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No matter what blade you use, I think it is a good idea to regularly maintain them. Once every four months I will pull them away from the windshield and clean them with a mild alcohol solution. The rag is filthy. I then lubricate them with the 303 rubber gasket protectant. The blades take a beating from the heat and cold.
I've been doing pretty much the same for years except I use silicon spray. The 303 stuff probably has silicon in it.
With much-needed rain coming to Northern California and my 2021 RX350 factory wiper blades streaking, I thought I'd try the Michelin blades on sale at Costco. I was a little apprehensive because the Michelin wiper blade guide did not include 2021, but it did show 2020, which is the same. (26" and 21") Much too my delight, the removal of the old blade was very easy, after reading the instructions in the owner's manual.
I found the Michelin blades to be of high quality.
The manual mentions placing the wipers in the "maintenance position". The instructions for this are toward the front of the manual. The instructions say "within 20 seconds of turning the motor off, raise and hold the wiper control to the "mist" position for two seconds. Lo and behold, the wiper arms come up slowly, and stop precisely straight up. Pull the arms away from the glass.
To get the original blades off, just press the square button at the end of the wiper arm and pull off. To prepare the Michelin blade, follow the instructions for the "Top Lock" configuration. None of the adapters are used. Slide the yellow blade protector off. Lower the arms to the glass.
Re-starting the motor lowers the blades slowly to the park position.
Happy travels....Ray A.
When I went to go into service a few months ago, they wanted to replace the wiper inserts for me and I passed and asked for the inserts since they were working fine. They gave me a set, 85214-0E170. Came with 3 wiper blades and it all looked legit. Now I need to replace them and lo and behold, an idiot must have gotten assigned on desiging the wiper blades. The set above does not have the all important metal bit and unless you have needle nose pliers to replace them with, it won't work. A quick search here yields that 85213-0E011 and 85223-0E001 apparantly come with the metal bit. Why have two sets of compatible wiper blades? Or more acurately, one perfect fit and one that requires some wrenching? And both at the same price?
parts.lexus.com indicates these both are compatible with a RX350. HOWEVER... 0E011 and 0E001 only fit the J VINs and the 0E170s are not compatible with the J VINs. Lucky my VIN starts with a 2 and requires the J-series inserts. I guess my base RX is the mythical 2JVin series. Hopefully this will be a classic, like the original Supra, noted for its unique wiper insert blade design... and will get a nod in the next Fast and Furious movie.
When I went to go into service a few months ago, they wanted to replace the wiper inserts for me and I passed and asked for the inserts since they were working fine. They gave me a set, 85214-0E170. Came with 3 wiper blades and it all looked legit. Now I need to replace them and lo and behold, an idiot must have gotten assigned on desiging the wiper blades. The set above does not have the all important metal bit and unless you have needle nose pliers to replace them with, it won't work. A quick search here yields that 85213-0E011 and 85223-0E001 apparantly come with the metal bit. Why have two sets of compatible wiper blades? Or more acurately, one perfect fit and one that requires some wrenching? And both at the same price?
parts.lexus.com indicates these both are compatible with a RX350. HOWEVER... 0E011 and 0E001 only fit the J VINs and the 0E170s are not compatible with the J VINs. Lucky my VIN starts with a 2 and requires the J-series inserts. I guess my base RX is the mythical 2JVin series. Hopefully this will be a classic, like the original Supra, noted for its unique wiper insert blade design... and will get a nod in the next Fast and Furious movie.
Forget the inserts and just replace the entire blade. Plenty of OEM fit ones for the RX. I use Trico Ice year round.
I am kinda the opposite and just replace the inserts. The Viktor video linked above gives the part numbers and shows the procedure.
The RX insert replacement is pretty easy compared to some vehicles I have owned....I had a Honda that would eat my fingertips doing inserts. For that car the full blades was much easier, although obviously much or $.
I am kinda the opposite and just replace the inserts. The Viktor video linked above gives the part numbers and shows the procedure.
The RX insert replacement is pretty easy compared to some vehicles I have owned....I had a Honda that would eat my fingertips doing inserts. For that car the full blades was much easier, although obviously much or $.
The entire blade replacement on the RX takes about 30 seconds per blade at least with the ones I use.
Try using PIAA wiper blades. They cost a bit more but will last 4 - 6 years depending on if you take care of them. I am not a sponsor of PIAA and they don't pay me any money. I am just speaking from experience. It sure beats having to replace them every year.
I notice the OEM wiper blades always leaves a streak after like a year of use lol
Consider yourself lucky to keep your wiper blades for a year! Here in the SW, the sun breaks down anything rubber in just a matter of months. Fortunately, it doesn’t rain much either.
Consider yourself lucky to keep your wiper blades for a year! Here in the SW, the sun breaks down anything rubber in just a matter of months. Fortunately, it doesn’t rain much either.
PIAA might be silicon, but most wipers are made of at least 50% rubber. I don’t know of any store locally that sells PIAA & when I went online a few months ago, nothing was listed to fit the RX.
PIAA might be silicon, but most wipers are made of at least 50% rubber. I don’t know of any store locally that sells PIAA & when I went online a few months ago, nothing was listed to fit the RX.
I am sorry but I didn't know you were a chemical engineer. I would rather hear from someone who lives in your area who has used the PIAA wiper blades. This way we would know for sure how they last in the sun. I live in Philadelphia so I wouldn't know. Good luck and God bless.
