I needed to replace my rear wiper, and the forums seemed to have mixed info, so I'm posting this to hopefully help the next NAM'er save some time and money.

The OEM rear wiper blade on my '05 MCS is plastic and simply snaps out of the arm. It uses a 7mm square claw insert. The clerk at Autozone helped me find something that worked. I ended up with a 24" Anco Wide Series wiper refill. The label is yellow and the part number on it is W-24R. They come a pair to the box. The OEM wiper is roughly 12", so one box contains four refills (probably more than I'll ever need).

The Ancos use a plastic carrier instead of the metal inserts. I separated the carrier from the rubber and trimmed an 11.25" piece from each, using a hacksaw for the plastic and a blade for the rubber. The plastic carrier is not as flexible as the metal inserts, so after reassembling and sliding in the pivoting side, I snapped the other side in place. Good as new.

Total cost: $6.99 for the box, plus about 20 min of your time, and that's measuring twice. The 24" box will make four replacements, which comes to $1.75 apiece. I'm not sure what the dealer charges these days, but I doubt it's less than that. One last note: These weren't on the shelves at Autozone, so you might have to ask a clerk. Good luck!

 

good info.
Thanks!

 

I want mine to exert more force so I get a clean wipe. I think the spring is tired.

 

everyone kept telling me that i needed to cut the wiper blade for the rear wiper because no store sold the same size one that is on there, but i bought just the wiper blade for the rear wiper at the local MINI dealer, it was only $3.

 

How does one get the plastic carrier out? I don't think the Anco wiper blade like the one mentioned is made any more the style seems to be different. Any other type available?

 

Here is what I used on my 2006 MSC. I am listing all the blades here just to be complete.
Front Drivers side: Anco N-18R (449mm)
Front Passenger: Anco N-19R (474mm)
I don't know if 449mm or 474mm is better, they both work fine. They slide right in, no problem.
For the rear I used
ANCO 18 (449mm) Narrow Refill.
The 449mm measurement on this one is important! You will need to cut the blade to the correct length so any one long enough will do.

 

Thanks for the input. I'll try Anco again. It will have to be a very narrow refill to fit into the plastic carrier. Any idea how to get the plastic carrier out? I'll be able to get a refill in there once I find one that fits but I'm wondering how to get that carrier out.

 

I am not sure what you mean by a plastic carrier. On my '06, I just pulled the old blades out. On the front I think I ended up destroying the factory blades but they came out without damaging the the remaining parts. Maybe the '05 is different? Got a picture of what you are talking about?

 

You can see in the picture the slot in the middle of the plastic carrier which runs the length of the arm. This is where the rubber refill slides in. I haven't been able to find a rubber refill narrow enough.

 

The refills I have are narrow enough (unless the '05 arm is different than my '06). That was why I made sure to include the sizes (in mm) in my post. Sorry I can't be of more help.