi-adapter for large J-hook, side pins, and bayonet arms.
However, in terms of durability its arm connector stands behind, it is prone to rust and weather damage.
Similarly, snow and debris can stack over it easily.
Water repellency of both:
Bosch wiper has a superior ability to clear windshield glass from moister because its graphite-blended polymer shows water adhesion properties, rubbing off smaller drops of water as well.
Thus, it leaves almost no water streak over the screen.
In contrast, the natural rubber of Weatherbeater has not been treated with graphite and carries a little adhesive quality only.
Hence, moisture droplets may be left over the glass, giving a blurry or streaked view.
Wiping efficiency of these wipers:
The wiping efficiency of any blade is dependent upon the arm pressure over the blade and the water-repelling capacity of its rubber.
Due to Precision-cut technology, Icon has dual-tensioned springs that automatically adjust the arc of the beam wiper according to the curve of the screen, maintaining a uniform pressure along the entire length of the blade.
Additionally, its aerodynamic spoiler holds the blade with glass using wind pressure.
Thus, it has better water wiping efficiency than its competitor.
Conversely, Weatherbeater offers lesser wiping ability as its hinged frame only has eight pressure points over the streamlined blade.
Due to inconsistent pressure, its rubber strip is not rubbed uniformly over the screen and may leave prominent streaks.
It may leave unwiped areas on curved screens as it does not change its curvature accordingly.
Which wiper works better in extreme weather?
Icon has better proficiency to withstand extreme weather conditions as compared with the contestant owing to the benefit of its weather shielded arm connector and FX dual rubber.
Graphite enhancements make its rubber resistant to tough weather and ozone.
Likewise, it shows a lasting resistance against rust and corrosion because none of its metallic components is exposed to the climate.
An asymmetrical spoiler streamlines the wind flow over the wiper to sustain a consistent connection with the screen, hence, using heavy winds to its advantage instead of swinging away or breaking off the connector.
On the other side, Weathershield shows a reliable performance in tough weather among most traditional wipers but its ability is lesser as compared with its modern beam competitor.
Natural rubber without any enhancing additive is more prone to damage from high and low temperatures, ozone, and dust particles. Galvanized steel frame prevents corrosion for a short period but eventually, it will get rusted.
Its rigid and straight rubber blade can fall off the frame due to splash jerks and fast wind.
Over time, debris and snow may clog into its hinged frame, decreasing its efficiency.
Durability and Warranty Comparison
We expect more durability from Bosch Icon due to its graphite processed rubber and optimized bean design.
But the company gives a minimized warranty for this product. It can be replaced for workmanship faults only within 30 days from purchase.
On the other side, the conventional design of Weatherbeater is likely to wear away sooner than its competitor. However, Rain X provides a 90 days replacement warranty for this wiper.