Noisey windscreen wipers

degsie

'Da missus' drives an Opel Zafira and we recently changed the windscreen wipers cause the old ones were were very noisey when turned during light rain. The new ones are the same! Are there any wiper refills out there which are guranteed to run quiet? Thanks folks.

Moanin

I had the same problem and always purchased bosch ones which are supposed to be the best.They were ok for maybe a week and then back to squeeking! I then bought a set from a a main adealer and they are perfect!

Alun

You might also want to see if the problem is actually caused by a build up of crap on the windscreen. Get a good windscreen cleaner, I use one made by Rain-X, but I'm not sure if it's still available, and give the whole screen a thorough cleaning.

Kashkai

You could also try using "Autoglym Glass Cleaner" (available from most car shops) on the windscreen and the blades themselves.

A lot of muck gets thrown up from the road surface onto the windscreen and sticks there despite any attempts by the windscreen washer and wipers to remove it. Insect residue, tar, bird ****, oil etc is next to impossible to remove by the wipers alone. I use the stuff recommended above to clean the windscreen once a week. Even after washing the car and wiping down the windows with a chamois, you'd be surprised at the amount of gunk left over on the windscreen that the Autoglym cleaner then removes. Don't forget to use it on the wipers also as it not only cleans them, but also lubricates the rubber and stops the wipers squeaking.

peasant

It's usually not the actual rubber wiper blade that is the problem, but the alignment of the arm.

Too little pressure, too much pressure, wrong angle.

Start off with cleaning and oiling the spring and hinge on the arm, that should get the pressure right. Make sure that the blade holder sits snugly in its fixing and doesn't twist (might require some tightening), that should take care of the angle.

Also the little hinges on the holder should work freely to allow the blade to change shape and fit tightly to the glass.

Lastly the whole arm could be twisted ...but you could spend hours twisting it every which way and still not get it right

Avns1s

degsie wrote:

'Da missus' drives an Opel Zafira and we recently changed the windscreen wipers cause the old ones were were very noisey when turned during light rain. The new ones are the same! Are there any wiper refills out there which are guranteed to run quiet? Thanks folks.

Get the proper refills or blades from an Opel dealer and you'll have silence for a while at least. It's caused by the rubber drying out and hardening which causes the hopping, scraping and squeaking you're talking about. The cheap ones from a motor factors are made from lower grade materials and don't last p!ssing time!

maidhc

Clean the wiper blades well, and give them a small rub of sandpaper. Make sure to clean them again after the sandpaper.

The noise is normally caused by crap stuck onto the rubber from my experience.

crosstownk

For my sins, I too have a Zafira. The wiper blades are quite long due to the size of the windscreen. If a film of greasy scum builds up on the screen the wipers a prone to squealing - soon to be followed by 'juddering'. As others suggest, its a matter of giving both screen and blades a good clean and all should be well again.

DrivingInfo

Poor a bottle of coke over the windscreen this will take a lot of the grime off it.
Wipe it a few time with the wipers then wash it with water.

Brian
DrivingInfo.ie

alias no.9

Tell her not to get the the 'wax' when putting the car through the carwash. The wax they use in some car washes can cause the wipers to behave like this, if she really wants the car waxed, just get the metal done.

alias no.9

oops... double post

Moanin

A drop of vineagar on the blades is also good for taking off the gunk