Hi All,
My wife had the dealership check our new (two weeks old) coupe wipers because the passenger side wiper was streaking the windshield. I noticed the drivers wiper no longer had the wind deflector, but the passenger side now had it. I thought they must have just switched the wipers around, figuring my wife wouldn't notice. I measured the wipers and they are both 21 5/8" long. Is this right or is the drivers side supposed to be shorter? I don't know what they did? If some one could measure their wipers and let me know it would be appreciated.
cruzr

 

Forgot which one should be longer but do a google search on wiper blades and one of the major manuf. of wipers blades has a data sheet on the stock wiper sizes for most vehicles.

 

Its funny that you should talking about wipers as I just changed mine. (BTW, the passenger side is the longer one) I noticed a couple of things:

1st, I found it amazing that you have to replace the entire blade assembly. I have owned Hondas for the past 15 years and on them it is possible to replace the little rubber "squeegee" part (Honda calls that the "wiper insert") for about $4 a side. I was a little surprised to have to shell out $23 for the Crossfire.

2nd, I noticed that my new OEM driver's side blade does not have the air deflector on it. I was a little upset by this at first but I discovered that it actually works a little better than the winged one. I don't know if you all noticed this or not, but the wing likes to hold on to a lot of the washer fluid and then sling it back on to the windshield after it is mostly dry, causing me to have to "bump" the wipers repeatedly to keep the windshield clean. Very annoying.

 

The oem wipers are bad, IMO. Always had streaks and had to tilt them several times, because of jumping on the windshield while going up (if you know what I mean). So I changed to Bosch AeroTwin A550S. Is a bit more expensive but worth every cent! Not a single sound and no streaking.

The Bosch AeroTwin does not make any specific for Crossfire. But the A550S fits best:
Driver side 530mm (21") --- oem 500mm (20").
Pass. side 550mm (22") --- oem 550 (22").

Very happy with these wipers.

 

It is interesting that a few of the wipers left streaks. The first time I used my wipers, I was impressed on how well they cleaned the windshield and they are still doing a perfect job 14 months later. I also noticed that 2 of the 3 replies have '04's, maybe there was a difference in suppliers, difference in compounds, amount of usage, and age has a lot to do with the performance. Anyway it is still good info on replacement wipers when mine finally give out.

 

How do you stop the blades from dancing across the windshield? I have a '00 grand cherokee ltd. I put new blades in of several different manufactures and they still skip up the glass!

 

As for the "wing" air foil, it should be on the drivers side. That is supposed to get the down force from the wind to keep on the glass.

It is easy to switch them back.

There are some refills that you can replace them with at AutoZone, but they are hard to get in the blade. I had to use a pair of pliers to open the metal and then squeeze them shut.

I don't use my wipers above 50 mph any way, I use a coat of wax and then follow up with spray detail every time I wash my car. You have to be careful and make sure that you put a high polish on there because it can cloud. This way, the water doesn't even have a chance to stay on the glass. The wind pushes it off really fast.

I do agree that the OEM rubbers are horrible. I'm trying to find a replacement like the ones that are coming on all of the High line cars like the Lexus and Audi's. The single blade with the plastic imbedded in it. Those are supposed to be superior in cleaning and longevity. But they're expensive. So I think it balances out.

 

Mostly it's a matter of misalignment between the rubber blade and the windshield. The angle must be adjusted. Take the whole wiper and twist/tilt it (the metal arm) until the rubber isn't orthonormal to the glass.

 

As I posted a while ago...there's a cheap and easy single blade fix that I use myself:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ighlight=wiper

 

Thanks to all for your help. I will buy the trico blades and replace myself. I never had to replace wiper blades on a 2 week old car before. It seems pretty ridiculous that a dealership cant even do that right. If anyone knows of a competent dealer in St. Louis, please let me know.

Thanks again, cruzr

 

I drove my Crossfire from NJ to New Orleans a few months ago (2 weeks before Katrina). At 6,000 miles the rubber on the driver's blade started to separate, I had to pull of to some truck stop in Virginia - fortunately they had a blade that fit with no problems so I could keep going without scraping my windshield. That's the only problem I had with the car since I bought it.

 

It is funny reading these, I went out and looked at the wipers and they look just like this photo. I do not have any deflectors and the arms have the squares cut into them as shown in this picture. I did not measure them but the blade appears to be replaceable. I have an '05, do you think they started to change the wipers?

 

My wife took the Crossfire back to the dealer the other day, and told them the drivers side should have a 20" wiper. She was determined to get the dealer screw up corrected. They put a 20" on the drivers side with a deflector, and a 22" with a deflector on the passenger side. When they had 22" wipers on both sides, the drivers side would hit the silver paint on the windshield frame. Now they work correctly. I don't think Chrysler has made any corrections or changes to the Crossfire wipers to date. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

Trico a supplies a large amount of OEM wiper blades for many car makers as well as replacements. I have a set of replacement Trico blades on my other car. They look identical to the OEM Crossfire blades minus the air foil on the drivers side.

http://www.tricoproducts.com

Innovision Blade: Driver Side P/N - 14-200
Innovision Blade: Passenger Side P/N - 14-220

 

I would go with the one piece units since they look a lot better then OEM, IMO and I changed out mine two days after I bought the vehicle.

If someone still is looking for a set of OEM blades with holders mine are just taking up space...PM me if interested...

 

It happened to me, the passenger wiper scratched the windshield. I did not bother with the dealer, but they offered to change the windshield. I don’t want anybody to mess with my car, changing the windshield would scratch the frame and would leak. I will stick with the factory installed. Swap it for a bosch, they look the same.

 

I had the windshield change because of a crack. It's no big deal and no harder to do than other vehicles.

 

Next time try the Bosch AeroTwin ... great product!