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Front wipers - wipe footprint

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by smaroney, Jan 4, 2014.

  1. smaroney

    smaroney New Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Hello, I just began with the Prius life (2010 Prius III) and it's nothing short of awesome and unlike any other drive experience I've had up to now (in a good way, of course!) So, I am wondering if it is normal for the front windshield wipers to miss a somewhat small portion of the windshield when wiping. The area I speak of is lower passenger side, and arcs upward and to the left.. roughly the area (but not shape) of a standard notecard. I am pretty sure my wipers are the correct length (19" & 26"). All other cars I've driven up to now does an otherwise full footprint worth of wiping (ignoring the top and side edges, of course). So here are my two questions:

    1) Is this normal?
    2) Has anyone successfully changed their wiper length to minimize this gap?

    This is not a huge deal by any means, it merely creates a pesky streak of fluid any time you use the wiper wash fluid while driving (you have to dry wipe the windows a number of times after wash-wiping it).. and maybe somewhat blocks the view of the passenger.

    Thanks in advance! Again, not a huge issue--just curious as to whether this is normal or not and if anyone has found a work-around. :D
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    welcome to priuschat! congrats on your new wheels, are the wiper blades new, or are you talking about the area outside of the blade radius?
     
  3. peterjmc

    peterjmc Ping pong in Ding Dang...

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    Any pics of the missed area?

    My 2010 Prius had a problem with the passenger side wipers missing the bottom outside outer most edge. This was the area where the glass was slightly curved. I had this fixed. The dealer first replaced the wiper blade, and when that didn't work they replaced the wiper arm.

    Nexus 5
     
  4. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    yeah these new curvey windscreens... if you don't havr the complete OEM units, don't expect top performance.

    Has anyone found a place to buy the original blades?
     
  5. smaroney

    smaroney New Member

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    2010 Prius
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    III
    Sorry for the delayed response. I will get a picture the next time I get a chance. The area I speak of is outside the blade radius on the bottom passenger side. It's a skinny swath that is created between the two blades. Thanks again for the comments and suggestions!
     
  6. smaroney

    smaroney New Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    III
    20140213_142807.jpg Here is the swath I'm talking about.