So after 300,000 or so miles of owning 80s and caring for them, today I find out that I've been mistreating them all when I changed the wiper blades. Ordered some new rubber inserts for my 93, and complete new blades (includes the metal part that holds the rubber inserts also) for the 97 from Cdan.
Put the 97's new blades on - snap, snap just like high end OEM stuff should go - flawless fit. BTW, Consumer Reports rated the Toyota rubber inserts as some of the best blades even up against high end aftermarket stuff like Bosch, etc so if you hate streaking get the Toyota parts.
Anyhow, I'm assembling the new rubber inserts for the 93 and while getting the thin metal stays into one I noticed for the first time that Toyota puts a nifty little diagram that shows I've been putting the notches pointing out incorrectly all these years (they're supposed to point against the rubber). Intrigued, I start reading the directions (hey, there's a concept). Huh? The curved stays I've always assumed should be installed in such a way that the wiper is precurved concave just like the windshield surface, but Toyota wants the passenger wiper to be curved the other way? Really?
Realizing that this may be why those new blades I just put on the 97 out in the drive had "driver" and "passenger" on the boxes even though they were otherwise identical, I went out to see which direction they curved. Sure enough, the driver's curves concave and the passenger's curves convex when you pull them off the glass. Unbelievable.
I hit the washers on the 93 and watched in disbelief as both wipers cleaned the fluid off absolutely PERFECTLY - not even a streak. Yes, there is a difference - these 160,000 mile blades always work well, but with this subtle difference they seemed to mold perfectly to the glass as they wiped their different shaped sections of the windshield.
So, pay attention to Mr. Toyota. One of those little things that makes a big difference, and something that even a veteran 80 guy can learn. My gift to the OCD crowd for the weekend....
DougM
Put the 97's new blades on - snap, snap just like high end OEM stuff should go - flawless fit. BTW, Consumer Reports rated the Toyota rubber inserts as some of the best blades even up against high end aftermarket stuff like Bosch, etc so if you hate streaking get the Toyota parts.
Anyhow, I'm assembling the new rubber inserts for the 93 and while getting the thin metal stays into one I noticed for the first time that Toyota puts a nifty little diagram that shows I've been putting the notches pointing out incorrectly all these years (they're supposed to point against the rubber). Intrigued, I start reading the directions (hey, there's a concept). Huh? The curved stays I've always assumed should be installed in such a way that the wiper is precurved concave just like the windshield surface, but Toyota wants the passenger wiper to be curved the other way? Really?
Realizing that this may be why those new blades I just put on the 97 out in the drive had "driver" and "passenger" on the boxes even though they were otherwise identical, I went out to see which direction they curved. Sure enough, the driver's curves concave and the passenger's curves convex when you pull them off the glass. Unbelievable.
I hit the washers on the 93 and watched in disbelief as both wipers cleaned the fluid off absolutely PERFECTLY - not even a streak. Yes, there is a difference - these 160,000 mile blades always work well, but with this subtle difference they seemed to mold perfectly to the glass as they wiped their different shaped sections of the windshield.
So, pay attention to Mr. Toyota. One of those little things that makes a big difference, and something that even a veteran 80 guy can learn. My gift to the OCD crowd for the weekend....
DougM
