wiper squeek solutions?

[Live to Ski]

Don't know if this thread should go here or in the "chit chat" section. I hardly read the "chit chat" so here goes:

My wiper blades make a squeeking noise during operation (in the rain, of course). I did see a previous thread regarding making them perpendicular to the glass, which they are. I always clean them (wipe the blades down when wet to remove grit etc). Any ideas?

 

[srplus]

read that post re: 90 degrees. what i do every once in a while that has always worked for me is to take some 800 grit wet/dry sand paper and put it on a block to sharpen the blades and take off any imperfections. works unless the rubber is so old it is too hard. in that case just replace the blades.

 

[loeky]

i had this problem with some new Bosch wipers i bought last season. you should put some silicon based something on them as they are actually drying out and sticking. i used some rain-x and that seemed to work for the season.

 

[Herbert]

There is an excellent article about this on the 3FE yahoo list. Here it is:

Ken's info in post 27343:

I'm sure there's a post in the archives, but yeah mine had a really bad
death wobble all the time, it drove me nuts. I replaced the linkages under
the cowl that connect the motor to the wiper arm shafts, they are:

85164-90A01 "Rod, Wiper Link #1"
85165-90A00 "Rod, Wiper Link #2"

MUCH improved after doing this. The problem is not the linkages, but the
plastic bushings on the ends that make the socket half of the
ball-and-socket joint. There's no easy way to lubricate them under the cowl,
so after 15 years of running dry in a sometimes very hot cavity, the plastic
gets egg-shaped and the connections are loose. I think they were about
$20-25 each, money well spent IMO.

I also discovered something else about my wipers just this morning. Sorry if
this is a little long. In a light misty rain condition, my wipers have
always made an awful chatter noise on the downstroke only, like the blades
were chafing on dry glass. Very irritating "err-err-err-err" kind of noise.
I was driving to work this morning, trying to tolerate this noise, stereo
turned way up, when I had an idea. I pulled over and looked at the angle
that the blades were against the glass. They were pointing kinda downward,
like the blades were trying to "carve" into the glass (does this make
sense?). I whipped out my trusty Gerber Multi-pliers, twisted the flat part
of each wiper arm a little so that the blade was close to perpendicular to
the glass. Noise totally disappeared, wipers are absolutely silent now.
Kinda pisses me off that I was trying different wiper inserts and putting up
with that awful noise for over 2 years, when the fix was free and took
literally about 20 seconds to do. You might want to check this out.

HTH...

-KLF

 

[jb welda]

i use rain-x and it pretty much eliminates this wiper stick business. course with rain-x applied properly you rarely need to use your wipers anyway. your space age tax dollars at work (i understand rain-x was initially developed to clear the windows of the space shuttle because you ought to see *those* wipers chatter at reentry speed!)

one love
jah bill

 

[Live to Ski]

I am a Rain-x fan. I guess I'll have to reapply to see if that eliminates the problem.

Thanks all.