How-To: Replace Mazda5 Rear Wiper Blade

Perhaps without rear spoiler, my rear wiper can never keep the rear window clean since day one. Good thing I don't rely on center mirror for rear vision.

I just bought a NAPA teflon wiper refill and cut to factory length without much problem. The only difference is the new insert is a bit loose. Factor metal inserts are the non-locking type (unlike front wipers'). The next time I'll cut the refill a bit longer to keep it from sliding.

Will report later on the performance of teflon refill.
 
I have this add-on that helps with rear vision when its too cold to even break the ice that engulfs the rear wiper blades. trimmed to suit that particular
location that is the least obstructed..

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I replaced mine, and I kept the original arm and it still doesnt get that area unless it wasnt the factory one that was on there...yeah well.
 
Not sure what happened / Mine works great

DO NOT BUY THE TRICO 12A!!!!! JUST REPLACE THE INSERT!!!!!

THIS NEEDS TO BE A STICKY!!!!

Sorry to yell but I'm really PO'd.

About 3 weeks ago I took a quick glance at this thread and read that the 12A is a perfect match. I took the rear wiper arm off and went to the local auto parts store - after comparing it to the 12A I trashed my blade there at the store. $15.

Of course after installation it wasn't working right. Since it's my wife's car she only mentioned in the past week that it's not wiping correctly.

Now I have to go to the Mazda dealership to get another OEM blade.

OP: PLEASE CHANGE YOUR FIRST POST TO WARN LATER READERS!

Thanks.

You must have encountered something unique... The Trico Exact Fit Rear Integral 12-A works great and the install is easy - you don't have to take off the arm so I suspect something went terribly wrong with your experience.

PS: Not that anyone needs two of them but there's a rebate on them right now thru 5-15-2010. I got mine online.
 
Well, I'm on my second replacement and the wiper still does not clean the upper half of the rear window, I've just leaned to live with it..... didn't think about going to the stealer, might be my next trip......
 
Bumping an old thread, but thought I'd just let everyone know that I wished I had thread this before replacing and throwing away my old wiper blade!!!

the new 12A is now only wiping half the window...

Then, since I bought my car used, I thought the spring in the assembly was worn out, so I ordered a new wiper arm (about $30), but said no to the wiper blade section beacuse I just bought one...


I guess it's off the the dealer to get another blade...
 
I agree, this needs to be stickied. Bought the Trico, only half the window being wiped. Old OEM blade gone in garbage already.
 
I replaced my rear wiper arm with one from a Protege5 (Part # B25H-67-421) then got a standard 13" RainX wiper blade from Autozone. Sure, it doesn't look as "pretty" as the aerodynamic one, but it works! It still misses about 1" right above the wiper motor shaft, but every where else it works great.
 
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why don't you guys just buy the OEM blade, it's not like it's expensive, I'm on my 3rd one in almost 5 years and they only cost $12 each. how much ae you guys trying to save anyway? seems like a lot of work trying to find a cheaper part when the OEM is not expensive anyway!
 
why don't you guys just buy the OEM blade, it's not like it's expensive, I'm on my 3rd one in almost 5 years and they only cost $12 each. how much ae you guys trying to save anyway? seems like a lot of work trying to find a cheaper part when the OEM is not expensive anyway!

It's probably due to the convenience of buying the aftermarket blades. You can buy them pretty much anywhere. eg Canadian Tire which are a dime a dozen. Driving to my closest dealership is a bit of a drive and I have a CT down the street so I thought I'd try that. But... lesson learned the aftermarket blades suck so I had to go back to the dealer. All this hassle for a bit of convenience which obviously backfired. lol
 
I'd agree with you except I've never been able to find the mazda5 rear blades anywhere except the dealership. Canadian tire is the worst place to get blades for the 5 I have never Been able to find a drivers side blade there they never seem to have stock! I've been buying my front blades at Costco of all places!! I've been able to pice up a full front set no matter which one i drop into!

Also another reason I don't bother trying to find rear blades anywhere other than the dealership. I just pick one up when I get an oil change done!
 
I'd agree with you except I've never been able to find the mazda5 rear blades anywhere except the dealership. Canadian tire is the worst place to get blades for the 5 I have never Been able to find a drivers side blade there they never seem to have stock! I've been buying my front blades at Costco of all places!! I've been able to pice up a full front set no matter which one i drop into!

Also another reason I don't bother trying to find rear blades anywhere other than the dealership. I just pick one up when I get an oil change done!

Yes!! I realized that too! I currently don't have the correct size blade on my car right now. I think it takes a 26 inch. I went with a 24 inch, which still works.
 
Not to start a flame war, but the rear wiper refill for the '97-2001 Honda CRV is identical. $6 at my local dealer. So they are an alternative in a pinch.
 
Yes!! I realized that too! I currently don't have the correct size blade on my car right now. I think it takes a 26 inch. I went with a 24 inch, which still works.

yep 24 works, I tried a 28 once when CDN tire didn't (as usual) have my 26 inch drivers blade. 28 cleans right to the edge of the winshield molding!
 
I just tried this and found that the trico replacement blade holder and metal side stiffeners don't have the same curvature as an OEM blade holder and stiffeners, so when you do this, you really have to just replace the rubber wiper part.
 
Not to start a flame war, but the rear wiper refill for the '97-2001 Honda CRV is identical. $6 at my local dealer. So they are an alternative in a pinch.

I like this tip! The Honda dealer is much closer than the Mazda dealer and I know from past cars that the Honda inserts are good quality. Do you know of any Honda refills that fit the front windshield of the Mazda5?
 
I posted this for when I had my Mazdaspeed3, but I recall reading somewhere that the rear wiper is the same part as the Mazda5. If that's the case, maybe you guys can use my "How-to" to save some money and time.

I've seen from time to time members posting questions about replacing the rear wiper. I for one actually like the option of using it during rainstorms, but some folks don't like it as much and have done the rear wiper delete mod.

At first, all I saw were members saying that you can only get the replacement from Mazda, which for some folks is inconvenient since the dealer is far away, and it also costs a pretty penny for such a simple item. Ordering online isn't a great option due to shipping...unless you order other things and just add it to the list of things you're purchasing.

So I went to my local Discount Auto and purchased two rubber blades (for around $5 or so) that you can cut down to size. Make sure they have the two metal strips since you cannot use the metal strip from the OEM rubber blade. You may be able to find a rubber blade at your local auto parts place that looks like the stock one, but I couldn't.

EDIT* Other owners have reported that you can go to AutoZone and buy a Duralast 14" wiper for $7. Then all you have to do is remove the blade from the Duralast arm and slide it into the stock rear wiper arm. Or you can buy Duralast refills from Autozone for $4.99 for a pair of them. No metal needed either, it's already got hard plastic on top of the blade that slides right into the stock rear wiper arm. You can buy a longer version of this and cut it down too.

NOTE: There's a section in the owner's manual (section 8-30 to be exact or page 297. Here's the PDF version) on how to change out just the blade part of the rear wiper.

Onto the process and pics. So first take off the entire rear wiper:

wiper1.jpg


wiper2.jpg


Picture of the stock rear wiper blade:

wiper1a.jpg


Picture of the rear wiper blade and the one I purchased:

wiper3.jpg


Cut down the new blade and the metal strips to match the stock one:

wiper4.jpg


Seat the metal strips to the new rubber blade (the metal strips can be finicky to keep the slots/grooves, so be patient):

wiper5.jpg


wiper6.jpg


Next, slide the blade into the wiper slot (start from the 2nd slot on one side and work your way to the other end - leave the very end slot open for now):

wiper7.jpg


In this pic, I am working the blade from right to left:

wiper8.jpg


Leaving the last slot open - then you bend the blade and the metal strips a little to fit it in:

wiper9.jpg


wiper10.jpg


wiper11.jpg


Re-attach the blade to the wiper assembly now:

wiper15.jpg


wiper12.jpg


wiper13.jpg


wiper16.jpg


And you're done! Congrats...and now enjoy clean streak-free wipes!!! (yippy)

wiper17.jpg
 
The MS3 blade does look longer since you have 4 clip points and we have only 3. I replaced the rear blade on ours with an ANCO, and it didn't physically fit. It was too thick.
 
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