How to change wiper blades including refills

mine lasted 30 months, it was the passenger side that split. You know that it's not from excess rain here in So Cal.
The total cost for both inserts with shipping from an eBay supplier was $20 bucks. Just like the video said

 

Good video. But the wiper arm is only $18 to $22, depending on where you buy them. I think the highest price I saw was $26? Amazon. The dealer was actually cheaper. Cerritos Toyota gave me the "senior" discount. I thought maybe one of the arms was bent, so I just replaced them both.

You are right Kevin. No rain. I use the wiper & squirt washer fluid to clean the dust off. Bad habit.

 

Well... I guess I learned my lesson... Now, that I have the Prime I won't make that mistake again or listen to my partner going to AutoZone or wherever the hell we went, they damn near tore the wiper arm off the car...

Now what I do recall from that experience is that the 2017 and later Prii use a different wiper design? I've yet to look at the Prime and see if it is any different.

 

I do this every day since I live in a dust bowl.

 

Yes, It's very dusty here, too. Now my new wiper blade on the left side is leaving streaks and smears again. I have hand washed the windshield several times, and always wipe off the wiper blades with water. But the left one still streaks. Weird.

About the recalls, my three notices came from Toyota corporate office. (Parking brake, airbag, wiring harness.)
I just showed up at the dealer without an appointment for the parking brake & wiring harness. Didn't even bring the letters. But they would probably prefer I had an appt.

 

It's been my experience that the driver's side wiper blade always fails first. It's one of the corollaries to Murphy's Law.

 

Agree, jerry. That always seems to be the case with me. Mine don't last 24 months. How does Mendel get 9 years out of a wiper blade???

 

British Columbia. Think : "RAIN" lots and lots of it.

 

We had drought conditions this last summer, similar to the previous years. No need to mow the lawn, it's just hay. Ours is mostly moss anyway.

The rain is back now though, off and on.

I'm not sure why the wipers are going so long. FWIW, the car's build date was August 2009, STILL on the original wipers, and they really look like new. I think more northern there's less UV, and the car is garage stored, and the aforementioned rain. And only 77K kms fer chrisakes.

Maybe using the wipers to clean the windshield on hot/dusty days is tough on them? It's extra abrasive to the edges, and then they sit in hot sun with washer fluid baking on??

 

Yes sir. Agree. And I don't think the Rain-X bug remover is exactly good for the wiper rubber. Maybe I should just fill the reservoir with plain water? (Unable to find any Toyota brand wiper fluid. They sell aftermarket brands.) I can't believe my new left blade is splitting already.

I keep Invisible Glass spray window cleaner and towels in the trunk. I'm constantly cleaning the windows.

 

After I purchased my 2017 Prime last year, very first parts/accessory I purchased for the car was spare wipers and wiper blades. I had those pair of brand new OEM Genuine TOYOTA wipers (L and R) as well as rubber refills for almost a year, yet my original wipers seems to be not needing replacement yet. I had an experience of losing wiper blade during heavy snow storm, which made the car completely undrivable. Ever since, I have a phobia of not having spare wiper blade in my car all the time. LOL

 

I had the same phobia after the whole wiper arm fell off of my 1982 Honda Accord. It had 327 000 km on it, so I forgave it.

 

Well, if whole wiper arm goes, then spare wiper blade would not have helped you anyway.

 

Just seems odd with my Prius. The rubber splitting so fast. My 2005 Camry sat in the sun all day, in the same dusty area, and I used the same Rain-X wiper fluid. But I only changed the wiper blades once or twice in 11 years?

When I was at the auto show yesterday, I kept looking at the wiper blades on various brands of vehicles. Seeing if they look stronger, better, any different than Toyotas. (I'm a "detail" man! ) All the cars were pretty much the same. Only the pickup trucks appeared to have sturdier blades.

What a dumb thing to worry about, eh? I'll just keep buying blades.

 

Could be Toyota's wiper supplier is cutting corners. Complain to the dealership, maybe you're not the only one.

 

Although I have used many different wipers over the years on different cars, I have never compared different wiper blades. Wiper blade is something I have no way of knowing how long it last. I have had a some goes as long as 3-4 years (maybe not as long as Mendel's lol), then some last only a few months. Generally speaking cheap ones are less of quality, but some very expensive aftermarket ones did not last very long either. I do like newer beam wiper blade for look and better squeezee function, but feels those older spring loaded bracket-type wipers lasted longer on average. IDK why though. I also don't like using bracket type, also called conventional or spring arm, during winter, for removing iced up wiper becomes nearly impossible with those wipers. I have used "Winter blades" with rubber boot around it for good result for those icy weather, but boy are they ugly!

 

What type of wiper blades do you have, Mendel? I bet the rubber on your 2010 is better than the newer rubber we are getting on the Gen4.

Maybe the beam arm type that salamander king posted, causes more premature wear because it fits the window so snuggly?

There's no doubt, I think Toyota (and other auto companies) is cutting corners with some of their parts. But people don't like to hear that. Just look at all the peeling Gen4 steering wheels lately!

And I just recently noticed the fabric material on my driver seat is starting to fray in places. That never happened with any other car I ever owned. And it's not my clothes, I'm still wearing the same clothes!

 

Maybe next time try one of aftermarket silicon blade type. I don't know if I have ever used one before or not, but they do claim they are better UV and heat resistance than rubber blade.

 

Thanks I've been looking for some lately. I did buy a pair a few months ago, I think they were made by Bosch. They arrived in the mail, but the darn attachment would not fit my '16 Prius. They lied.

Then I went to two auto stores but neither one had any blades that would fit. I think the car is still too new

 

Still no aftermarket wipers? That's not good. When I bought my PRIME last year, I quickly realized that spare wipers I had stocked for my other cars including traded in Gen3, did not fit on PRIME. There were a few threads here on trouble finding wiper that fit on both PRIME and Gen4. So I had to order Toyota OEM wipers for my PRIME stock-up. But that was a full year ago. And Gen4 has been around since 2016. There should be aftermarket wipers with correct fitting by now, I think.