wiper blade replacement for winged wiper (SOLVED)

[brus brother]

I have a 2005 Outback that has the winged wiper on the driver's side. The local dealer says the only way to replace the blade is to buy the entire arm at $25 (he admits it is ridiculous) or I can buy a replacement arm that doesn't have the wing (I could buy essentially the same thing at Wal-Mart for $5).

The original blade has a locking mechanism built into the rubber since the arm doesn't have any "stops" to prevent the blade from sliding out.

Has anyone found a solution for this or anyone north of the border know if the rubber insert for the original winged arm is available in Canada?

 

Update:

I found the Rain X Weatherbeater at Walmart for about $9 has the same locking mechanism. I removed the blade by from the Rain X arm following the Subaru directions for blade replacement (if they actually sold one this would be useful) and slid it into the old Subaru wiper assembly with the wind wing and it works great. The Weatherbeater is a natural rubber blade and not silicone if this is of any interest to readers.

Edited August 22, 2010 by brus brother

[gbhrps]

I have been where you are last winter. Our dealership gave me the same response and I turned him down as well.

 

What I was able to do was find an new blade insert that fit the width of the track of the wiper arm of the winged assembly. While there was no fastener to keep the blade from coming out of the wiper arm, I simply crimped the one end of the wiper track with a pair of needle-nosed pliers. Basically I squeezed the end of the last part of the track that the blade insert slides into, to the point where the insert couldn't slide out on its own. Its important to do so on just one end of the blade insert, so that the blade can change its length as it moves over the curve of the windshield.

 

This has worked fine for me through two new sets of blades since I bought the car new in 07. Good Luck!

[brus brother]

Update:

I found the Rain X Weatherbeater at Walmart for about $9 has the same locking mechanism. I removed the blade from the Rain X arm following the Subaru directions for blade replacement (if they actually sold one this would be useful) and slid it into the old Subaru wiper assembly with the wind wing and it works great. The Weatherbeater is a natural rubber blade and not silicone if this is of any interest to readers.

Edited August 22, 2010 by brus brother