Living in snow country for 6 months of the year makes one appreciate good windshield wipers. Yet, I have always sought to find good replacement wiper inserts, as I have rarely seen the need to replace the spring and attachment sections of wiper blades. However, for a few vehicles, no aftermarket inserts seem to be listed. Our GT's fall into this category. I don't mind this for the 1st replacements, as I find it useful to have an extra set wipers with me when the rubber on a wiper starts to separate - to avoid the possibility of scratching a windshield.
Last winter, I purchased a set of Motorcraft replacement wiper blades, P/N 4G7Z-17528-AA, from Torrie, and installed them at the beginning of this year's driving season. Curious as to finding a less expensive alternative, and noticing that the wiper insert was quite narrower than standard wipers that I'm familiar with, I took the insert out of one of the wipers with a small needlenose pliers, as you have to squeeze the metal bands together where they lock at one end of the blade. I then took it with me and stopped at the O'Reilly Auto Parts store in Bishop this morning, where I had ordered a set of replacement tie rod ends for my aging GMC 1-ton 4 wheel drive truck. The gentleman behind the counter was quite helpful, and in his stock of ANCO, he found "Narrow Wiper Refills," P/N N-24R, which looked like they might serve the purpose. The first picture shows the ANCO box and the bent needlenose pliers I used to remove the old insert and install the new ones.
As seen in the second picture, These refills are about ½" longer than the ones on the GT, but the extra length just sticks out the far end of the wiper blade, and does not interefere with anything. If one wishes to stay at the stock length, one can easily cut off the extra length. Two methods may be used to install these refills:
(1) The replacement refill has a slotted backing structure that will slide right into the blade clips, and has it's own locking mechanism. Thus, this system will be slightly higher than the OEM inserts, due to the backing. A comparison of the two inserts is seen in the 3rd picture.
(2) The second method would be to (a) remove the rubber wiper material from the backing, (b) remove the metal strips from the OEM inserts, and (c) install the metal strips into the new rubber wipers and reinstall them into the blade.
In either case, I recommend sliding it into the blade at the second holding clip and continuing to insert it until it's locking end goes past the first clip. Then, reverse the direction to insert the locking part into the 1st clip. If using the 2nd method, I would cut off the extra rubber material extending beyond the metal strips.
By the way, these narrow wiper refills only cost $6.99 at O'Reilly.
(PS - I was thinking of driving up to DA to use a "hand model" for the pictures, but my time was limited today.)
Last winter, I purchased a set of Motorcraft replacement wiper blades, P/N 4G7Z-17528-AA, from Torrie, and installed them at the beginning of this year's driving season. Curious as to finding a less expensive alternative, and noticing that the wiper insert was quite narrower than standard wipers that I'm familiar with, I took the insert out of one of the wipers with a small needlenose pliers, as you have to squeeze the metal bands together where they lock at one end of the blade. I then took it with me and stopped at the O'Reilly Auto Parts store in Bishop this morning, where I had ordered a set of replacement tie rod ends for my aging GMC 1-ton 4 wheel drive truck. The gentleman behind the counter was quite helpful, and in his stock of ANCO, he found "Narrow Wiper Refills," P/N N-24R, which looked like they might serve the purpose. The first picture shows the ANCO box and the bent needlenose pliers I used to remove the old insert and install the new ones.
As seen in the second picture, These refills are about ½" longer than the ones on the GT, but the extra length just sticks out the far end of the wiper blade, and does not interefere with anything. If one wishes to stay at the stock length, one can easily cut off the extra length. Two methods may be used to install these refills:
(1) The replacement refill has a slotted backing structure that will slide right into the blade clips, and has it's own locking mechanism. Thus, this system will be slightly higher than the OEM inserts, due to the backing. A comparison of the two inserts is seen in the 3rd picture.
(2) The second method would be to (a) remove the rubber wiper material from the backing, (b) remove the metal strips from the OEM inserts, and (c) install the metal strips into the new rubber wipers and reinstall them into the blade.
In either case, I recommend sliding it into the blade at the second holding clip and continuing to insert it until it's locking end goes past the first clip. Then, reverse the direction to insert the locking part into the 1st clip. If using the 2nd method, I would cut off the extra rubber material extending beyond the metal strips.
By the way, these narrow wiper refills only cost $6.99 at O'Reilly.
(PS - I was thinking of driving up to DA to use a "hand model" for the pictures, but my time was limited today.)
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