Windshield wiper clip broke - what now?

[blood63]

@Joey_P

They sell those on Amazon, search for Wiper Blade Clips.
I think I’ve seen them at the Auto Parts stores, usually in kits so that you can pick up one pack and one of them will fit your blade and your car.

ETA, Wiper Blade Adapter works well as a search string too.

I’m not getting anything on Amazon. They have very specific clips for specific vehicles. If I had a land rover I would be in business.

[blood63]

@anomalous1

I drive a Chevy Cavalier (hold the applause), while It’s probably the best looking one I’ve ever seen and modified a lot, I had this happen to me twice. So here is what I did.

I took one of those medium sized black binder clips, took off the prongs sized it up and cut it roughly in half with tin snips, drilled a hole in the sides of the piece in question, then bent the tips down and outward. Put the blade on, put the clip in the place of the other and put a small bolt and nut in the hole (MAKE SURE it does not touch the window, it’ll probably be a big scratch) and tighten.

Had it working on mine for nearly two years, bad weather, highway driving and all, and hasn’t come off. Doesn’t even look bad either. Hope it helps, I’m sure as someone above mention, instead of a bolt, a small zip tie or two may help.

This sounds like a good idea. I don’t know what you mean by bending the tips.

[pulykamell]

Can you tell us what blades you have? That might help in someone trying to track it down for you.

[Joey_P]

@blood63

I’m not getting anything on Amazon. They have very specific clips for specific vehicles. If I had a land rover I would be in business.

They also have ones for Range Rovers, but to be fair, you’ve been very vague here. If you want more help, you need to give us more information. It took us several questions to figure out what you were talking about and you haven’t even told us what the model/make/year of your car is or what style of clip you need.

I still suggest just taking the thing to an auto parts store and seeing if they sell either a bag of assorted clips or some universal ones.

[enipla]

@blood63

A 5 cent clip broke on a $25 windshield wiper and apparently I have to buy a whole new wiper blade. I do not accept this result.
Possible options include

1. An online site I have yet to find
2. A junkyard
3. Making my own - somehow
4. Visiting the dealer - maybe they have spares
5. A store I have yet to find

Any suggestions?
Thank you

Buy a new wiper made for your car. The new ones come with clips that adapt to most.

Use the new clip on your old wiper blade (if you must) and you can keep the wiper for the next time you need one. I replace mine every year anyway.

Sure, you can probably MacGyver it, but how long will that last? And when it fails, it will fail when you need it and are using it. Or your MacGyver ends up scratching your windshield.

[Yllaria]

Not a mechanical fix, but my grandpa used to tell stories about the days before windshield wipers. You kept a few tobacco leaves under your front seat and if it looked like rain you’d wad them up a bit and rub them on the glass. It would cause the rain to sheet off.

Didn’t work well if the glass was already wet.

[anomalous1]

@blood63

This sounds like a good idea. I don’t know what you mean by bending the tips.

The part of the clip that would usually grab onto paper. Bent a little to make it fit snug, dealers choice to be honest, I put it in then pinched the ends of the clip together a little (needle nosed pliers) before putting the bolt through. Worked for mine, I suppose it depends on the car, but like i said, if you MacGyver as someone said, make sure the bolt threads face upwards and it doesnt touch the windshield. Time is money, so I grabbed what I had around instead of trying to find a replacement blade with the proper clip, took about 10 minutes and beats the hell out of buying a new one, traveling to somewhere to buy a cheapo blade, or the worst crapshoot, the dreaded junkyard.