w108 wiper blade problems

[dmtinker]

I'm looking for refills for my w108 1967 250S. I bought a set here but they do not have the rigid spine that the old blade have. Consequently they fall off.
I looked for refills locally but I didn't find any. All the replacement blades were 1/4 inch wide, my refills are just shy of 3/8 inch. Also, the spine on my blades are chrome.

Does anyone know where I can get the correct blades? Do I have to remove the rubber from the spine?

[Tomguy]

The spine should be 2 rails that come out of the old wiper and into the new one. The rubber refills are just that. You COULD get a full blade assembly if you wanted a non-OEM look as well.

[dmtinker]

I already have the non-OEM wipers but the whole point is that I want to keep the chrome. I do not see how to put the refills into the chrome spine. It's a one piece unit with a slot.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Originally Posted by dmtinker

I already have the non-OEM wipers but the whole point is that I want to keep the chrome. I do not see how to put the refills into the chrome spine. It's a one piece unit with a slot.

The original Bosch refill blade uses a rubber insert with a spine made from two separate stainless strips.
Sounds like you have an old-style aftermarket Anco or Trico refill blade, with the one-piece stainless slotted spine. Many of my vintage cars have wiper blades like yours and instead of hunting around for some obsolete-sized small blade replacement, I just get refills for some modern car at my local autoparts store, pull out the rubber, then cut it to fit my car's spine. With cars like my '67 Sunbeam Alpine, which uses "11 blades, I can buy a "22 or longer pair of modern refills and use just one to make two!

The way I refill them is first remove the slotted spine from the wiper blade, and remove the old rubber. then start and work each end of the new rubber out from the center of the slotted spine.

Note - If you're trying to install OE Bosch rubbers into your slotted aftermarket spines, it may be more difficult because the Bosch refills usually have a small nub in the end of the groove, designed to secure them into a notch in the two-piece OE Bosch wiper spines. You may need to cut those nubs to make the new Bosch rubber fit in your slotted aftermarket spines.

Happy Motoring, Mark