I couldn't find a Bosch one to fit in Halfords, after getting an Aerotwin A 864 S for the front, which fits perfectly.

 

I ended up buying a rear blade from eBay which claimed to be Bosch. I picked it up today and it is, indeed, a proper Bosch one.

 

The A 303 H fits perfectly for the rear, and I now have Bosch all round, which gives a much more silent, clean wipe than the ones that were previously fitted. I've included a picture of the box of the A 303 H because the diagram of the blade is different to what you get. I think I noticed someone say in a Kodiaq thread that the A 303 H has been redesigned for 2024 and it doesn't contain the big blob of plastic on the end, as seen in my picture of the box. Well, they are correct and if you buy a current version of this blade, not an old pack, then it will fit the back of your mk4 perfectly. Mine snapped right in place in a second. 

 

I just thought it was worth mentioning, because I spent at least an hour googling before I took the plunge on eBay.

Just to add a comment, the OE wipers are very poor quality. Screeching across windscreen, as did my wife's VW UP, and a previous Seat Mii. All now changed to Bosch wipers.

As BRISKODA forum participants may own/drive right-hand-drive (RHD) or left-hand-drive (LHD) Skoda cars, it might be worth highlighting  that Bosch Aerotwin 'front' wiper blades come in two different flavours.

 

This link is to the Bosch website's wiper-blades entry for Aerotwin blades suitable for a Skoda Fabia Mk4 marketed in the United Kingdom

 

https://www.boschwiperblades.com/xc/en-gb/basic-page.html/-/en-gb/478dafb54dab9771f6adabf9705fe54dd0d454ee/period_5046_2949_06_2021_12_9999/SKODA_Fabia_2021

 

Two types of 'front' blade are shown - Aerotwin Original and Aerotwin Modular. The Original type is marketed as a set of two blades with lengths of 650mm (driver side) and 450mm (passenger side), while the Modular-type is marketed as individual blades (650mm or 450mm). Original blades are an immediate fit to the car, whereas a Modular blade requires an adapter to be attached to it beforehand.

 

A critical difference between Modular and Original Aerotwin blades is that the AP 26 U and AP 18 U Modular blades are suitable for a Skoda Fabia Mk4 irrespective of whether the car is RHD or LHD, whereas the Original A 864 S set of blades is only suitable for a Fabia Mk4 with RHD. The reason for this is that the cross-section of the aerodynamic upper surface of Modular blades is symmetrical

 

 

but the cross-section of the aerodynamic upper surface of Original blades is asymmetrical.

 

 

This means that, if the A 864 S blades were fitted to a LHD Fabia Mk4, the blades would be upside-down and aerodynamically inefficient. Consequently - for Aerotwin Original front wiper-blades for a LHD Fabia Mk4 car - the A 863 S set would be required, not the A 864 S set.

 

UK prices for Aerotwin blades vary significantly. I paid £17.15 for an A 864 S set bought from an on-line vendor in Northern Ireland.

 

(The A 303 H rear wiper blade for a Fabia Mk4 is bisexual and fits RHD or LHD models.)

A brief follow-up to my last posting in which I said "UK prices for Aerotwin blades vary significantly. I paid £17.15 for an A 864 S set bought from an on-line vendor in Northern Ireland".

 

Checking my records I see that, when I ordered the Aerotwin A 864 S set of blades at £17.15, I also bought a 'universal' rubber boot-liner from the same vendor at £8.99. This came to £26.14, but the overall cost was £29.13 when an additional £2.99 delivery charge had been added. The vendor currently advertises the A 864 S set of blades on ebay at £18.70 including free delivery.

I bought my front set A864S on Amazon a few days ago for £19.99, now up to £21.62. Prices do fluctuate quite a bit.

Could have them for a quid or two less on eBay, but i wanted them fitted asap due to **** poor weather, and OE ones were really annoying me with the noise they were making. Car has only done 1,000 miles!

Edited 8 June, 20241 yr by Tintowellfan

For what it's worth..

 

I have several brand-new Bosch wiper blades and where they were made varies. The A 864 S blades were made in Belgium, an Aerotwin Modular blade was made in Serbia and two rear-wiper blades (similar in design to the A 303 H) were both made in China.

I've fitted Bosch Aerotwin blades as replacements for 20+ years and been satisfied with their price, performance and longevity.
 

Independent tests rate them highly (example here)

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-product-tests/best-wiper-blades-2024

 

though it's evident from eBay and Amazon reviews that some vehicle owners have reported problems with them.

 

The Amazon set I received were made in Belgium. But, I must comment on the construction of the mounting point, very cheap plastic compared to my previous experience, and much less substantial than the OP blades.

Potential issue, as look like could easily snap if hitting much resistance, such as in winter. Maybe getting a bit more pedantic in my older years, but I do tend to check things like this now. Have had a wiper mount snap in the past, and when the metal arm makes contact with the windscreen there is only one winner. Knackered windscreen covered in deep scratches.

Any thoughts from anyone who has recently purchased Bosch wipers?

Edit. Just checked the Bosch ones on my wife's VW  UP and our Corsa. Boy what a difference in the gauge of plastic on mounting bracket. Makes me think the Amazon set I got are fakes.

Don't plan on fitting them, will be returning them.

Would be good if anyone has any images of the mounting point on their Bosch wipers.

Edited 8 June, 20241 yr by Tintowellfan

My A 864 S set of Bosch wiper blades seems OK to me (images of mounting-point below)

 

 

The Bosch packaging looks genuine and indicates that the blades were made in Belgium. "MADE IN BELGIUM" is also on the underside of the mounting-point. The mounting-points' plastic material and construction don't seem any less robust or much different to the Aerotwin blades I fitted to my Roomster some years ago. 

 

(There are on-line comments about fake Bosch wiper-blades (never substantiated) and - for all I know - the blades in my A 864 S set may not be genuine Bosch products. But, if my blades are fakes, they are damn good ones!!)

Thanks, look exactly same as mine. Just the plastic is much thinner and more brittle looking compared to previous sets I have purchased. 

Hopefully they survive the next winter frost/snow without breaking!

A possible explanation...

 

I compared one of the Aerotwin wiper blades from my Fabia Mk4's A 864 S set with a (good few  years old) spare Aerotwin blade from my 2009 Roomster and it was immediately obvious that the plastic mounting-point of the Roomster's blade was visibly 'sturdier'.

 

The image below shows this, with the upper mounting-point relating to a Fabia Mk4's wiper-blade (from the A 864 S set) and the lower mounting-point relating to one of the 2009 Roomster's elderly blades.

 

 

 

The reason for this became clear when the outer ends of the Roomster's and Fabia's wiper-arms were closely studied. Although superficially the same, in fact the end of the Roomster's wiper-arm is wider than the Fabia's by a couple of millimetres. Consequently, the noticeably 'sturdier' (and wider) plastic mounting-point of my  Roomster's wiper-blade will not fit on to the narrower end of my Fabia Mk4's wiper-arm (and, vice-versa, the narrower plastic mounting-point of my Fabia Mk4's wiper-blade would be a slack fit in the wider end of my Roomster's wiper-arm). 

 

If you compare the wiper-arm ends of your VW UP! and Corsa with your Fabia's, you may well find the same.

 

(Just to satisfy my OCD, I also compared the packaging for my Bosch A 864 S set with the packaging of the Roomster's Aerotwin blades to see if there might be anything to suggest that the A 864 S blades might be fakes. Nothing showed up and the QR code on each cardboard carton linked to the correct Bosch webpage - so the chances are minimal that your A 864 S set is not a genuine Bosch-made product.)

Edited 9 June, 20241 yr by DerekU

Thanks for that, But I am really concerned that these mounts are much weaker. Anyway, first world problem!

I found valeo silencio to be the best blades. Had some one my old car for about 7 years, still on when I sold it. Trick is to never wipe the blades, they have special graphite coating. Once you clean them they end up juddering and wearing out faster.

11 hours ago, Tintowellfan said:

Thanks for that, But I am really concerned that these mounts are much weaker. Anyway, first world problem!

 

A cursory search showed that the wiper-blades in the A 864 S set are suitable for the following cars (I'm sure there are others):

 

Skoda Fabia Mk4, Kamiq (from 2019), Karoq (from 2017), Scala (from 2019), Volkswagen Golf 8 (from 2019) and Polo (from 2017).

 

From that data, It seems that VW Group cars began to be fitted as original equipment (OE) with front wiper-blades with the narrower plastic mounting-point from 2017 onwards, presumably when revised models were introduced during that period.

 

I've inspected the OE front blades of my Fabia Mk4 and their plastic mounting-points do not look any more robust than those on the Bosch Aerotwin A 864 S blades. As I said above, the mounting-points of the Fabia Mk4 blades are narrower and less 'bulky' than those of my 2009 Roomster, but, due to their modified design, also a helluva easier to remove and replace than the Roomster's blades - which may or may not be considered a plus!

 

I can't find anything on-line about wiper-blade mounting-point failure relating to OE or Aerotwin blades of the cars I listed above (gripes about OE blade poor performance, but that's another matter) so I don't think you need be concerned about your Fabia's blades being unfit for purpose because their mounting-points might be potentially weak because they are narrower than those of your other cars.

On 08/06/2024 at 08:27, DerekU said:

As BRISKODA forum participants may own/drive right-hand-drive (RHD) or left-hand-drive (LHD) Skoda cars, it might be worth highlighting  that Bosch Aerotwin 'front' wiper blades come in two different flavours.

 

This link is to the Bosch website's wiper-blades entry for Aerotwin blades suitable for a Skoda Fabia Mk4 marketed in the United Kingdom

 

https://www.boschwiperblades.com/xc/en-gb/basic-page.html/-/en-gb/478dafb54dab9771f6adabf9705fe54dd0d454ee/period_5046_2949_06_2021_12_9999/SKODA_Fabia_2021

 

Two types of 'front' blade are shown - Aerotwin Original and Aerotwin Modular. The Original type is marketed as a set of two blades with lengths of 650mm (driver side) and 450mm (passenger side), while the Modular-type is marketed as individual blades (650mm or 450mm). Original blades are an immediate fit to the car, whereas a Modular blade requires an adapter to be attached to it beforehand.

 

A critical difference between Modular and Original Aerotwin blades is that the AP 26 U and AP 18 U Modular blades are suitable for a Skoda Fabia Mk4 irrespective of whether the car is RHD or LHD, whereas the Original A 864 S set of blades is only suitable for a Fabia Mk4 with RHD. The reason for this is that the cross-section of the aerodynamic upper surface of Modular blades is symmetrical

 

 

but the cross-section of the aerodynamic upper surface of Original blades is asymmetrical.

 

 

This means that, if the A 864 S blades were fitted to a LHD Fabia Mk4, the blades would be upside-down and aerodynamically inefficient. Consequently - for Aerotwin Original front wiper-blades for a LHD Fabia Mk4 car - the A 863 S set would be required, not the A 864 S set.

 

UK prices for Aerotwin blades vary significantly. I paid £17.15 for an A 864 S set bought from an on-line vendor in Northern Ireland.

 

(The A 303 H rear wiper blade for a Fabia Mk4 is bisexual and fits RHD or LHD models.)

That is interesting. I'm sorry to our European counterparts that I hadn't given a thought to LHD/RHD variations. Wilkommen and Bienvenue. 

Thank you for the information I ordered the Bosch Rear Wiper A303H

from the same source, it arrived very quickly and fitted with no problem.