Are they 14, 15, 16 inches ? looked thru the ROM, no mention
I think “Correct” length is 15 ins. On my '88 I use 14 ins on the passenger side, and 13 ins on driver side.They park neater that way, and the trim around the windshield is happier.
The garage wants to sell me 15" . I recall they were different sizes. Thanks
On all the cars I’ve owned over the past ten years or so, I have replaced the wipers with longer or shorter blades, depending on what is best for visibility.
What I’ve found is that I can generally increase the wiper radius from two to four inches.
I have not found this to negatively impact the operation of the wiper motor, as long as the motor is in good nik.
The driver side (LHD) XJS wipers, as I recall, do lift off the glass when furthest from the park position due to the curvature of the glass.
If this condition bothers you, it can always be mitigated with stronger springs in the wiper arm.
At the same time I check for the optimum parking position, not only to increase visibility but to insure no conflict with trim.
I’ve found every vehicle I’ve owned to have maladjusted wiper arm park positions.
While I’m in that area, I also optimize the washer jets aim.
On my '83, the wipers parked on the driver’s side and the driver’s side wiper
parked up at an angle, apparently to avoid contact with the A pillar trim. I
found this irritating. I shortened that wiper arm about a half inch (drilled out a
rivet, unfolded the sheet metal a bit to separate the flat arm from the lever,
drilled a new rivet hole, reassembled with a pop rivet) and installed a wiper
blade 1" shorter. This means the 1" change in length is entirely at the outer
end, the inner end of the blade is right where it originally was. I also bent the
arm sideways out at the tip to put the blade at a slightly different angle so it
parked neatly down at the bottom of the windshield. It all worked wonderfully
IMHO, with the only downside that the wiper didn’t wipe as close to the top of
the windshield. I didn’t have a problem with that.
– Kirbert
just installed new wipers yesterday. I never liked how they parked either, so I slightly bent the arms and adjusted to lay flat against lower trim. used 14" at drivers and 16" on pass. side (u.s. left hand drive) both lay flat and do not overlap when parked.
Yeah, mine look just like that, although if my car ever sees rain means that I’ve seriously misjudged the weather forecast! (Here in sunny Pa.)
I have tried 3 or 4 sets of arms and none of them were bent that much. for years, one edge would overlap trim and other came up 1/3 of the windshield. I am also here in sunny pa. just a few miles south.