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Piston Slap: What About the Wiper Blade Refill?
Vince writes:
Does anybody replace just the rubber wiper blade anymore? I always replaced the rubber blade; not the entire ‘carriage’ or whatever the blade-holding contraption is called. (Apparently the term we need to discuss is Wiper Blade Refill. – SM) But it’s gotten more difficult from a sourcing perspective.
It seems that time has changed; just as now the oil change on your Porsche is expected to cost several hundred dollars, people have been led to believe that it’s too difficult to change the rubber blade and should replace the entire assembly for 4x or 5x the cost.
Sajeev answers:
Thank you for asking this, Vince! Your email and a handful of comments on my Piston Slap about replacement wiper blades notes that I didn’t cover the topic of wiper blade refills. That is a shortcoming we will address now, as wiper blade refills still exist…but they are significantly harder to purchase.
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Even Trico, the most prominent maker of refills on the market, wants to sell the classic car owner a new wiper blade that looks like an old one. Perhaps they can get away with it, as decades of retailing replacement wiper blades conditioned us to seek a replacement blade without even looking for the refill.
So yes, you can still order wiper blade refills. Sadly, the onus is now on the consumer to research the brands, the part numbers that apply to your vehicle, and the retailers willing to sell them to you. I have yet to find an employee at a parts counter who can successfully source wiper refills for my vehicle, but hopefully what I learned can how help you, dear reader.
Trico sells a wide variety of replacement refills, so click the link in this sentence to see which part works for your application. I suspect Trico’s Series 44 works for the vast majority of readers, as it has the old-school metal clip at one end to “lock” itself into a wiper blade. (The photo at the top of this story shows the metal clip in detail, as I bought Series 44s in bulk a few years ago.)
There’s one final problem: do you still have a wiper blade that accepts a refill? I saw the “transition from refills to blades” firsthand, so I fear every vehicle that isn’t a barn find or a museum piece lost their factory wiper blades. Take a close look at your blade, because the rubber refill is probably locked into the chassis. Sometimes it is visibly crimped together, but no matter how they did it, I reckon you are stuck in the replacement wiper blade ecosystem.
Throwing away factory wiper blades in the 1990-00s seemed like the right move when I was younger. But after writing this Piston Slap and reflecting on how my old beaters became cherished classics, I’d pay a lot to turn back the clock and have wiper blades with replaceable refills. I am no fan of being locked into an ecosystem of paying more money for even more land waste. I suspect I am not the only person who feels this way.
Perhaps readers of Hagerty Media know a workaround, a way to make a new wiper blade work like an old one with replaceable refills. If so, I am all ears. And I am sure I am not the only one looking for enlightenment.
Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com—give us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.
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I have spare refills for the Road Runner, but hope to never have to use them. I don’t know where I’d find them (maybe eBay?). On the MkIII Supra, the arm ends (front and rear) are standard j-hooks, so Walmart has what I need. The arm on the rear is looking a little sad, though. Everything else is Rain-X brand at Walmart, and gets replaced nearly every fall, as it just doesn’t last through 2 winters.