Well I believe I've gone and wasted some money. I removed the springs from my wipers, bead blasted the arms, then sent them to a guy to be powdercoated. They came back beautiful and made me very happy that I'd managed to save money by not having to buy brand new wiper arms from Mazda.... BUT, I can't get the springs back on. I managed to get the springs off by pulling the springs off their perches with a pair of channel locks (VERY difficult). I did slip at one point and gouged my arm, but I DID get them off with a good bit of effort. The problem I've got now is I can't get them back on. I swear they've shrunk an inch each! I'm a pretty strong guy, but these things have some serious force on them. I've seen t-handle spring pullers, but I don't think I can pull these things on, especially since they're awkward to hold while messing with the spring. I'd guess each one has to be stretched 2" - 2.5" to get them back on their perches and I can't even stretch them 1/2" without feeling like I'm going to break something or slip.
I'm thinking about making the opposite of a string compressor that has outward facing hooks that can stretch the spring enough that I can place it on the perches then release the tension. Before I build something though I just wanted to post on the off chance that someone has done this before and if so, what technique did you use?

Lane

 

Without looking at exactly how they attach, is there enough room to use a drum-brake spring tool at the wide end?

BTW, I just removed the anti-sail blade, scuffed my arms down well, cleaned and rattle-canned them with semi-gloss black. Used black Plasti-dip on the blade. They look brand new.