Lifespan of Front Wiper Inserts

I just replaced the left and right wipers on my 09 for $24.70, bought at the dealer. It was the whole assembly, not the inserts. I can't imagine why the cost is so much higher for the Gen III.

 

We have 20 months and over 43,000 miles on the original blades, and they are still working just fine. Do you run your vehicle thru an automatic car wash on a frequent basis? I've found this to be really tough on wiper blades.

 

I got 2 years out of the OEMs. I replaced them with the same.

 

You may be on to something there. I purchased a gallon of that once, and only once. Never again!

 

Using the wipers at least twice a day for cleaning the windshield is a bit much and obsessive. It'd be cheaper to do something about your OCD instead

 

I replaced my OEM inserts after 18 months in 2/11 after the rear one began to split. So 10 months on the new inserts and they still look and work fine.

 

I don't know how different the 2010 wipers are but I have had to replace the rubbers quite frequently. (I.E. Every three or four rain events.) They have an annoying habit of getting little nicks on the reverse edge which leaves lines right in my line of sight. It doesn't seem to matter whether they are OEM or after market. There are no stone chips or other abberations on my windscreen. I can only put it down to the dusty conditions we have here when it's dry.

 

Local Toyota parts department supplied me with complete replacement blades that were of a cheaper design. They were Toyota branded blades and not aftermarket but they didn't last very long at all.

Luckily I had kept the original "aerodynamic" blades so I was able to replace the refills in them and re-install them -- with much better results in terms of performance. Refills are relatively inexpensive so replacement interval is not much of an issue to me.

 

The original front wiper blades on my Prius are still wiping clearly after 40,000 miles and twenty-eight months. Amazing.

 

We got our Prius in July of '09 and I just noticed that nearly an inch of the insert of the driver's wiper has started to separate at the right end. We only have about 7,000 miles on our baby but then it's usually parked outside facing the full afternoon sun. Our summers are very warm and the windshield glass gets hot enuf to fry an egg so I'm not surprised these originals have started to fail. I wish I knew of an insert that can tolerate triple digit weather.

 

Last week I used my free oil change/checkup coupon at my Toyota dealer as I did not want to change my oil in the cold (got the coupon when I purchased the car new - 2 1/2 years/32,000 miles ago). They said my wiper blade inserts (rubber part) were streaking (I had not noticed this) and the inserts should be replaced. So I said OK (since it is winter and it had been 2 1/2 years) and bought their inserts which they then installed. It was six days later when I first used the wipers and realized that there was uneven pressure along the length of the inserts which left several "dirty" areas on both sides of the windshield (mostly from the edges "curling up"). I returned to the dealer today (120 mile round trip) so they could look at them. They removed the inserts, fiddled with the metal spines (trying to bend them differently). This did not help. I have not touched the blades/inserts and unless there was some really weird coincidence, I believe that the metal spines got goofed up/bent during the insert change. The metal spines do not come with the inserts and you cannot purchase them separately. However, they would come with new wiper blades. The dealer was willing to give me new Toyota brand wiper blades/inserts (which worked fine) but they are not like the aerodynamic ones that come on the Prius. They were willing to sell me a new set of the aerodynamic ones at their best price which would be about $85 plus tax. I suggested that they give me a new set of the aerodynamic ones since everything was just fine until they changed the inserts. They said that Toyota recommends NO replacement inserts for these blades, meaning it is all or nothing (you replace nothing or you replace the blades/inserts). They said they are trying to help their customers save money by replacing the inserts and that they have never had troubles until now. They think the problem is in the wiper blade. They also tried taking the spines from the Toyota brand blades/inserts that worked fine and put them on my original blades. It helped some but did not totally solve the problem. They did check into the warranty situation. The wiper blades are covered under the 12 month/12,000 miles warranty, not the 36 month/36,000 mile warranty so warranty would not apply in this situation.

Since it was after 5 PM by this point, they are going to discuss things tomorrow and get back to me. I will report results.

Thought you may want to know about my situation....any suggestions would be appreciated. I searched the site and see that many of you have successfully installed inserts of various brands. Am assuming you had even pressure along the blades.

One thought was to purchase some heavier duty inserts that would be a little taller and create more pressure between the blade and the window.

Comments, ideas, suggestions needed.

 

I had my wife pickup some OEM refills while she was in Houston this fall. I replaced them (one I actually had to cut to size) and couldn't be happier. They clean great, no streaks. Seems like your service depart techs are dorks. Save money... right.

 

where did you get the inserts from? I got a pair (L+R) from dealer for $6.50

 

Obviously you don't live in snow country and being from CA myself I didn't appreciate the importance of washer fluid until my first Chicago winter. They salt the roads here in the winter so heavily that the road grime/salt residue coats your windshield and you have to clean the windshield with the wipers every few minutes. If you run out of fluid you might as well pull over because there is no seeing through that mess.