Technical Wipers not very effective - adjust arms?

[Noah500]

As per the subject: I replaced the blades on my car because the old ones were perished and split. However, when I had to use them the other day I found that there was very poor connection between the rubber and the screen, leaving major streaks of unwiped screen, especially on the driver's side (LHD). The actual sweep seems to be OK i.e. the wipers move at a reasonable speed and also park properly.


I'm just wondering whether it would be possible to bend the arms slightly to get a bit more pressure onto the screen, or some other way of adjusting the wiper arms/blades to get a more effective wipe.

And/or, has anyone got a photo of how the little springy tabs on the underside of the arms at the spindle end are supposed to look? Perhaps they have been bent and teh arms are not stuck on with the right amount of pressure?


Ideas please

Cheers,

Simon

 

[Noah500]

Any thoughts? I went out at the weekend and it rained a bit... very annoying to have the driver's side wiper +/- ineffective. I'm thinking maybe to carefully bend the arm so the blade carrier folds more into the screen?

 

[J4MALD1N]

If the wiper isn't contacting in the center, you can bend the arm ever so slightly to increase the force on the windscreen. I've had success in the past doing this however sometimes it doesn't last very long and a new arm would be needed since springs alone are hard to come by.

This may sound silly however is the windscreen clean? If not, give it a nice clean and use some RainX or something similar. I'd recommend this even if you resort to adjusting the arm as it will extend the life of the new blades and allow for a smoother wipe. Oh, and not to forget the important rain repellent

Edit: This video is pretty much your answer. Just be sure not to snap the arm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrp5L3IFWEA

All the best!

 

[Noah500]

OK, I got a result (finally!):

• Cleaned screen - no change
• Cleaned (new) blades - no change
• Turned offending wiper blade round (because it was only the upper part that was not wiping) - no change
• Bent arm - very slight improvement
• Swapped wipers between driver's and passenger sides - works fine on driver's side, 95% on passenger side. No idea why but it's gooed enough for me!

Case closed