Flat Blade Wipers

GTE

Hello all,

I bought some Vaelo flat blade retrofit wipers for my Golf just to see what they are like and the passenger side seems fine. At least as good as my old wipers when new but the drivers side seems to miss a patch about 3 inches by 4 near the top of the window.

I went to Halfords and got a replacement and it hopped across the screen as the wiper was going over the same patch. So I went back to the old one and it is not really that annoying when its raining constantly but I know that when I am cleaning my windscreen in the dry it will annoy the hell outta me.

What causes this to happen?

I have been able to take them apart and see how its constructed and there is a single metal strip which puts the pressure down on the window and I was wondering if I could do some tweaks at the part that is causing the problem. My thinking is that there is a dip in the profile of the actual window at that point. Though the other blade skipped across the window so I have no idea.

Also, I got new blades for a Merc (70ish or something stupid for Bosch ones and half that for Halfords brand) and when I took the old wipers off I took them apart as well.

Madness! I never even thought that those wipers just had regular blades in them. Same deal with the ones I got but they were much cheaper then the Bosch ones.

coylemj

Have you considered buying genuine VW blades? There's such a lot of third-party parts around these days that genuine parts are not as expensive as you'd expect, it's something similar to what Ryanair did to Aer Lingus and their rip-off fares before competition arrived.

Two examples...

1. A bottle of VW screenwash concentrate which makes up 25 litres costs just 5 euros.

2. I once owned a 98 Merc C180 and a local lad whipped the Merc star from the boot lid in the Supervalu car park, I expected to be ripped off by MSL for the replacement, it cost 5 euros.

Jimmy Bottlehead

Not to hijack, but I have a MK4 Polo, and it has a 19" and a 21" wiper. Had to replace the 21" wiper so bought a 20" in Tesco as they didn't have any 21" wipers. Bloody thing doesn't fit properly. Bah.

Where's the best place to get them at a decent price?

billbond4

yeah I just bought genuine VW blades for the wives MKIV golf from the dealer and she said that they are a lot better than the other ones I got for her (from parts shops)
They were cheaper as well, 15€ for genuine ones compared to 20€ for others.
--> 19 and 21 inch as well

I think your better off getting the genuine stuff as now parts dont seem to be that much more expensive than the stuff you get in motor factors.

okane1

I've used this company a few times http://wiperblades.co.uk/ and got their own brand flat blade. Found them very good and also pretty cheap.

Another reason why the wiper blade isnt cleaning fully is your windscreen might be very dirty. Get some glass cleaner and give it a good clean. See if that helps.

CreepingDeath

I've tried the flat blades on my car, but am noticing that they wear out a lot faster. They start streaking water across the windscreen instead of clearing it off cleanly.

I'm considering going back to the old style.

GTE

Interesting point about the genuine blades. I was under the impression that to convert to flat blades on the Mark 4 Golf I would need to change the wiper arms to a different type. At least on the 1999 to 2002 batch anyway.

On the wiper length, my car was listed in Halfords to take a 19" passenger and a 21" driver. Turns out I had a 20" passenger on it the whole time so I swapped it for the larger and there were no problems. I swapped because the car is filthy and it left a weird gap between the dirt and the new wiper

I have soaked the windscreen with fairy liquid and really washed the hell out of it and it got no better after 2 and a half hours driving in rain.

Ill definitely check out the genuine VW ones next.

Ardennes1944

ebay have a load of them. find out what length your blades are and make sure their retro fit or other. ive bought 4 pairs off ebay now and no problem at all. i was in a motor factors yday and theere was a guy who spent 47euro on these wipers and not even genuine vw parts! on ebay they cost 10!

bladespin

okane1 wrote: »

Another reason why the wiper blade isnt cleaning fully is your windscreen might be very dirty. Get some glass cleaner and give it a good clean. See if that helps.

Very good point, no matter what type of wiper you're using the water will dissipate a lot easier if the glass itself is cleaned properly.

A tip from a motorcyclist: polish the screen, and see how water beeds off it, if it's anything like a bike visor it'll work a treat.

coylemj

To repeat what I said earlier - buy the genuine wiper blades, they don't cost much more than generic ones but you are guaranteed that they will work and if they don't, you can go back, kick up s**t and they'll have to deal with you.

I had an interesting experience buying generic blades from Halfords about four years ago, I needed blades for a 2003 Volvo S60 so checked the ring binder catalogue on the blades shelf, picked out the blade set it said was right for me and took them home. I discovered that the blade on the drivers side wouldn't fit so I went back to Halfords (Carrickmines), I deliberately parked right outside the front door, went in, double-checked that I hadn't screwed up by once again checking the catalogue for blades, verified that I had purchased the right set and went up to one of the assistants.

The particular assistant was a young lady, she referred me to one of the lads who was halfway up a stepladder, I explained the situation to him, he said to go to the girl at the checkout and get a refund, he just didn't give a crap. When I said the car was outside, I had the blades in my hand and would he like to come out and take a look, he couldn't care less, told me to get a refund so that's what I did.

Moral of the story: A company policy of 'no quibble' money-back gives the store staff the ability to throw your money back at you and basically tell you to p**s off. Rather than being an example of good customer service, it made me determined never to buy wiper blades from them ever again.

Ghost Train

coylemj wrote: »

To repeat what I said earlier - buy the genuine wiper blades, they don't cost much more than generic ones but you are guaranteed that they will work and if they don't, you can go back, kick up s**t and they'll have to deal with you.

I had an interesting experience buying generic blades from Halfords about four years ago, I needed blades for a 2003 Volvo S60 so checked the ring binder catalogue on the blades shelf, picked out the blade set it said was right for me and took them home. I discovered that the blade on the drivers side wouldn't fit so I went back to Halfords (Carrickmines), I deliberately parked right outside the front door, went in, double-checked that I hadn't screwed up by once again checking the catalogue for blades, verified that I had purchased the right set and went up to one of the assistants.

The particular assistant was a young lady, she referred me to one of the lads who was halfway up a stepladder, I explained the situation to him, he said to go to the girl at the checkout and get a refund, he just didn't give a crap. When I said the car was outside, I had the blades in my hand and would he like to come out and take a look, he couldn't care less, told me to get a refund so that's what I did.

Moral of the story: A company policy of 'no quibble' money-back gives the store staff the ability to throw your money back at you and basically tell you to p**s off. Rather than being an example of good customer service, it made me determined never to buy wiper blades from them ever again.

he offered you the refund, what else did could he have done for you, surely less hassle for you to get your money back without having to fit or remove the wiper blades just to show what you had already explained.

billbond4

Yet another thing about the Genuine blades,
I noticed that the genuine (old style) blades I got for the wives VW golf that the drivers side in curved so there is more contact pressure of the blade on the windscreen, all other old style blades I got were straight.
It does make sense to use genuine blades as the are designed for the particular car, not a general one that covers all cars/shapes of windscreens.

GTE

I dont believe it is an issue about the windscreen being dirty.
The whole blade works fine but once it reaches this small patch a few inches of the blade glides over the glass. Ill wash it again but I dont thing its all down to dirt.

Thanks for the replies. Ill read them all later and share my experience with Halfords:mad:

billbond4

Had the same issue with my Honda accord when I got it, small triangle in middle of windscreen was never cleaned (there were none honda blades on it)
So I bought other blades from motor factors and I was never really happy with them.
Bought the genuine honda blades, and blades working fine since.

shogunpower

bbk wrote: »

I dont believe it is an issue about the windscreen being dirty.
The whole blade works fine but once it reaches this small patch a few inches of the blade glides over the glass. Ill wash it again but I dont thing its all down to dirt.

Thanks for the replies. Ill read them all later and share my experience with Halfords:mad:

Dont use god dam fairy liquid anywhere near a car!!!!!
your stripping all the wax off so the water sticks it's might to the windscreen making it harder to wipe of, heck a well waxed windscreen doesn't even need wipers above 50mph beacuse the water runs off so quick, go buy autoglym glass polish give it a good polishing and you will have no problem with sticky/jerky wipers.

king_of_inismac

Have you tried cleaning the blade as well as the windscreen?

If any dirt lies on the blade it will lift that section and won't wipe the windscreen properly.

GTE

shogunpower wrote: »

Dont use god dam fairy liquid anywhere near a car!!!!!
your stripping all the wax off so the water sticks it's might to the windscreen making it harder to wipe of, heck a well waxed windscreen doesn't even need wipers above 50mph beacuse the water runs off so quick, go buy autoglym glass polish give it a good polishing and you will have no problem with sticky/jerky wipers.

No need for God damning friend.
Anyway, I can confirm that the quality of the wipe has remained the same as before the fairy liquid clean as after.
I can also confirm that the blade is clean.
The wiper does not skip or jerk across the windscreen. The replacement did but I got a refund.

Ill reiterate that the quality of the wipe for most of the screen is perfect however for a small patch of the screen the blade that worked for the rest of it seems to not contact the screen as the wiper goes back down.
The patch it misses is 3inches by 4 or something like that.

So I didnt say this before but it wipes fine on the way up and then lifts off a slight patch on the way down. Its actually the same point where the passenger side reaches its highest and most right hand point on the wind screen.

I have a crude drawing uploaded.
The black lines are the wipers in their down position and blue is where it goes when they go up.

When the drivers side wiper (grey line) crosses the area that the passenger side was going in the direction of the red arrow (green arrow is the point) the drivers side wiper completely misses that patch.

Twas a load of effort for a little thing anyway. It should be solved by getting genuine blades!
Thanks for the help.

sean1141

try picking up a set of aero wiper arms from a breakers and using the genuine vw areo(flat) blades.. so much better than the standard metal type blades

GTE

sean1141 wrote: »

try picking up a set of aero wiper arms from a breakers and using the genuine vw areo(flat) blades.. so much better than the standard metal type blades

Tis what I was wondering. Sounds like I need the arms too.
No bother though. It will all come together in time.

OldmanMondeo

I put the Champion flat blades on my old car. these are the ones that retrofit fromt he metal bridge type to the flat. Had the on it for well over 1 year and had no problems with them.

Topdeck

billbond4 wrote: »

Had the same issue with my Honda accord when I got it, small triangle in middle of windscreen was never cleaned (there were none honda blades on it)
So I bought other blades from motor factors and I was never really happy with them.
Bought the genuine honda blades, and blades working fine since.

how much did you pay for your genuine blades

mickdw

THe OP is trying to fit the flat blades to a car that didnt have them from new so genuine ones even if they came on later versions of his car wont fit his without replacing the arm as well.
He bought the retro fit ones which will have the flat blade but a clip to match the OPs car. Thy are not generally a geat job. Proper flat blades are the business though. I just got a new set yesterday at the motor factors. €42 for bosch which I think were original fit.

sean1141

bbk wrote: »

Tis what I was wondering. Sounds like I need the arms too.
No bother though. It will all come together in time.

ya i think all the 03+ boras and golfs all had flat wipers from the factory.. think the arms can be dear enough from vw.. might be worth trying a few of the dealers up north...

mickdw wrote: »

€42 for bosch which I think were original fit.

i got bosh ones instead of vw ones twice.. never again they are pure crap.

GTE

sean1141 wrote: »

ya i think all the 03+ boras and golfs all had flat wipers from the factory.. think the arms can be dear enough from vw.. might be worth trying a few of the dealers up north...


i got bosh ones instead of vw ones twice.. never again they are pure crap.

Yeah, while Im up here Ill try around Belfast. Though my priorities is a battery along with two new tyres and a remap
Bosch do carry a heavy premium, especially for the ones that fit E classes

sealgaire

I just got these of this guy and am ery happy with them. Might be worth a punt ?

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Honda-Civic-Flat-Wiper-Blades-1996-2000-/110619926498?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item19c1761fe2

GTE

They look the job alright. Cheap too.

I ended up replacing the flat blades I got in Halfords with VW Retrofit ones from a dealer. They cost about the same and are very good.

The Halford flat blades now have a new home on a Toyota Corolla. The passenger side is much longer then the old one but they are working a lot better on that then my car.

Ahh well!

Flat blades are the business though!