My drivers side wiper has been touching my bonnet at the end of it's sweep (blades vertical)

Is this a common issue, can I just move the arm 1 tooth down?

Maybe related is the following: when i turn the ignition to on they move a little bit, almost like the motor takes up the slack. When I turn the ignition off they "relax" again. Is this normal behaviour?

It's normal that they move slightly, I think it's suppose to help the blades last longer.

 

Does sound like you need to remove the wiper arm and move it one notch as it shouldn't be touching the bonnet. I assume you have the correct aero style wipers installed?

Cheers 👍

Yeah, it's got the right wiper blades.

I'll try to see if I can shift them a notch.

Took some pics, looks like it's been happening for a while, it's worn the paint off the pillar (been touched up), a hole in the arm, and a patch on the bonnet!

 I only just got this car, and finding it hard to believe somebody found their wipers rubbing right through the paint on the pillar, touched that up with paint but didn't address the issue that caused it?!?!

 

6 minutes ago, Daniel_Bos said:

Took some pics,

This shot is kind of tight; is it of the wiper spindle?

Just now, KenONeill said:

This shot is kind of tight; is it of the wiper spindle?

 

I took some better ones but they were too big to upload. I'll try to sort this and it'll be clearer

 

3 minutes ago, Daniel_Bos said:

 

I took some better ones but they were too big to upload. I'll try to sort this and it'll be clearer

 

Fair enough; it's sort of vital to diagnosing your problem, knowing whether this is the blade or the spindle.

3 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Fair enough; it's sort of vital to diagnosing your problem, knowing whether this is the blade or the spindle.

Does that make it clearer?

This is with the wiper arms a little bit backed off from their furthest vertical sweep.

That cannot be right. I can open my bonnet with the wipers in the "up change wiper blade position"

 

Provided that the bonnet fits correctly and level with the wings etc then the fault must be the spindles mounting position - i.e. something is bent. What though?

6 minutes ago, Golf-Fiend said:

That cannot be right. I can open my bonnet with the wipers in the "up change wiper blade position"

 

Provided that the bonnet fits correctly and level with the wings etc then the fault must be the spindles mounting position - i.e. something is bent. What though?

I don't think anything is bent.

Bonnet fits fine, wipers wipe well.

I reckon somebody had the arms off and put them back "one tooth out"

For reference from my car wiper position when fully up in blade change position

So, finally had a chance to have a proper go at this yesterday. I tried to take the arm off last week but it was Very, very stuck. 

I doused the spindle with penetrating oil, put a locking nut on, but not right. That way, if it decided to free itself it couldn't come off.

It did not free itself at all.

 

To remove the arm I had to shape a piece of ply to cover the plastic surround and part of the windscreen. Then pry a big lever under the arm (using aforementioned ply as a place to use as a fulcrum without breaking the plastic surround or glass) and hit the spindle with a hammer whilst the arm was levered up.

Even using this method I needed to have someone help me as I couldn't put enough force on the lever to free it. It eventually popped off.

I moved it in one tooth and tightened her up.

 

Fixed...?

No!

 

Now the outer end of the wiper hit the inner end of the other!

 

So I tried to remove the other arm to move that one tooth, and yes indeed, Very very much stuck. Tried the same method of penetrating oil, pry bar and hammer but she wouldn't budge.

So, I doused her in more penetrating oil, put a lock nut on loosely and will leave it like that for a week or so whilst praying to the deities of galvanic corrosion free-uppery. Plenty of wiper action to come this week by the looks of the forecast (and the skies through the window)

 

So to make it work and stop the self destruction attempts, I slightly bent both arms a bit until they cleared each other.

Whilst doing this I noticed that the whole mechanism seems to have more play than I think it should have. Not the linkage I reckon, but the mounting points.

This would make sense as the spring in the arm levers against it, and would lift the mech up a bit possibly resulting in my problem.

 

I can't address or investigate this however until I can get both arms off...! Such fun

 

 

To be continued

Edited 24 February, 20206 yr by Daniel_Bos

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3 minutes ago, J.R. said:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000498405476.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.40ef4c4dzT99M0

Yup, I have one of those.

It's in my workshop in the Netherlands though, and I'm in the UK at the moment.

I have the same problems, stuff either gets lugged around in the vehicle or often bought twice!

 

I feel for you and know how frustrating it is bodging when you own the proper tool.

Sorry for the thread resurrection but just wondering if you ever sorted this? I've just bought a 66 plate vRS and it's doing the same. Only thing is that the previous owner has let it do it until it's ground down the wiper arm and left a decent sized mark on the underside of the bonnet. 

 

First thing is to get the arm off, which is proving a bit difficult. Bought a puller which won't shift it... yet! 

I had to remove mine recently in order to replace the struts. The wipers need to come off to remove the scuttle plastic so you can get to the top mount bolts.

I used a knock-on balljoint tool under the wiper arm to spreas the load and provide a means of applying leverage with a screwdriver to the underside of the arm, while giving the spindle a few sharp taps with a harm to release from the taper.