I have a 2013 ES350. Are the windshield wipers supposed to go all the way down and recede under the front hood?

Bob

 

There are two positions for the windscreen wipers. In your owner's manual you will find that they can be positioned above the hood line or below the hood line and hidden. Positioning is done manually by pressing down on the wipers at the knuckle to hide them, and pulling up to bring them above the hood. This procedure is shown in the owner's manual...

 

Speaking of wipers, what brand/model do folks like best? Thx.

 

I changed my wipers once and bought just the OEM Lexus wiper inserts, not the whole wipers with good results. This was suggested by a member on this forum. You can get them from Lexuspartsworld.com with discount code CL5 for about $15.

 

I just go to Walmart and buy Trico Exact-Fit complete wipers - arm and blade. They install in 5 minutes and are about $20.00...

 

I’ve tried basically every type of wiper blade out there, the best blades really are the OEM Lexus blades IMHO.

 

X2. I`ve been using toyota blades since the mid 90`s. They were far superior to other blades on the market and I would think they still are.

 

You can leave the arms in the higher "Winter" position all season if desired, they will park,
wipe and wash from there just fine. They will not however be heated by the wiper bed
heaters that most (but not all) ES's, GS's, GX's, CT's and LS's have.

Use of the OEM Lexus wiper inserts is usually cheaper than replacing the blade assembly
unless the original is damaged. Some aftermarket brands are quite a bit "taller" and hold
the arm too close the hood edge.

 

I went to the local Toyota dealer and got wiper inserts there Total cost (installed) Canadian $22 with tax. Could not be bothered driving 1 hour total to go to Lexus dealer and back, plus they probably would have charged 3x the price.

They had a heck of time getting one of the inserts into the wiper

 

I’m sure they’re the same.

Ive never had any problem putting the inserts into the arms...

 

That's what I was thinking as well, but seeing those 3 guys take 1/2 an hour to do it kind of discouraged me from trying it on my own. I could see them working on it in the parts department. He said one was "stuck in there" and then mumbled something about not having the right Lexus part. The issue seemed to have something to do with the 2 metal rods in there as well.

The wipers are the same as Avalon and Camry I believe.

 

I've been putting them in myself for 16 years and never had a problem. Perhaps the parts guys were too inexperienced at inserting the blades. I know that service technicians can do it in seconds. The trick is to carefully remember which way the 2 thin metal strips were inserted in the old blade and replace them that way back into the new blade. The metal strips usually have a slight bend and you want to retain that same bend position in the new blade. I also strongly prefer the OEM blades.