Clarity PHEV wiper replacements sizes?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DC1
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 84
  • Views Views 40K
D

DC1

Member
For some reason I can't seem to locate info about the proper windshield wiper sizes for my 2018 Clarity.

I only bought it in October (2 months ago), but perhaps due to it sitting on the lot for months prior to purchase, the wipers sound terrible, like they're quite worn out.

I'm trying to find replacements but can't seem to find it in the manual or online.. any clues?
 
petteyg359 said:
Easier to find at a place that sells wipers. Their catalog will have the sizes. They're both 26".
Click to expand...

Thanks! You're probably right. I've been ordering wiper blades from Amazon recently and not bothered going into the brick and mortar stores.
 
DC1 said:
Thanks! You're probably right. I've been ordering wiper blades from Amazon recently and not bothered going into the brick and mortar stores.
Click to expand...
And with all the little finicky adapters get them at one of the stores that installs them for you! Much easier
 
Does the windshield washing system that has the liquid coming out of the wiper rather than being squirted on the windshield affect this at all?
 
MNSteve said:
Does the windshield washing system that has the liquid coming out of the wiper rather than being squirted on the windshield affect this at all?
Click to expand...
No. The broken and ineffective washer system is built into the arms and shouldn't care what blade you use. I would suggest the sturdiest blades available given the fluid will do nothing at all and cleaning will rely solely on the blade scraping.
 
Two things I found while looking into this:

1) This may be standard on new cars now, but was new to me: there is a way to have the car move the wipers into "maintenance" position and hold them there, which you are supposed to do before changing them. [Owner's manual p. 496]:

"1. Set the power mode to VEHICLE OFF (LOCK).
2. While holding the wiper switch in the MIST position [which I think is rotated up--it's not pulling forward to spray], set the power mode to ON, then to VEHICLE OFF (LOCK).
-- Both wiper arms are set to the maintenance position as shown in the image [which is maximum sweep to the edge of the windshield]​
3. Lift both wiper arms."​

2) The lane keeping assist (LKAS) automatically suppresses when wipers are set to HI. [Owner's manual p. 419; implies it comes back on when you slow the wipers].

Sheesh, even windshield wipers are getting complicated.
 
My wipers iced up terribly a few weeks ago in our first snow, so I put on a pair of Trico "Ice" wipers. They don't look significantly different but I had to try something. The auto store didn't have them so I bought at Walmart for half the price, they were quite easy to put on since Honda uses the old hook style wiper arm that's been around forever. There's a little lever you push near the hook that releases the old arm, then the Trico one slides and snaps into place. No changing out the plastic connectors. You do have to reverse the plastic piece for the passenger side wiper, not sure why but i did it. We'll see how they work.

Oh and I didn't put the wipers in the maintenance position, was easy as is.
 
While I don't seem to have any issues with the windshield washer, the rubber refill (Well that is what it is called) on mine seemed to skip across the windshield. Rumprumprump unless the rain was pretty hard.

In fact, I just happened to have a pair of 26" refills that I had in reserve for my Gen 3 Prius (which I sold when I bought the Clarity) and I just came in from replacing them (pretty easy to do). The difference is pretty astounding. Before, it was Rumprumprum and now it is very quiet.

I didn't see anything wrong with the factory refills. They didn't seem dry, brittle, or damaged in any way, but into the trash they went.

So while it is annoying that the refills had to be replaced on a car that was manufactured 10 months ago, at least it was easy to deal with.

Refill is easy. Page 497 in Owner's Manual. Much less expensive than replacing the blade.
 
And here is the pain. Auto Parts stores where I live (Texas) simple don't sell refills. The only thing I see in my local auto parts stores is complete blades.

Complete blades are stupidly expensive and it takes only 2 minutes more to replace the refill than it does to replace the blade itself.

You can buy 26" refills for less that $10 for a pair.
 
Eddgie said:
While I don't seem to have any issues with the windshield washer, the rubber refill (Well that is what it is called) on mine seemed to skip across the windshield. Rumprumprump unless the rain was pretty hard.

In fact, I just happened to have a pair of 26" refills that I had in reserve for my Gen 3 Prius (which I sold when I bought the Clarity) and I just came in from replacing them (pretty easy to do). The difference is pretty astounding. Before, it was Rumprumprum and now it is very quiet.

I didn't see anything wrong with the factory refills. They didn't seem dry, brittle, or damaged in any way, but into the trash they went.

So while it is annoying that the refills had to be replaced on a car that was manufactured 10 months ago, at least it was easy to deal with.

Refill is easy. Page 497 in Owner's Manual. Much less expensive than replacing the blade.
Click to expand...

Terminology nitpick: The "rubber refill" IS the blade. Just like you refill a straight razor with a new blade, you refill a wiper with a new blade. In either, the blade is the part that scrapes a surface. Auto parts stores just seem to love selling unneeded parts along with the blades. Amazon marketing and sales pages are not a reliable source of terminology.
 
Last edited:
"Terminology nitpick: The "rubber refill" IS the blade."


No, the blade is the complete unit. The refill is just the rubber strip that goes into the blade:

Her are examples of blades:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CGJXHS1?aaxitk=THoE56YeXVopaI6ym-UvVg&pd_rd_i=B07CGJXHS1&pf_rd_p=3ff6092e-8451-438b-8278-7e94064b4d42&hsa_cr_id=3806512670901&sb-ci-n=productDescription&sb-ci-v=DieHard 26" Beam Wiper Blade, 1 Pack&sb-ci-a=B07CGJXHS1

Here is a wiper blade refill:

https://www.amazon.com/Audew-Silicone-Universal-Replacement-Vehicle/dp/B017NQFVSY/ref=sr_1_7?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1544324626&sr=1-7&keywords=26"+refill

I did not replace the blade. I removed the blade and removed the refill, then put in a new refill in the old blade and re-installed the old blade on to the car.

And anyone that would spend $40 on two new blades for a year old car when they could just put in new refills would be kind of throwing away $30.
 
Last edited:
Honda dealers’ sell the OEM refills but the genetics are cheaper on the ol’ Internet. I refuse to do the whole arm assembly replacement on cost and environmental considerations.
 
Well, if the replacement refills from Honda are made out of the same stuff as the originals, then I would not trust them to be any better. I used the same refills in the Clarity that I had previously put on the Prius and they are dead quiet.

Just luck that I had the right refill on hand. As I recall, the Prius had one 26" blade and one 24" blade, but I just bought a couple of pairs of 26" refills and cut one to 24" on the Prius. So, I still had a fresh set of 26" refills.

The refills are frameless silicone. As I recall, I got two pair on ebay for less than $10. They were generic and I did not know how they would hold up so that is why I bought the second set, but the refills I put on the Prius were two years old and worked like new. These had been in the drawer for two years but looked perfect. I think the silicone refills are better than the rubber ones I have used in the past.

Not these but pretty much the same thing I think:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-Univers...2754176651?epid=598854477&hash=item467d8e1e8b
 
And a caution. The link I sent above about the difference between a wiper blade and a wiper blade refill that linked to Amazon is not the correct refill for the Clarity. I just used that as an example to show the difference between a wiper blade and a wiper blade refill. Again, the refill in the Amazon link will not work on the Clarity.

The link to the refill on eBay is the correct typ (Frame-less). The Amazon link went to a clip in refill, and the eBay one is a frame-less refill. You could probably make the one on the Amazon page fit by trimming the ends, but the frame-less refill has no latches or catches on the ends and the grooves are open all the way to the end of the refill. The OEM wiper blade has the frame built in. The refill in the eBay link above is the correct type of refill (frame-less) for the Clarity.

This is the OEM refill I removed tonight when I replaced the ones on my Clarity. I dug these out of the trash so you can see how the ends have no clips on them and the groove is open on both ends.

I am puzzled though why the blade would bounce and skip. The rubber on the OEM refill appears to have no cracks and appears to be soft. Maybe too soft? I don't know, I just know that it was annoying as all get out to drive the car in a light rain and with the new refills in, the blade moves without the rumprumprump.


clarity refill.webp
 
Last edited:
Interesting. Our Clarity (bought in Sept, built in June) also has the wiper noise Eddgie reports. Silicone vs rubber blades are the answer? Our old (2001) CRV had noise-less wipers only if we used the Honda refills. Glad I saw this thread before trying OEM refills for the Clarity.
 
I don't know if the Honda refills would be better than what was in the car but for me it was a non-issue because I just happened to have a pair of silicone 26" refills sitting around.

Also, my car had a Dealer installed paint guard which as I understand is spayed on. If it was applied to the windshield, perhaps this is the culprit (Ibex). I don't know that, but I mention it as just one possibility, but the rumprumprump was horrendous and with the new refills, it is gone. Still, if others have some kind of dealer applied paint protector and are also experiencing this issue, it would be good to correlate that data.

I live in Tx, and rubber refills dry and crack in a single year here, and sometimes less than that. The Silicon holds up far better in my climate.

Silicone refills are pretty cheap though, and I would recommend them, though I would be curious to know if Honda dealers would replace them under warranty for this kind of problem. Probably not and probably not worth the time to drive to a Honda dealer even if they did. In the time it takes to deal with the service desk at the dealer, you could put in new refills.
 
Eddgie said:
Also, my car had a Dealer installed paint guard which as I understand is spayed on. If it was applied to the windshield, perhaps this is the culprit (Ibex). I don't know that, but I mention it as just one possibility, but the rumprumprump was horrendous and with the new refills, it is gone. Still, if others have some kind of dealer applied paint protector and are also experiencing this issue, it would be good to correlate that data.
Click to expand...
We wondered about paint protection. We didn't pay for this but perhaps they do it to all cars even if you've declined. Oncoming headlights at night appear as starburst patterns in our windshield, despite multiple window washings. Perhaps a coating would account for this annoying thing and the squeaky wiper blades. Anyone else have the light glare issue?
 
My dealer apparently puts it on all the cars they sell and attempt to charge $700 for it (which I would guess just about no one actually pays for). I have no idea if it is sprayed over the entire car or if the glass is masked off, and I don't even know if this is relevant, but I do think it is a possibility. Some window beading treatments can cause problems with wipers.
 
Follow the word of @KentuckyKen and try RainX before you take sandpaper to your windshield in an attempt to remove some possible paint-protection over-spray. OK, I know nobody's suggested sandpaper yet. Would the dealer possibly fess up about the coating and tell you about a possible method to remove the stuff from the glass--or at least tell you the coating's vendor so you could contact them?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top