This is gonna be a hodgepodge of my thoughts. I don't feel like spending more time proof-reading and editing this. So please excuse if it comes off a bit scattered an inelegant.
So the OEM wipers suck. My M2 is 22 months old. 8 months of which I didn't drive my car because it was getting repaired from an accident. Probably another 2 months total it was in a shop getting upgrades. And probably a bunch more of ownership time I wasn't driving in situations that require wipers. In my experience, wipers should last much longer than this.
The problems I'm having is the wipers chatter bad and leave streaks now. Even worse when there is some salt on the windows.
In my previous vehicle I found the best combination was RainX 2-1 washer fluid, and their Fusion wiper blades. However both of these are no longer available. Seems that the fluid was discontinued, because it's become ridiculously hard to find. And the other fluids do not compare to it. Either because they have too high of a freezing point, don't offer water beading, or include bug&tar solvents... And for what happened to the blades I like, RainX doesn't make those blades for our car.
For fluid, on paper it seems that Prestone 3-1 is comparable. It's a little more costly. Almost twice as expensive. But it includes water beading formula and doesn't include bug&tar solvents. I find the bug&tar fluid is an unnecessary solvent. Let's say it eats through bugs, it's just gonna smear bug guts all over your window. If bug are your problem, don't use your wipers and wash your car. Also I rather not have solvents in the fluid as I feel it eats through ceramic coating. Even the OEM BMW fluid has destroyed my ceramic coating and I believe that just has alcohol in it.
Ok, wiper blades. My requirements are that they last and look good. They can't be an eyesore. Some have big bulky attachment points. This is my first time using the I&L connector, previous car was J-hook, and it seems the bulky attachment isn't an issue with I&L but we'll see.
RainX has 4 blade options for our car:
RainX Arch: Is an entry level blade. I'm not an entry level man, so no thanks
RainX Water Repellancy: What you do with these is run the blades for a few minutes on a dry window after you first install them. This applies a water beading coating to the window. I think this is a stupid way to accomplish this. After a little while, the coating wears off the blades and is useless. I find it's better to apply a ceramic coating and/or use water beading washer fluid to accomplish this. The blades are around $19 each.
RainX Silicone Endura: These are their new top line product. They use a silicone wiper blade. I haven't used them, but they seem really nice. These have a symmetrical pyramid shape to them.
RainX Silicone Advantage: These are the same as the Endura, but have an asymmetrical shape to them. Here is a picture of what I'm talking about. These are $34 each. And are available at my local Advanced Auto with a $20 discount, so this is what I am going to give a try.
Additionally, another OEM+ upgrade brand I found is Trico. However, they have so many options available that I gave up trying to figure out their differences and pick one. I believe they generally are cheaper than the $34/ea RainX ones though.
https://www.tricoproducts.com/find-w...2018-m2-743725
Ok, that's it. I wasn't going to purchase new fluid and blades for another couple weeks. Just because I don't have a low fluid warning. I can make do with my current blades for now. And there is other more important stuff I needed to take care of. But writing this post got me excited to buy these things. So I'm heading to the store right after I submit this post. Will update with my experience.
And if anyone else has a better blade they recommend, leave a comment with it. I really only did an hour or so of research and am posting my findings and thoughts. So there may be something better I'm missing.