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Now before you all jump all over me for starting another rear wiper thread, trust me when I say that I did a search and read every thread that came up for the rear wiper and my 3 working brain cells are now more confused than before......so, here we go again (with maybe a few twists involved this time)
my 2004 R53 was one of the first ones off the line, production date is 10-7-2003. My source of wiper blades has gone MIA and I need to find another outlet for replacements. I just put my last blade on the car yesterday that I had in the garage. They only seem to last about a year seeing as the car sits outside year 'round
I looked all over various vendors, but can't seem to come up with something that matches what I have on the car now. The car is original as far as I know, but I'm wondering if maybe the rear arm & blade are not "correct" for the car. (wrong arm, wrong blade, or both??)
My plastic blade measures 10-3/4" long, and the rubber blade insert is 10-1/4" long......everything I am finding is over 11" long from all the vendors....as you can see in the pictures, I don't think I can use an 11"+ blade on the car....it would hit the upper window seal at the top of the glass......
So, am I missing something obvious here, or am I on the hunt again for a blade under 11" for my car again? I don't want to do the wiper delete on the car, we really need the rear wiper up here in NW Washington
I found that if you take the blade insert out of the arm it is pretty generic other than the length
took in into the parts store and found a refill that was a match except for length
a lil work with some cutting tools and POOF I had an insert that slid in just fine ..... get a long enuf replacement and you can make TWO from one!
I was able to pull the metal stiffeners out of the old and new ... simply cut the new rubber and then put the old stiffener in the new rubber ..... after the first time 3 minute job.
Tried that a couple times......neither of my generic part stores up here have anything close....which brings me back to whether or not I have some sort of odd-ball rear wiper blade on my '04 R53 or not
I have a May '02 with the same rear wiper.
I doubt that you have anything odd.
The fitting for the blade onto the arm is unique to MINI, I think, so other blades won't fit.
Rubber refills alone are hard to find now - try Wal*Mart - but as Captain BJ said, just get a generic 22" blade, slide the rubber bit out & cut it in half.
Then a few minutes fiddling on the kitchen table to swap the parts over.
I just measured the rear wiper on my '02 R53.
The rubber insert is 11 3/4" long
The plastic blade itself is 12 1/4" long.
The wiper arm is 9 1/8" from the washer jet to the tip.
There's about 3/4" clear above the sweep of the arm at the top.
So it looks as though I have the NMA3019 but I'd say either one will fit.
Note the slight difference in angles between the two.
Have you tried just getting some from the dealer? I have to replace mine every other year or so also, and I just order a few wipers along with the spray nozzle caps.
Have you tried just getting some from the dealer? I have to replace mine every other year or so also, and I just order a few wipers along with the spray nozzle caps.
I actually went down to our local dealer today to get a couple small parts for the R52.......I took one of my old rear wiper blades with me and asked the parts counter guy price and availability for the rear wiper for my R53.......
Rear blade complete with rubber insert, $18.95 plus tax
Rear blade replacement rubber insert only, $17.50 plus tax
The parts guy and I agreed that these rear blades never wear out, they just deteriorate from sitting
So I paid for my little lighter bulb and the amber ring for the lighter socket and walked out $15 poorer for those 2 items
On the way home I stopped at another parts store with the 10" rear blade off the car.....they don't sell just replacement rubber inserts anymore....but he had a 19" Trico blade insert on the back shelf for a long time gathering dust.....he took it out of the package and it's a perfect match for the little 10" insert I have now....even the two metal rail guides are the same.....He sold me the insert for $7........granted, I can only get one blade cut from this, but right now, I'm waiting for the one to arrive from overseas that I paid under $4 for......
I looked there.....most have to be purchased in quantities of 5 or 10 pieces at once......and those that I could find in single quantities were for the late production '04 cars, not the early one like mine.....
$20 for a simple wiper blade you're going to change every year is just ridiculous.
Your local auto store may not stock refills, but can "get them from the warehouse" in a day or two.
or just get a complete blade & only use the rubber bit for $5 - $10 depending on your preferred brand.
Interesting to read. The a few years back, I replaced the rubber with a generic refill. I think it was $5 CDN. I cut to fit and it worked out to 11.25" on my 2005 MCS. Since a replacement wiper is plastic, I hesitate to pull it off and replace the whole thing. At 15 years old, I am already getting plastic parts warp and crack. Where the rear wiper arm joins the blade, is a prime part to crack, or not fit properly. I went to the MINI dealer, NAPA, Lordco. Nobody sells or stocks a refill anymore, short of ordering PIAA refills.
So I am going to buy a 23" blade for about $10CDN and pull out the rubber and cut it in half so I will have 2 refills for my rear blade.
Incidentally, my front windshield wiper blades are PIAA blades. I have had them on my car for 7 years now. They are still going strong in the Pacific Northwest where it rains a lot, and snows a bit, all year. I recently bought PIAA refills for them, but have not needed to actually swap them out yet. So I highly recommend PIAA blades for the front of your car.
Mine just hangs out back there; I don't use it and curse my wife when she tries to. When it gets really filthy it just blurs out the lights from the vehicle behind me better.
