I've looked through several threads and can't find an answer for my situation. I was astounded at the cost of a simple rear wiper blade from Toyota the other day and in my area, none of the auto parts stores sell blades only--they sell the whole wiper now. What a racket! Wiper types have advanced incredibly over the years, but Toyota forces me to install the same old crap at ridiculous prices... I remember when I first bought my Prius (2006), there was at least one company selling replacements for the whole arm assembly so that you could use any replacement brand you wanted. As long as I could buy cheap blades, I was fine. Now that I've become fed up, I can't seem to find any mention of this anywhere. For the record, I want to be able to install any wiper from any manufacturer on my rear window. That means I need a wiper arm that ends in any of the generic ends that work for modern wipers. Does anyone know of a forum or a link that could steer me in the right direction? I would be very grateful.
Found what I was looking for! This site won't let me post the links though: priuschat[dot]com/forums/sponsored-commercial-sales/9437-upsize-your-rear-wiper-15-75-20-a.html PriusOnline[dot]com • View topic - Rear Wiper Blade replacement with RAIN-X Latitude sigmaautomotive[dot]com/jdm/prius/nhw20_ext.php
What's wrong with buying a refill from your Toyota dealer? Not that I like buying parts from the dealer, but this is one case where a hard-to-find part is actually pretty cheap, $3.57 MSRP, and installation is a snap.
My dealer charged $15.00 for the rubber w/o the metal splines and $20 for the two together the last time I went in. Guess he saw me coming. Plus, the dang thing was hard to install. But, you're still on the right track--I kept searching and found an alternative that works even better than my first thought. Trico sells an "Exact Fit" rear wiper blade assembly that in fact fits exactly! It is Exact Fit 16-A, $9.99 at AutoZone, and it installed right out of the box in half a second. I'm a happy camper again.
For future reference, a PIAA 94040 silicone wiper blade refill fits. $6.37 at Amazon, quite long-lasting and comes with rubber + metal insert.
I would check another source online first. I found a dealership that sold them for much less than my local "Stealership".
If you use the Trico blade I referenced earlier in the thread, you don't need to change the rubber insert. For your specific situation, though, you can reference this thread: priuschat[dot]com/forums/gen-ii-prius-care-maintenance-troubleshooting/24106-rear-wiper-blade[dot]html, which has a link to a walk-through. Sorry for the [dots] but the forum has a rule that prevents me from posting the actual link.
I just purchased all three rubber refills; driver, passenger and hatch for $21 from my dealer. This is the rubber refill only. It is simple to take the metal strips with the preset curvature out of the old rubber pieces and slip into the grooves in the new refills. The rubber pieces slide right out of the blade holders, especially the front two. They have a solid piece on one end with a groove that the blade holder slips in to. A gentle tug will pull the rubber piece out of the holder. The hatch one has plastic end covers over both ends. The instructions say to pull the rubber piece up against the holder in the middle and then pull one end of the rubber piece out of its holder.
