Ridiculous

it's raining here today and when i drive down the road with my wipers on they just hop all the way up the window and are fine on the down stroke and it does this all the time, it's so annoying. does anyone have a cure to fix this?

i assume ya'll know what i'm talking about, but if not let me know and i'll clarify.

Fronty Owner

about every 2 or 3 months, I run a piece of 400 grit sandpaper over my wiper blades. they act like new again for a while.

The rubber ages and gets hard, this keeps new rubber cleaned and exposed and they act like new blades.

phox_mulder

Ammonia will do the same thing.
Gets the old dried rubber off, and softens it a bit making it almost like new.

Used to be, in the good ole days, replacement wiper blades came with a little wet-nap of ammonia to rub on there.


phox

Ridiculous

thanks guys but i don't have either, but i'll find one or the other.

any other options just for curiosity sake?

Geico266

Replace them?

AlpineRAM

Add a little dish soap to the washer fluid- helps for quite a bit after spraying it on to keep the wiper blades happy.

Mexstan

Put a slight twist to the wiper arm to make a 90 degree angle between the blade and the glass for both strokes.

Ridiculous

oh ya i forgot to mention...they're new!!!!!!!!!! that's what gets me.


and can you please explain in more detail what you mean by this?

Fronty Owner

a new pair will last about 6 months here.

you wear them out in the winter and they dry out in the summer.

Ridiculous

well ur in oklahoma and i'm in nebraska, so we have about the same weather conditions so i bet that don't help. but still they're new.

is it safe to say that you get what you pay for in the wiper blade industry?

Fronty Owner

Im not sure, I have tried Anco, Bosch, Pylon, and ValueCrafts. They all last about the same before they start streaking, skipping, making noises.

Im over a year and a half on some of the double blade wipers from walmart with regular sanding.

greasemonki

Stuff like black magic works well too, i have found. When I wash my truck, I spray a little on a cloth and wipe the wipers clean, it keeps the rubber soft and plyable.

Ridiculous

oh ya, fill me in on this sanding the blades, i've never did/heard of this before, it was said earlier to use 400 grit, is this ok and how do you do it? do ya get all aggressive like your sanding a peice of wood or take it real easy like? even though 400 is pretty fine stuff, i imagine you could possible ruin a blade by doing this.

Fronty Owner

I fold a piece of 400 grit in half with the work side in. then run it along the blade like you were trying to wipe the blades clean.

Just a few strokes on each blade is all I do. just enough to scuff the surface.

Ridiculous

cool, that's interesting, i've never heard of this, but it works huh? i'm gonna try it tomorrow and see how that works.