Awful Chrome Wipers

Hi,

 

I have bought two sets of so called "high quality" chrome wipers from places like mini spares but they just don't clear the screen. The current set are not making contact in the middle of the blade, only the edges. Do I have to return to the dependable painted black wipers? Does anyone know of a good tried and test set of chrom wipers?

 

 

 

 

Ta

 

Phil

Thanks!

The rubbers of the chromed wipers are bad quality. Replace them with a better and softer rubber and they work perfectly.

Cheers I will try that too. Haven't driven the mini for a while. I'm at work now but the morning commute was not fun, peering through a clean section of window. I have bought some of the rain-x stuff and will just have to pull over on the way home to buff when needed.

This is probably a lame option, but I was just thinking has anyone tried some kind of chrome spray on the bosch wipers or would that be rubbish?

You'd be way better off with Landrover Defender hook-type arms and Bosch SP11 (??) blades.  Granted they're not chrome but they work properly.

The 1990 onwards bosch arms and blades that my car came with worked fine if I remember rightly. Might just have to dump the chrome. I will try Alpinflitzers suggestion first. It may be that the rubber that comes with the chromes blade sucks, however i'm not sure where I can get good quality rubber inserts. Halfords is the only place I know and I dont think they are good

I bought some of the heavy duty chrome ones and agree the rubber was rubbish. Replaced just the rubber blade with Halfords refills into and it has worked perfectly well ever since.

Edited by fikasteve, 07 December 2016 - 05:09 PM.

I bought a set of the high quality chrome wipers from MiniSpares a few years ago. They worked perfectly but recent replacements from the same manufacturer had rubbish rubber blades. Replacing the rubber solved the problem.

Additionally, the end stop that prevents the wiper arm folding in half under spring pressure when removed from the car is a little to high and contact pressure on the screen isn’t quite enough at speed. A little bending of the arm helps here.

As alle rubber products wiper rubbers become glazy and thus hard.You can hear it when the do not change position when wiping to the right or to the left. .

The service manager at my Ford dealer advised me to wipe the edges of the blades with a cloth soaked in vinegar. It worked! I can only assume that the bad wiping was caused by something like lime scale, which is readily dissolved by vinegar.

As for Halfords wipers, they sell one of the leading European brands (forgotten which but it was not Bosch) which are actually rather good.

The vinegar breaks down the road traffic film and grease. It leaves the rubber dry and increases wear. Wash them with soapy water and use a silicone wipe/spray on the rubber. They will last much longer.
I've never been a fan of the chrome wipers, bought a new OE set from minispares. Much better!

Well, my wipers did well over 30k miles after the vinegar treatment! And, I would prefer not to have silicone anywhere near the windscreen, or the paintwork, which will need a respray eventually. Traces of silicones can cause immense problems to the paint process. They are harmless to just about everything else.

Mileage is a pointless measurement for wipers. I do 30k a year, you may do it over 10.

PIAA provide silicone wipes for their wipers to be used to aid their efficiency. I've used silicone spray on my window runners for years too, never one issue with paint.

http://www.halfords....lubricant-400ml

Edited by Steve220, 20 December 2016 - 03:49 PM.