Wiper Refills

[Michael S.]

I just went to the "Zone" to get some wiper refill's for the 68 Camaro I just bought. I wanted refill's to fit the original blades.

The Zone no longer carries wiper refills, just wiper blades. That means if you want continue to use the correct steel blades and just replace the rubber wiper you are now SOL! The reason given by the zone manager was the fact that many newer cars now have "staggered" size wiper blades, the refill packs of 2 were causing return problems and lower sales since a customer must not buy 2 different refill packages.

I drove down the street to Advanced and while they did still have refills, they did not have the 15 inch refills needed for a Camaro. I asked David who manages the store if they also were going to discontinue refills and he responded that they probably would since the Zone did.

Moral of the story, if you are OK with the ugly black new style wiper blades on your classic car, you are OK. If you want to keep the original blades and install refills you should probably buy a spare set if you can find them!

[Peter L.]

Re: Wiper Refills

Mike - Does your Camaro have TRICO or ANCO wiper blades?

If they are TRICOs as far as I know, the 15" RF-15 refills with the 3 lines or ribs running the length of the rubber wiper element were original equipment and used on many 66 and 67 Chevrolet vehicles including some trucks and on 68 and 69 Corvairs and Camaros and some trucks. TRICO manufactured these 3 line RF-15 refills up through 1976 or so and then changed over to the refills with the smooth sides. The TRICO 3 line refills are out there so if you look you should come up with some.

If they are ANCOs, I would expect they were the "non-serviceable" wiper blades like the type that were original equipment and used on many 66 and 67 Chevrolet vehicles including some trucks. While I haven't seen these type of ANCOs on 68 or 69 Camaros or Corvairs because I haven't particularly looked and in 68 other Chevrolet vehicles went to 16" blades, you might check in your 68 Camaro Assembly Instruction Manual to see if they list an "optional" windshield wiper blade.

Pete

[John H.]

Re: Wiper Refills

Pete -

The Trico wiper blades on my (original) '69 Camaro are EXACTLY the same as the correct ones used on the '67 Corvette, although the A.I.M. part numbers are different. The '69 Camaro A.I.M. numbers are 3888296 Blade Asm. with 3899508 optional, vs. the 3908118 shown in the '67 Corvette A.I.M.

[Michael S.]

Re: Wiper Refills

I just thought it was interesting that the Zone is discontinuing stock on refills, Trico or otherwise and will only stock complete blades. It will be interesting to see if other retailers follow. If they do, this may indicate the market for refills is declining and maybe Trico and Anco will exit the refill market. This would not suprise me as the price of single complete blades has certainly declined in the last 5 years with the influx of cheap China made blades.

This "may" be the beginning of another change in easy parts availability for our old cars. Time will tell!

[Terry M.]

[Dick W.]

Re: Wiper Refills

Local "real parts store" Carquest stocks refills.

[Dick W.]

Re: Wiper Refills

Just went on line to my local Carquest and they stock Trico/Anco refills under the #453-150