My wiper blades were recently replaced with new Bosch replacements from Halfords, and worked just fine for about 6 weeks.
The wiper motor and drive were replaced about a year ago (Iintermittent/park went wonky…so fitted a new asembly) and that all seems fine. No jerkiness as they move - feels smooth when the arms are felt by hand as they rotate. Spring tension seems OK - full contact on the screen.
I’ve tried swapping them over left to right - no change. Seems worse on driver’s side.
But still they judder and sqeak. How can I stop them doing it? More new blades/different type?
It’s driving me nuts…
Anyone had the same problem? Found a simple solution?
This has to be a problem created by the blades themselves or the windscreen. As the blades are relatively new and have worked well in the past, I would give the screen a really good clean to ensure that there is no tree sap, cleaning product, polish, etc that could be causing the issue. Don’t forget to also give the blades a good clean too.
We had a red moon or was it sun recently - lots of very fine dust that contaminated my VW Golf(left outside) screen and wipers. As a result of this it failed the MOT - screen not clearing sufficiently. The fine dust hardly showed but everything worked fine after cleaning and flushing with water. I think the dust locked the blades and stopped them flexing to the screen profile properly.
If that failed would be tempted to swap my blades onto another members MK3 just to confirm them as the source of the problem:-)
Thanks all…
I’ve cleaned screen and blades ad nauseam - wash-up liquid, meths - followed by clean water rinse, and some screenwash fluid in the reservoir, so they’re perfectly clean, and given the springs and blade pivots a good wash and waggle too.
I might just have to take Drumtochty’s advice and splash out on a new set… in the hope that it will cure it.
And who says the Scots are the only mean ones around here!? (Removes tongue from cheek!)
Wish I’d kept the old ones now - at least I could have swapped 'em back just for a trial.
Does the arm pivot bearing getting worn have any effect? I can’t feel any slop in it but I guess it might.
Any way of checking/fixing it? Grease re-packing? How hard is it?
Trying tweaking the wiper arm a little (twist the arm) sometimes the blade may not sit square with the screen, hence the judder. Also make sure the blade has been pushed fully into the hook part on the arm. Guess who didn’t that properly and it jumped off (well nearly) on a dual carriageway. Fine now since I fitted it properly.
I’ve had those Denso hybrid type too, but buy them from Carparts4less.co.uk where they are cheaper - £8.70 v. £13.49 at the moment (sister site to ECP, same range, same part numbers).
I used to get the problem on an old Audi, until I discovered the blades weren’t sitting square on the screen. Just use an adjustable spanner to twist the arm. Also check that the arm bolts are tight.
Thanks to all who suggested solutions, but I think I’ve finally cracked it…!
I re-fitted an original Mazda wiper blade on the driver’s side and re-torqued the spindle pivot nut. It took about a quarter of a turn to pull it down. Perhaps enough to restore the blade angle and lose the additional degree of freedom induced by a slightly slack joint? Not sure which of these two simulatneous mods did the trick, but suddenly - BINGO! - all is restored to silence and clarity!