My 2001 was coming up to 7 500 miles and the passenger wiper was smearing badly. I thought this was a bit soon, so I asked advice from a chap at work who suggested;

1. Clean screen and wiper with meths
2. Polish screen with newspaper

Worked a treat and saved me a few quid on a new wiper.

 

i would recomend auto glym glass polish it works on w.blades and w.screen its the nads

 

I used vinegar, then newspaper

 

I recommend Rain-X. The glass cleaner is great, and if you put the rain repellent stuff on as well then you don't need to use the wipers as much - the rain beads and is driven off the screen by aerodynamic forces

 

RainX is excellent, definitely. I've just fitted a winged blade to the passenger one on my car (both blades went within two days of each other, after 35000 miles!) and that's completely cured the smearing (even without RainX on, yet).

Richard