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HOW TO: Refilling headlight wiper blades (Euro wipers and USA facelift)

gsxr

.036 Hoonigan™, E500E Boffin, @DITOG
Staff member
UPDATE: This writeup is for all years of "Euro" headlight wipers, which are identical to USA "facelift" wipers, with the plastic blade holder/frame. The USA pre-facelift wipers are shorter and have a metal holder/frame, but a similar procedure should work for those.


Since the headlight wiper blades went NLA a year or three ago, and replacements are difficult to source, the best option is to replace the rubber insert. To do this, you need to buy two Bosch refills that are much longer/larger than necessary, and cut both of them down to size. Why two? Because the ends of the rubber are different, one end has a locating notch/hole which holds the rubber insert in place, the opposite end allows free movement of the rubber insert.

Typical cost will be ~$25 or so, for two replacement blades to source refills from. I used 10" Bosch Spectrum DirectFit R1001, as recommended by @Jimbo in this post. The R1001 worked very well. The rubber profile is very similar, although not identical, to the original OE/OEM headlight wiper rubber insert.

Photos below are mostly self-explanatory. Carefully dis-assemble the R1001 (or similar) blade. You only need the rubber insert, the R1001 metal blade and two long metal strips are not used. You DO need the old wiper blade complete and intact with plastic frame and worn-out rubber insert, as you must re-use the two metal strips which are the proper length for the headlight wiper blade. Cut the new rubber piece to length, and insert the metal strips from the old headlight wiper blade. Slide the "open" end into the outside end of the plastic blade, then press the inside end "notches" into place.

:sawzall:
 

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Very timely, just received a large box of clearance items (rockauto RSS feed stuff), with $1.99 bosch blades as part of this box - for this very reason! Couldn't find any re-fills locally, so I figured as you did, just get the wipers, and make it work.
 
Ya this is amazing. I was just sick to my stomach how much blade refills are its ridiculous. I too always wondered if you can take a windshield blade and cut it to fit, well now it's verified! Thanks for the work!
 
Ya this is amazing. I was just sick to my stomach how much blade refills are its ridiculous. I too always wondered if you can take a windshield blade and cut it to fit, well now it's verified! Thanks for the work!
Did you miss out on the fellow who was selling NOS Bosch facelift/Euro headlight wipers just a month or two ago, here on the forum? He was out of Sweden. I think the ad is in the parts for sale sub-forum.
 
Did you miss out on the fellow who was selling NOS Bosch facelift/Euro headlight wipers just a month or two ago, here on the forum? He was out of Sweden. I think the ad is in the parts for sale sub-forum.
Link below - sold out. You only need the complete wiper if the plastic blade is missing or damaged. Normally, only the rubber insert wears out, and you can refill the blades as shown in post #1 in this thread. Refilling is cheaper but takes an hour or so of your time. Just don't toss out the old/worn plastic blades!!

 
Addendum: The wiper blade length on 1993 pre-facelift euro headlights is 6”.
IMG_6584.jpeg
As previously stated, replacement blades are basically NLA Stateside. Every now & then I go searching. The shortest readily available Bosch blades Stateside are 8”.
IMG_6548.jpeg
Years ago when my blades required replacing, I did as many others have done. I cut longer Bosch refill down to six inch length.

This Bosch 8” blade might be a suitable donor (with the least amount of waste & cost) worth investigating.
 

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