The front wiper blades on my new Octy seem to be very stiff and don't do a great job of clearing the screen (looks like the stiffness means they aren't really contacting the screen properly in places - especially near the top of the sweep).

The car only has 50 miles on the clock so I guess they will loosen up, but I don't remember it being this bad on previous new cars - wondered if it is a "feature" of the Aero wipers or if there is any adjustment possible (doesn't look like it from the manual). Wonder if it has been sitting in a compound somewhere for a while leading to the blades stiffening up.

Does anyone else have any exprience of this?

Aeros are a bad job. Hateful things IMHO. It's the cold weather, I had the same problem on my last Astra which had the aeros on it. Other than lifting and flexing the blades, there's not much you can do.

Just glad the Vectra has "real" wipers on it...

Checked the wipers properly today - having parked them out on the screen as per the "hints and tips" sticky.

Dealers had left on what seems to be a protective cover (like a harder blade which slides over the proper one) - great PDI guys, well done. Needless to say they work a lot better now!

Have to have a really good look in the daylight tomorrow to check it hasn't scratched the screen, but it looks ok. Makes me wonder what else they may have done / not done though. Maybe they were ticked off because I declined to buy any stupidly overpriced GAP insurance or Supagard...

Dealers had left on what seems to be a protective cover (like a harder blade which slides over the proper one) - great PDI guys, well done. Needless to say they work a lot better now!

IMHO those protective covers are in shocking orange color, it is hard to not see them :confused:.

they have a red stripe on them, but the tips are black like wiper blades - it is immediately obvious as soon as you park the blades in the sweep position and look at them, but ATM it is dark when I drive to work and when I come back so not the easiest to spot.

Would have thought the dealers might have noticed them though