OK, my dealer is about 80 miles away and my rear wiper blade disintegrated. I went to Autozone to buy a new blade and put it in myself, but none of the manufacturers (Bosch, Rain-X, Duralast, Valucraft) listed a blade for the rear of the Mini Coopers.

<Edit: I take that back, Bosch listed one, but it wasn't stocked.>

So I went to the parts counter and asked. The guy looked it up on the computer and looked at the back of my car, and told me it was a dealer-only replaceable part.

I say bologna! I went out and measured the blade, it was 11.25 inches, and I could see how you simply bend the blade and pull it out. So I went back into Autozone and asked for an 11" refill blade, but they don't carry them that small. The smallest he had was 12". It was $6 for two blades, so I bought them and figured I would cut it to size.

The Valucraft 12" refill worked perfect. I took it home, cut off 3/4" with a sharp knife. Unfortunately, cutting off the end also allowed the two parts of the blade to separate - slide apart. So I grabbed some super glue and put a dab on each end. I let it dry, and then put it on the car. Voila! It worked perfect. (Just to be clear, you don't put any superglue on your car, or on the wiper arm of the Mini - just on the two parts of the wiper blade refill.)

NOTE: This is a REFILL BLADE. You have to ask for them at the counter. The ones on display include the whole wiper blade assembly that holes the blade.

 

My dad was here the other day and figured that out for me. He was pretty proud of himself. I'm sure not going to the dealer for a wiper blade replacement.

 

I didn't go to the dealer. Went to Outmotoring & got the wiper there.

http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...blade-arm.html

 

It's good to know that we can get an OEM replacement, but still, $6 plus a little snip compared to $18 plus shipping is kinda hard to swallow. It's just a wiper blade.

 

I figured if paid $23,000 for my MINI I wasn't going to worry about $18.

FWIW I tried snipping a wiper to length for my wife's Forester rear wiper & had less than satisfactory results. Yes she made me go to the dealer & buy the correct wiper.

 

Haha! Good point.

 

thanks for the post! should help the lot of us who happen to be frugal :}

 

Frugal, is that one of those new cars from China?

 

I have an '04 MC. I don't want to buy the whole arm but just the refill rubber. Where does one go to find it. Few stores have refills and none have refills that would fit. The type of arm I have has a 12" or so plastic guide that is held onto the arm by four pairs of plastic clamps. I need to either get the rubber wiper refill or remove the plastic guide that the rubber slides into. If I go with removing the plastic guide and replacing it with a rubber wiper that has the metal strips along the side then that might work. The problem is, I can't figure out how to remove the plastic guide unless I simply break or cut it and throw it away. Anyone have any ideas?

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...o-refills.html

 

I saw that. I don't think that Anco refill is being made anymore. I couldn't find it. How does one get the plastic carrier out without breaking it?