For years I bought replacement 17" wiper blades for my 88 pickup, and never thought twice about it. Now, it seems that none of them fit the arm. It's not a J-end arm, but just a straight tip with a tiny raised button and two holes. Should slide into the blade center part and *click* when the button & holes line up. But Michelins don't fit at all, and Bosch seems to assume it's a J-ended arm. What wiper blades do YOU use? and are you happy with them?
I went through the same pain. EVERY blade with the adapters I bought didn't work. The factory Toyota arms are narrower but thicker than what is now normal. BUT! Last year I finally found blades that fit. Unfortunately, I don't remember what brand it was! But I think I bought them at Autozone or O'Reilly's. They aren't any of the fancy crap. Just basic rubber blades. In fact, they're already raggedy after only a year. I'll have to go get another pair. Let me look in my pile of stuff and maybe I can find the box.
Pretty sure all 4 of my Toyota’s use the same J- pattern arm. Typically I buy Goodyear blades on sale at Costco but two years ago I bought like 3 sets of $2 blades for each car during a RockAuto sale. I pattern doesn’t need them but every set has come with proper adapters to fit all arm styles.
Thanks, Mr. Dink. Let me know if you find that name & model blade. Sure, replacement blades all come with adapters, and of course I tried them. If any of those adapters had fit, I wouldn't have started the thread!
Okay... good news, bad news... So, I went to look at the wipers on my truck. They're Bosch. But my truck's wiper arm has a bolt-on J-blade. I'm pretty sure it's stock because, in the past I always just changed the rubber blade. However, on a whim, I purchased a Bosch Icon+ at O'Reilly's. Part #41917. There is a little box of adapters, one of which fits the wiper arm. It's a tight fit though. However, the screw holes and the alignment pin hole line up perfectly so I think it's the correct part.
Stand by -- I saw a Bosch Excel+ at O'Reilly's #41917. On the back of the package was an illustration of my wiper arm tip, "bayonet, B6". So went onto Amazon where it was MUCH cheaper! When it gets here I'll see whether it'll fit. I'm learning a lot about wiper blades. In the past there was always an adapter that would fit. But lately it seems that some blade brands/models no longer include an adapter for the "straight with a button" or bayonet tipped arms. Hey, it's always something.
UPDATE: Ended up buying Bosch 40717A MicroEDGE blade, which fits fine. As for the arm & tip - that's called a "bayonet" tip, as I think I once knew and then forgot. Clicks right on. I notice the far end of the passenger-side blade doesn't touch the lower-right of the windshield; not really much of an issue. You also have the option of choosing 16" blades to sweep a smaller area. All I wanted was a blade to fit the arm. What has changed is that no longer do all standard blades include a suitable adapter. Bosch has the advantage (in-store, anyway) in that the package is sort of a sleeve arrangement that you can slide out to view the details of installation for different arms BEFORE you buy. That's one up on the other manufacturers' packaging. That said, it's no mystery why Amazon is doing well and my local parts store is so clean & quiet. I could understand maybe 10% higher price to support your local business, but not 35% higher.
One of the tricks I use to save money is to use Rock Auto data base and interchange numbers. Then search the part number on Amazon. With prime and free shipping, usually cheaper, and arrives in two days.
In my 36 years of owning a 86 Toyota, I just bought my 1st set of Michelin wiper blades from Walmart. The best blade ever. Perfect clean sweep, no streaks, no noise, and very affordable at $15 for the set. I find the 17" wiper blade is too long for the passenger side. The tip always sat above the windshield curvature on every brand I used. Now I use a 16"blade on that side and fits perfectly flat. The length difference is not noticeable.
