Hi

Following on from the "No Wipers At Halfords" thread I thought I would show how to modify the Flat blade Bosch wipers to fit the 430.

The problem is that the wipers are held from the side and not from the top like most wipers, this is because of the pantograph wiper on the driver’s side.



The Bosch blades have a fold over clip on the top to secure them, this won't close over the side of the arms, see this one which is the passenger side

(Sorry it’s a bit out of focus)



This next one shows the clip removed, it just pulls straight up when it is open, you can see how much is cut out of the side. I did this with a grinder as it cuts plastic well and won't crack it. Be very careful and do it slowly, you will get a buildup of melted plastic on it, wait a few seconds for it to harden and it will pull off easily. You could use a Stanley blade but this type of plastic sometimes cracks when you put pressure on it to cut it, grinding will always be best. A dremmel or the like is ideal, I used a 4" angle grinder as it was to hand.....



Put the wiper on the arm first without the clip, then push the clip back into its retainer.



Fold it down and ease it over the side arm.



And make sure it clicks home.



Job done.

Mine have been on a while and as long as the front of the clip is left intact and actually clicks in like the passenger side then it will not come off, even at speed

I got mine from eBay; the correct size is 600mm (24") driver’s side and 400mm (16") passenger side.

They were sold as a pair for the post 08/2005 Toyota Yaris so it’s kept in the family so to speak....

(My wife has a 2007 Yaris and you would not believe they had the same size wipers... the screens are totally different....)

Anyway I hope this answers some questions...

Pete

Nice job Pete, great pics & write up

nice one pete

One other thing I have tried is to use a old knife (of the knife and fork variety) heat the blade on gas hob (or blow torch) and then use this to slice through the plastic.

It stinks like hell, is probably going to give you cancer in 30 years time, and makes the missus wonder the four and a half yer up to, but if you are without any kind of way of grinding it out, it does the trick.

As the edges will be a bit sloppy, you can gently trim with a stanley knife.

By the way trying to slice through with stanley knife (cold) is so much of a pain, I gave up.

Is that the wiper arm on the LS430? I thought that first pic was from a bus! Why on earth does it look like that?

Hi

Because it's a big screen and this makes the wiper take a large ark and clean it properly, it looks funny but only when working, they park themselves real low under the bonnet line when not in use, it's called a Pantograph wiper arm.....

Pete

Yep I've never seen it before so it must hide away well (and with good reason).........no idea why they didn't just use the awesome "jumping" wiper that Mercs used to have (or at least have the pivot at the bottom like on newer mercs)

Nice guide though for those with LSs

It is threads like this that make this forum such a fantastic wealth of information. Well done Pete, this a great guide.