Rear Wiper Blades Review

A rear window wiper is installed on most hatchbacks and station wagons. It is required because the specific geometry of the body contributes to the penetration of dirt from the road to the rear window. Rear wipers are used much less frequently than front wipers. Typically, drivers are reminded of it when parking in reverse. However, the rear wiper works in more aggressive conditions: there is almost always a lot of dust with abrasive elements, which damage the rubber blade of the wiper when you start working on it. Replace the wipers of the rear window, usually several times less often than the front. For example, once every 1-2 years.

Non-original and original Rear Wiper Blades

In the automotive industry, “original” refers to parts that are produced under the automaker’s brand. For example: Wiper blades made by Valeo or Bosch under their brand name are “non-original. But in the box labeled BMW, most likely, there are the same Valeo or Bosch rear wiper blades – and they are the “original,” but several times more expensive. Car manufacturers order wiper systems from well-known manufacturers of automotive components and sell them under their brand name, of course, significantly more expensive. For most cars, you can buy a rear wiper SWF, Valeo, Bosch or Trico, but some models have such specific rear wipers that only the “original” wipers will fit. Examples of such cars: Honda Pilot from 2008, Opel Antara

Rear Wiper Blades design and mount type

By design, rear windshield wipers can be frame, “plastic” and frameless. Rear wiper blade mounts are usually specific and do not allow you to install, for example, frameless wiper blade instead of the frame (As on the front wipers).

Framed Rear Wiper Blades

Rear framed wipers are, in most cases, regular, short length framed wipers with a hook-and-loop attachment. This design is typical for most cars made before 2000, as well as a number of modern models. There are variations in which the hook can be already standard, or provides for mounting a 7mm pin, as on the “classic”. Sometimes a frame brush without plastic adapter is snapped directly into the leash, as on Range Rover. I want to warn car owners who want to change the rear frame wiper blade for a frameless one. Even if your mount is a regular hook, changing to a frameless one is not always possible. The reason is usually that on the rear window, the lever is installed very close to the glass and can interfere with the installation of frameless rear wiper blades, which is higher than the frame at the tips (because of the plugs).

Examples of cars that have a frame rear wiper installed: Nissan Juke, Ford Focus I, Chevrolet Lacetti and Trailblazer, Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, X-Trail T30, Smart, Honda CR-V to 2006.

How to choose Rear Wipers

“Plastic” rear wipers
Most modern cars are equipped with plastic rear wipers. Such a wiper has a smoothly shaped plastic frame. The brush is installed on a plastic leash and visually seems to be a continuation of it. The peculiarity of such wiper blades is a special attachment. It is possible to identify several types of attachments of such rear wiper blades, but in reality it does not guarantee that the wiper blades will fit due to the lack of common standards of attachments.

Usually in order to remove the rear wiper blade you need to bend the lever, bend the brush from the lever by about 30 degrees and with a little effort snap it off the lever. However, on some Lexus crossovers, in order to remove the rear wiper, you must unscrew the nut securing the wiper blade. See video instructions at the end of the page.

Examples of cars that have a plastic rear wiper: Toyota Rav4 until 2012, Ford Focus II, Mazda 3, Nissan Qashqai, Kia Sportage, Honda CR-V, Opel Astra, Corsa, Skoda Octavia, Nissan X-Trail, Note, and many others.

Replacing wiper blades is a question that will sooner or later arise before every driver.

During the operation of a personal vehicle after a certain period of time, many of its elements wear out, among which the wiper blades. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this device. Thanks to it, the driver has an opportunity to keep the windshield and rear window clean while driving in bad, rainy weather.

When to Replace Rear Wiper Blades?

Replacing wiper blades is a question that will sooner or later arise before every driver.

How to Replace Rear Wipers Blade

Replacing the used wipers is very easy and can be done with your own hands. The only important thing to do is to buy a new part, according to the size of the old one. After all, wipers often differ in length from each other and it is also important to take this into account.

Despite the fact that visually mounting the back wiper does not differ from the front, its disassembly can cause some difficulties for those who have never faced with the replacement of the rear wiper. The fact that the removal of the wiper blade, located behind, is only at a 45-degree angle.

To remove the worn rubber rear wiper blade, which has ceased to fully cope with cleaning the glass, you must include the wiper drive, then by starting the ignition system and its deactivation by turning the key to set the wiper blade in the right position.

Once you have achieved this, the removal of the wiper blade is simply by pressing on a special locking latch.

If you notice that the rear window of your car is not sufficiently cleaned from the dust and dirt stuck on it during the rain, you can conclude: the wiper rubber is worn and that is why it ceased to cope with its functions. It should be noted that the continued use of such wiper blades delivers some discomfort when driving a personal vehicle, especially in bad weather with heavy precipitation. When driving a car because of the limited view decreases the level of safety, so you need to be extremely careful behind the wheel, and better in general as soon as possible to replace the worn rubber elements of wipers.

The rubber element of the wipers is considered an expendable material for cars, it is not difficult to find.

There are some models of cars on which it will also not be superfluous to install rear wipers. The scheme of installation on the rear glass is sufficiently different from the installation of the wiper on the front windshield. In the case of installing rear wipers, it is impossible to say how to change the wipers, because all cars are different and the approach is different.

On the wiper is a nut mount, and above it a protective element. This metal cap must be lifted up.
Then take a 10 wrench and carefully, so as not to drop the washer under it, unscrew the nut. Now turn the device slightly and pull it gently toward you. It will come off without any problems. After that, you can remove the cleaning mechanism.
Now on the disassembled device, you need to pull the part and loosen the lock that holds the part on the lever with a screwdriver. It can be replaced in the same way as the front windshield wipers are replaced. When buying Rear Wipers Blades, you should pay attention to the bend of the blade, because even it affects the quality of cleaning.

Frameless Rear Wipers

These wipers have no spoiler and have a very low profile. The mounting of the rear frameless ones is also very specific. In recent years, some automakers began to put on new cars special frameless rear wiper blades instead of plastic ones.

Examples of cars equipped with frameless rear wipers are BMW X5 E70, Volvo XC70, XC90, Skoda Fabia from 2006.

Find the Best Rear Wiper Blade for Your Car!

Rear wipers are made by almost all major manufacturers of windshield wipers. Frame windshield wipers are produced by all manufacturers, they usually complement the wiper blade adapters from the available range for the windshield. Brushes with a specific attachment – frameless and plastic produce not all:

Bosch makes more than 70 items of special rear brushes. However, Bosch manufactures skeleton rear brushes under separate articles. Plastic and frame brushes are labeled Bosch Rear xxxH, where xxx is the code of the brush. Rear frameless brushes are labeled Bosch Aerotwin Rear AxxxH.

The second largest market coverage is the American company Trico. They have specialized in windshield wipers for over 100 years and have a large line of rear brushes. All rear wipers belong to the ExactFit series, Frame with a hook is labeled Trico ExactFit EFxx0, where xx – the length of the brush in centimeters. Plastic and frameless rear wipers (and some frame wipers with a special attachment) are labeled Trico ExactFit EXxxy, where xx is the length in centimeters. The total number of articles of EX series rear brushes is about 30.

Valeo and SWF (brand belongs to Valeo) produce a smaller range than Bosch and Trico, but also cover the basic needs of the market frame, plastic (Valeo Silencio Rear and SWF Standard Rear) and frameless (Valeo Silencio Flat OE Rear and SWF VisioFlex OE Rear) brushes.

Japanese company Denso produces a wide range of frame brushes (Denso DM-xxx, where xxx – length in mm.) and a few plastic Denso Rear (DRA-xxx and DRB-xxx, DRC-xxx where xxx – length in mm.)

Conclusion: Recommendations & Tips

Concluding from all of the above, it is easy to replace the rear wiper blades, but they need an approach. To understand this situation will not be difficult if guided by the tips for removal and replacement highlighted above.

The last thing to say: the mechanisms need to be carefully cared for to ensure their “long life”. Very vulnerable on the wipers are the hinges. They need to be periodically cleaned of dust and all sorts of dirt and lubricate, so that the device removes dirt from the glass well. Then the problem of how to replace the wiper blades will disappear by itself.