e-man

Hey guys. I must be a complete moron, because I can't figure out how to replace the wiper blade inserts on my 2006 GS 430. I've managed to remove the insert and the metal backing supports from the blade itself, but now I have no idea how to get the new one back in. Does the blade actually come off of the assembly? Or is there a way to simply slide the new insert back onto the blade. Any help tonight would be greatly appreciated. I'm totally lost.

e-man

This is what I'm looking at. I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm supposed to do next.

EDIT -- and now I can't figure out how to upload an image. Going to be a long night.

XxGoKoUxX

www.tinypic.com

That might help, upload your photo (it should auto correct size I believe) and you type in the "code", and after it's done downloading it provides a link for message boards.

GL!

XxGoKoUxX

http://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/20...e_wiper_blades

e-man

If only it were that easy. Maybe it's different for an 06 430. I bought the replacements from Sewell. They sent me the rubber inserts, not the entire assembly. Also, my blade doesn't have the tab to pull up to release it from the assembly. It has a release on the underside. Anyway, late last night, I was finally able to get the blade off the assembly. Then, I was able to get the old insert back onto the blade (not exactly perfect, though) and put the blade back on the arm. I think I know what I did wrong, so I'll take another shot at it tonight. I'll post up the results.

Thanks for your help.

blue00

google is your friend:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...t-lbo00495.pdf

Btw.... THAT is one thing that I would just get done at the dealership. Its so cheap, that 100% markup on it still cost $25... edit... for BOTH blades in total

e-man

Thanks. Believe me, I did all kinds of searching last night but just couldn't find anything. By the way, can you repost the link? It doesn't seem to be working.

blue00

hmm... mangled the link
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/att...t-lbo00495.pdf

full thread is here
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...er-blades.html

BinaryJay

I don't remember how I last did it, but I also don't remember it being very complicated. Just pull the old ones out and slide the new ones in through the tabs and done.

e-man

Thanks, that's very helpful. I figured out how to do it late last night. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, right?

A few things. First, it's best if you put the wiper arms in the slightly raised winter mode to avoid damaging the edge of your hood. In order to do that, you simply grab one of the wiper arms at the point where the wiper arm connects to the wiper frame and gently pull upward (following the curvature of the windshield, as if the windshield wipers were about to wipe the glass). It takes a little bit of pressure, but you will feel the arm move up about 2 inches and click into the new winter position (in fact, both arms will move up at the same time, even though you've only applied pressure to one of the arms).

Second, in order to remove the wiper frame from the wiper arm, there is a small latch on the underside of the wiper frame. Press it in (i.e., into the wiper frame), and while holding the latch in, slide the wiper frame down along the line of the wiper arm. You'll feel it sliding and it should come off pretty easily.

Once you have the wiper frame off, grab the closed end of the insert (look at both ends and you'll see which one is closed), and gently pull/slide the insert out of the wiper frame. The insert is held in place on the frame with a bunch of U brackets. It should slide straight out through all of the U brackets.

Once the wiper insert is completely out, you'll see that there are two metal backing plates inserted into a groove longitudinally on each side of the insert. Take those out. They are curved, and need to be reused and reinstalled into the new insert in the same orientation and with the same curvature. Now, simply slide the new insert back into the wiper frame along the U grooves (starting by inserting the open end of the insert in the first U groove and then working it all the way down through all the U grooves until you get to the end).

Now, this all sounds relatively easy, right? It would have been, but for the fact that the wiper insert Sewell sent me is much broader on top than the one that came out and there is no way that it will fit inside the U brackets. They must have sent me the wrong one, so now I have to send it back to get the right one.

Kind of a pain, but I'm glad I figured out how to do it. Hope this helps someone who wants to change their inserts.

e

e-man

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I really don't think these are the correct inserts. The new ones are much wider across the top and won't slide into the U-clamps on the blade. I'm going to try to upload a picture. Hopefully it works. Old one on top, new one on the bottom:

e-man

Let's do it this way instead. Here is a link to the picture in my album. The insert on the bottom is much wider than the one on top. Could the top one have simply shrunk due to its age/the weather?

https://www.clublexus.com/g/picture/320832

e-man

Just talked to Sewell. As it turns out, I'm not a complete buffoon. They had the wrong part numbers on their site for the 06 GS430. They are sending me out the correct inserts. Thanks for all the help.

e

lex-ative

Also, find out first if you indeed still have Lexus wiper blades... if you bought your car used...

LOL...I once ordered insert blades from Sewell and almost drove myself crazy trying to figure them out.... only to discover that the Lexus blades were replaced by generic Rain-X blade assemblies.

Sent the blades back and just hopped to the nearest auto store to get entire assemblies. Yes, maybe a bit more costly (bout 40 bux or so), but much easier to just slap the entire thing on there rather than try to fumble with the actual blade inserts....


too bad about my Lexus blade assemblies though. They were probably discarded by the previous owners or the auto store...

e-man

Excellent point. I'm 99% sure that the blades are original OEM Lexus. I bought the car CPO 2 years ago. The original owner was an elderly gentleman in his 60s. I don't believe he changed the blade assemblies. The service history showed that all maintenance was performed at the dealership, every 5,000 miles.

I'll report back when I get the new inserts from Sewell. Like I said, they told me that the part numbers were wrong on their web site. Hopefully the new inserts will be thinner.

And I complete agree with you. In hindsight, new blade assemblies would be so much easier. However, I'm glad I now know how to change the inserts. It's pretty easy once you figure out what you're supposed to do.

e