What is the procedure for installing nos factory wiper blades on a 95 corvette wiper arm

[Winston M.]

I have a new NOS factory wiper blade that I need to install on my 95 Corvette to replace the one I destroyed
when I accidentally let the left side land on top of the right wiper blade instead of underneath it while cleaning the windshield.
When I turned the wipers on they hit each other and the left one was instantly destroyed. I see that there is a large plastic cage
sitting on top of the center pivot area of the wiper blade. Does this need to be removed to install the new blade, and if so how does it
come off and on? When I messed up my original blade it was completely ripped off and flew across the room and the plastic cage shattered and flew off so I don't need any advice on removing the old one! Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Mark E.]

Winston,

What a story! First I thought, "who knew it could be so exciting to clean a C4 windshield." Then I thought, "gee, I'm surprised this hasn't happened to me yet..."

The tricky part of wiper blade R&R is removal, which in your case already explosively happened. Assuming the end of the wiper arm is not damaged, the hole on the blade just pushes onto the stud on the end of the arm. Is the stud or end of the arm damaged?

I'm not clear about the "large plastic cage sitting on top of the center pivot area of the wiper blade". Could you be referring to the plastic end of the arm which broke off?

After a quick search I couldn't find a great video, but this one at 45 seconds describes how to release the blade. He doesn't show installation but that's the easy part... push it on the stud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6KYGGWMr28

BTW, this video is an inspiration for C4 owners... 786k miles!

[Winston M.]

Mark, that video is for the earlier design wiper blade used on 84-94 models. The 95 wiper blades are a totally different
design that has a black plastic rectangular box snapped over the center of the blade that blocks the view of the mounting
stud on the wiper arm. Also, the 95 and 96 wiper arms have a larger diameter pin on the end of the arm, which necessitated
a larger diameter hole in the wiper blade for that pin. When my blade flew off, the plastic rectangular piece shattered and
when that is broken the blade literally can just fall loosely off of the pin. There is no damage on the wiper arm and pin, it just
mangled the metal wiper blade frame and shattered the plastic piece. I looked at the passenger blade and couldn't tell what
was holding on the plastic piece or how to remove it without breaking it. I feel like an idiot because I was in the car repair business
for decades and I have changed out thousands of wiper blades but I've never seen any wiper blade like the factory ones on a 95 Corvette. If you buy Trico or Anco replacements they look just like the blades in the video you posted and you just snap them on(There is no plastic piece in the middle) I don't know what GM was thinking when they designed these blades. These blades have all been discontinued by GM and AC Delco and I was very lucky to locate an NOS one (cost was over 100.00) Aftermarket Trico
blades will result in a deduction for originality at NCRS on these cars. You can bet that I won't make the mistake of crossing them at the base of the windshield in the future! This whole disaster happened because I was in a hurry trying to clean up the washer fluid mess from the washer test for my PV testing. If not for NCRS those wipers and washers would have gone decades without being turned on. Thank goodness that the windshield didn't get scratched when this happened.

[Gary C.]

Google search found this https://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/1...e_wiper_blades

Gary
....

[Mark E.]

Winston,

Thanks for letting me know about the change in design.

I hear you about how baffling it can be to figure out wiper blades. We used to have a 2005 Jag XJ. Figuring out how to renew the blades was humbling and involved hours of head scratching.

[Winston M.]

Gary.........the wiper blades in that video are aftermarket blades.........those are easy peasy to remove and replace. The
factory 1995 blade is a totally different design. Every pin type wiper blade other than my Corvette that I have ever seen
is like the video......I've done thousands of blades like that, but this factory 1995 Corvette blade is a real brain teaser. The plastic
retainer piece in the middle is made of very brittle thin plastic.....one wrong move and you can chunk the blade in the trash when the
plastic piece in the middle breaks. There is nothing visible on the outside to indicate what is holding the plastic piece on or how
the plastic piece retains the blade on the pin.