Have just driven my new Yeti in the wet for the first time and have found a problem with the wiinscreen wipers. It is a combination of squealing and juddering. The squeal is for the whole width of the sweep but the juddering seems more pronounced towards the end. The car is 6 days old so I'm not best pleased. I'll have to take in to the dealer of course but has anyone heard of this before?

The dealers did persuade me to have an Autoglym treatment so I don't suppose it could be any residue left over from that?

Edited 31 May, 201214 yr by warley

Yep, sounds like windscreen got the treatment too!

I have had my wiper blades replaced at service last week and they jump about terribly! But are fine when the screen is dry?

I am going to call in tomorrow to see if they fitted a dodgy set of blades.

Same thing happened to my wipers today in the rain,first time I have noticed it happening will give the screen a good clean with glass cleaner when i get the chance.

Try turning the ignition off mid wipe, obviously not while driving along the road.

Look at the blade of the wiper it should be trailing, eg leaning away from the direction of travel.

If the blade looks as though it's leaning towards the direction of travel then that would cause it to jump.

Normally this is a problem when the blades get old and less flexible, especially when left parked for long periods where there has been no rain.

Thanks for the thoughts and advice. Will report back what dealers say when they've had a look tomorrow. Will try the blade direction test on the way but as everything is new I hope it will perform correctly!

In my case it was delivery wax that had not been properly cleaned off the glass. (Hence the blades needed cleaning too.)

This problem sometimes occurs with treated windscreen, rainx and similar products. Its a result of too little friction between wiperblade and windscreen. But also the angle between wiperblade and windscreen should be adjusted.

On older cars I have improved the friction part by cleaning and lubricating the wiperarm joint and also the edges where the spring connects. On a new car this should not be a problem.

I have Glastec treatment on the Yeti windscreen and no juddering.

Update - I've been to the dealers first thing this morning. They thought it was wax on the screen but exactly what wax - OEM or Autoglym - the jury is out. With some water on it you could see that there were some smears of 'something' ugly. Slightly more serious was that the RH wiper was actually hitting the A pillar which was the mechanical 'clunk' that I forgot to mention in my post yesterday. So they have adjusted the wiper mechanism (I did not watch so I don't know how they did it), cleaned the wax off the screen and replaced the RH blade which was the one that was juddering. The dealers were very efficient and did this in a few minutes while I waited. All seems better now but I need some rain to test fully and looking at the Bank Holiday forecast I won't have long to wait!. Blade now stops short of the Pillar too! Thanks again all for the advice last night.

Edited 1 June, 201214 yr by warley

My wipers replaced at the last service by the dealer at my request as they were not clearing the screen very well, have not lasted to the next service. I had to replace them last week when the blade edge came off the passenger one and on inspection the drivers side was heading the same way.

One of the less impressive designs on the car, never very good at clearing the screen completely and the drivers side taps the windscreen trim at the top in marginal wet/dry situations, very annoying when the conditions are correct to allow it to happen. And don't get me started about the appalling automatic function. I thought it was poor on my last car, a superb mark 1, it is hopeless on the yeti, on when not wanted and then doesn't wipe even with the screem covered in water and no visibility. Why cant we just have a timer like in the old days! Its like the chinese water torture, you never know when the next wipe will be, and keep having to flick the stalk to get vision back.

Edited 3 June, 201214 yr by kenfowler3966

The dealer told me that these new wiper blades need to be changed "every six months" - looks as though they may be right. I discovered over the last weekend that I too dislike the auto wiper functionality - in the rain over the last two days I have spent too much time thinking about the wipers when I should be concentrating on the road ahead. I will have to go back to the dealer again at some point soon anyway as having had the r/h blade repositioned so that it no longer hits the 'A' pilar it now looks uncomfortably close to the L/H blade and the two are nearly touching. God, it wasn't like this when I had a BMW. I'm praying for a dry summer!

Edited 4 June, 201213 yr by warley

I've found that cleaning the windscreen with the wipers when the screen is dry shortens the life of modern blades, the squirt of water doesn't have a lubricating effect until after the first wipe.

I try to keep the screen clean by washing it frequently especially in summer.

I don't like the sound of all these negative reports on the auto wipers, the ones on my ten year old passat work fine. Surely the system is the same? Unless it's the angle of the screen which means the sensor doesn't pick the raindrops up properly?

The dealer told me that these new wiper blades need to be changed "every six months"

:wonder: Wife's Fabia II FL is aproaching 2 years old in August with 16k on the clock and still has fully functioning original wiper blades. Likewise the Yeti is also near 16k and no problems there either after 14 months.

Do not use anything on the front screen other than the sponge with the car shampoo when they get an ooccasional wash and a once or twice a year glass clean with autoglm glass polish. Side and rear windows do get rainx treatment mind to bead the side spray.

TP

Just had exactly the same problem with our 3 week old Yeti 2.0 TDi. 10 Days driving around France with juddering wipers drove me crazy. Then coming off the Eurotunnel at Folkstone on Sunday we drove through the mother of all cloudbursts for 5 minutes. After that the juddering vanished !!. I still don't like the loud "clunk" when the wipers go to the "Park Position" though. Sounds most un refined. Our car had the Supagard Treatment before delivery and I have used the Supagard pH Neutral Shampoo a couple of times since. Should I avoid getting the Shampoo on the Windscreen ?.

Edited 11 July, 201213 yr by Our Gee

I changed the Bosch aero style wiper blades on my Superb for the first time after 7 years. As delivered, the driver's side blade would not flip properly and consequently judder and wipe badly on the return stroke. Poor quality control.

The fix is to twist the blade end of the wiper arm so that the pin for the blade fitting is parallel to the screen. If you slip a 6" length of rigid plastic tube over the pin you can see any misalignment very easily. Twist the flat part of the arm just below the blade fixing adapter with a small adjustable spanner - use a piece of paper to protect the paint.

Bosch aero blades are not much good in cold conditions - the rubber is too stiff to allow proper wiping.

rotodiesel.

Just had exactly the same problem with our 3 week old Yeti 2.0 TDi. 10 Days driving around France with juddering wipers drove me crazy. Then coming off the Eurotunnel at Folkstone on Sunday we drove through the mother of all cloudbursts for 5 minutes. After that the juddering vanished !!. I still don't like the loud "clunk" when the wipers go to the "Park Position" though. Sounds most un refined. Our car had the Supagard Treatment before delivery and I have used the Supagard pH Neutral Shampoo a couple of times since. Should I avoid getting the Shampoo on the Windscreen ?.

I too did not like the 'clunk' because I thought it was a fault but I briefly drove a Skoda Superb which was exactly the same and the Golf Plus that I exchanged the Yeti for does something similar so now that I know it is part of the design, I do longer mind! Your cure of the judder sounds as though sufficient water and rubber action will eventually wash the wax off a screen contrary to my expectation - but it's a result anyway you look at it!