Suitable solution for crappy rear wiper?

Sorry to get your hopes up by posting in this thread. I just wanted to say that I agree; that rear wiper is just silly.

 

Someone had made a rear wiper that utilized a bigger wiper but it stayed horizontal during the sweeping motion. I never cared for the look of it but i guess it did an ok job. There is a thread on the forum about it. Rear Wiper improved sweep | PriusChat

 

No joy here. I taped 1" extensions onto both ends of the stock blade to determine a 10" blade *might* work, so I got a cheap one from Amazon. The new blade required a slight mod to get it mounted to the wiper arm but it didn't clean worth a darn so I switched back to the stock blade. I'm still looking for a fix 'cause that's one of the few annoyances of my C.

 

Really! The only reason to use the wiper maybe to move snow off the back window. Get a brush and scraper, easy fix.

 

Pretty short sighted assessment of the rear wiper.
Others have noted that the aero design of the rear of the car tends to accumulate dirt ON the window.
It will also tend to accumulate a fine water spray from your tires and those of other vehicles around you.
If that water is dirty, the back window can completely cloud over rather quickly.
It can happen even more quickly sometimes if you have the rear defrost heater going.

I personally don't think the rear wiper is an necessity but it is nice to have under some circumstances.........and snow is just one of them.

 

Would not know of snow, or rain impact of the back window in Southern California, have never even used the back wiper!

 

1. Remove the wiper, motor, mount. That makes car ~ 3-5 pounds lighter. Gas mileage goes up. Profit!
2. Plug the hole with electric knockout plug (search PC, looks good and cheap solution)
3. Apply Rainex on the rear glass. Rain beads off. Goal achieved !

(P.S... woops missed non-DIY part in original message.... sorry)

- Alex

 

I've replaced the rubber bit, but by cutting a piece off a larger one and replacing the torn one. To get one that is larger I planned to take the arm with me to a junk yard and try to find something that could replace the entire arm or just the wiper itself with a longer one. I would imagine the wiper part is a design used on other, larger wipers off a minivan or something.

 

The rear window can fill up with snow within just a few minutes. Splashing from the grime of winter takes even less time. You end up using the wiper many times during your drive, including the squirter.

Sorry, but it never ceases to surprise me how those in the south don't sometimes actually know what those of us in the north have to deal with. Fortunately, Prius accounts for all conditions and handles them well.

Bigger for better clearing can be helpful, no doubt about that. With the regular model Prius, someone had found a larger blade for another vehicle. That option is likely available for the c model too.