Wiper Blades (sorry)

[skyblues11]

now come to think about it, i recall in my old car i had some aftermarket single strip blades fitted ( the original were the standard 'wishbone' blades).

the middle sector of the sweep left an unsweep flat area about an inch wide.

these blades are often kept 'bent' and when i installed mine, the bend was still there.

after experimenting further, i gave up and fit the normals back, where the wishbones were pushing evenly along the rubberstrip.

i am a fan of rain repellents, so i don;t know if this would help you guys.

[Geoff Hibbert]

I get around a 75mm wide smear right in my eyeline on the drivers side, piss poor if you ask me.

It wipes fine on the upstroak but smears like mad on the downstroke.

[fimael]

I've just had mine changed to "modified" blades..so far, so good!

[lennytwo]

having had my blades changed to the jetta wipers (part numbers are 1K8955425E & 1K8955426E) I am now smear free....for the moment

[alanstead]

I've just been trying to remove the odd smear which appears just where the passenger wiper stops in front of the driver, but nothing will take it off, vinegar, thinners, white spirit, and clay ber have all been tried over the last few weeks. What I did notice just now is that the patch where this smear is, is rough. When you wash the car or spray water on the windscreen, this area clears first, the same happens where the driver side wiper stops, and I've also noticed that it is visible along the bottom of the window where the blades stop. So, it must be off the wipers as its at each point they stop. But god knows what it is. Tonight I was feeling where the patches are and they are slightly rough. I think the only solution is a new windscreen so when I get a chance I'll need to get it to the dealers. I know that ayeaye suffered the same prob, I wonder did he find a cure. Anyone else out there have these symptoms.

Alan

[RW1]

Alan,

Thats exactly the description of the patches I had. I concluded it was some sort of adhesive that had been used on the Scirocco to hold the protective white sheeting the factory puts on for transportation and storage.

Hmmm, pity the thinners hasn't worked. Mine was Tetrosyl Paint Thinners (for diluting paint and cleaning brushes) 250 ml. Contains Xylene. http://WWW.tetrosyl.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since cleaning it off 10 days ago, problem has gone and wipers have been smear free, even with Rain-X.

C.

[alanstead]

Hmmm! Mine must be really sticky! Bloody pain. If the dealer wasnt 100 odd mile away I'd just pop in one day and show them, its dead obvious when you sprinkle water on the screen, the patches just stand out. I'll try more stuff over the weekend and let you know how I get on, but it seems everything I try just wont work! Its odd that its rough, but I suppose that is just whatevers stuck on the screen.

Cheers for your reply

[alanstead]

Just had a thought, I've got hammerite brush cleaner in the paint cupboard, I wonder if thats worth a try! Out of interest RW1, how much effort did you have to put in to removing the patches?

Alan

[ayeaye]

Meant to update this.... since I went over the screen a second time with Autoglym glass polish, it's been smear free. Originally I went over the smear area only, second time I applied it to the area where the smear happened but also down at the bottom of the screen where the wipers rest, with the theory being that that's the area that grease etc. is likely to gather or not be cleaned properly at factory / dealer.

Now the stone chip and nice scratch caused by the passenger side wiper blade (must have had a small piece of grit under it at one point) is another matter.....

[alanstead]

Cheers for letting us know that. I've had another thought about a cleaner, acetone! Gonna see if I can scrounge some from my mate over the weekend and see if that helps. The other option is do nothing and hopefully get it to the dealers in the new year and let them bloody struggle with it and then hopefuuly replace the screen!! Its just its so annoying just now cos all my driving is in the dark, and usually in the rain. I'll keep you all updated!

Alan

[RW1]

Just had a thought, I've got hammerite brush cleaner in the paint cupboard, I wonder if thats worth a try! Out of interest RW1, how much effort did you have to put in to removing the patches?

Alan

Hardly any at all with the Tetrosyl. As before careful and mindfull of the car's paintwork with this stuff around.

Gently wiped a Tetrosyl'd lightly damp rag on the screen where the offending patch was, waited about 20 seconds, second slightly harder rub and then washed the residues off with warm soapy (car wash shampoo) water. Wiped dry with kitchen towel. Gone!

Whatever it is, it is stubborn stuff until you find the right remedy to remove it. And I can't see why this "stuff" is on the car. I had several patches of it all over the front screen but can't find it on any of the other windows????

Chris.

[alanstead]

Cheers Chris. Aye, I'd noticed its only on the windscreen too, not a trace on any other window, which is what makes me think is it the wiper rubber to blame, maybe a bad batch and the rubber had a layer of something on it. I'll try get some better thinners like you've suggested and also some autoglym glass polish as Ayeaye has suggested and hopefully one or the other will do the job!

[RW1]

Tried the autoglym glass polish, didn't work.

And one of the smear patches wasn't being smoothed in the direction of the wiper sweep. My initial reaction was a faulty glass surface cos it was such tough stuff. A finger nail didn't mark it. All the wipers were doing was just smoothing it out where they touched it. It looked like something had been splashed on across the screen from the bottom right hand side to the top left.

[RW1]

This week I had another wiper smear appear on the driver's side only. A band about 80mm wide for the whole arc on the return sweep around the position where the wiper holder mounts onto the arm. I wasn't chemical this time, it looked like the wiper blade wasn't contacting the screen correctly on the return sweep.

Took a little to sort out but in summary what I found was the wiper carrier (plastic strip holding the rubber blade) had collapsed slightly relatively to the screen. From the side, the distance of the carrier to the windscreen was not constant. It started at the top as 6mm then down to 3mm in the middle and up to 6 mm again. It had collapsed in the middle at the wiper carrier / arm connection. So in effect I had a low "W" effect across the carriers length. Where the carrier came closer to the windscreen in the middle was the position of the smear sweep area. This was because the wiper blade edge was incorrectly orientated to the windscreen, being badly squashed so that the broad side of the wiper rubber contacted the windscreen.

Looking at the passenger side wiper blade, it wasn't distorted over the whole length. And the passenger side wasn't giving any problems.

Easy to spot, park the wipers in service "up" position and then via the lower thicker arm part, gently push the arm back one third of the arc without applying any down pressure towards the screen. (My arms are relatively free to move but if they are not willing to budge, don't force the arm!!) . Now observe the wiper carrier distance across the length. It should be constant.

I decided to leave the wiper arm alone as I could see no reason why this would have changed.

So, took some measurements on the "good" sweep area of the driver's wiper and also the passenger's wiper. This was 6mm from windscreen surface to the screen side of the wiper's plastic carrier. I then changed the curvature of the driver's side wiper by gently bending the plastic a bit more at a time until the wiper sat on the windscreen at a constant distance of 6mm plastic carrier to windscreen over the whole length. ie. it was more curved.

Smearing gone!!

Reason for it starting, I don't know. Hadn't washed the car or applied any wax before hand. It appeared 3 days ago and the band gradually widened out. I can only think a hot windscreen due to this week's cold weather and blowing hot air onto the inside of the screen. Until this week I had just used general heating rather than pressing the specific direction controls on the Climatic 2 Zone AirCon, including "screen".

So that's two sorts of windscreen smearing I've had.

1) Some sort of stubborn substance on the windscreen surface removed by using a lightly damped rag with Tetrosyl Paint Thinners containing Xylene.

2) Distorted wiper carrier.

BTW, my Scirocco is a Wk43 build – late October 2009. It is fitted with the new "Jetta" wipers (1K8 955 426E - drivers and 1K8 955 425E - passengers) that aren't Jetta but Scirocco parts (ie. 1K8 *** ***). The wipers have been superseded from a "C" version to an "E" version as stated elsewhere against this problem. In fact the arms are Scirocco specific as well. The "new" wipers are still not on the current ETKA update 780 but VW's Dialogue Ordering system recognises the parts as superseding the "C" variants.

1K8 955 426E - drivers about £13 +VAT
1K8 955 425E - passengers about £11 + VAT

The VW part numbers can be found on the underside (screen side) of the wiper blade unit on the plastic carrier part in very small print, which are partly obscured by the rubber wiper.

C.

[alanstead]

Joy, something else to look forward too! Should get my thinners on tuesday, so I'll let you know how I get on. I'm gonna have a look at my wiper part numbers now too!

[andres]

My wiper blades left a bad smear after a few months... had only the rubbers replaced on a VW service for EUR 10, solved the problem... No need to order new blades..

[adamj]

I am just going to hit my windscreen with a hammer I think.....

How could VW f*ck up so badly on the wipers and not have a fix? just fob offs!

[RW1]

1) Some sort of stubborn substance on the windscreen surface removed by using a lightly damped rag with Tetrosyl Paint Thinners containing Xylene.

Just had a thought today. This substance is not anywhere else on the car other than the windscreen. I wonder if this is the factory assembly line putting windscreen adhesive on the glass and a few small spots get onto the outer surface.

So what Windscreen Adhesive Remover is used by the Windscreen Repairers????

I am sure its related to the smear and I am sure its getting worse! Not sure what to do - new wiper blade??

As above....."BTW, my Scirocco is a Wk43 build – late October 2009. It is fitted with the new "Jetta" wipers (1K8 955 426E - drivers and 1K8 955 425E - passengers). Therefore you may be exchanging like for like.

Interestingly, yesterday, my spares order arrived packaged as a 1K8 955 426E Drivers Side Wiper Blade part. When I examined the actual part it was IK8 955 426D made in 19th May 2009, which I think is before VW brought out the latest version. Hmmm........ The dealer has order a second wiper blade due in Thursday 10th.

C.

[RW1]

The second spare driver's side wiper blade has arrived at the dealers. Same as the first, a "D" version packaged in the with a parts label with an "E" part number ending. Same Lot Number 19th may 2009.

Took a look at Jetta wipers in stock, they don't begin with 1K8 part number.

C.

[alanstead]

Bummer. Got the tetrosyl with xylene and just spent an hour rubbing away and cleaning the window and its absolutely no different! Balls! You can definitely feel a rough patch with your fingernail where the patches are. Thinking the hammer option is the only way forward now. I'm doing nothing else, VW can dam well fix it, and if they arent helpful I'll leave them the car and say i dont want it back! At my wits end and seriously cheesed offf now!! .

No idea when I'm gonna get to the dealers cos there miles away, but when I've seen them I'll let you know how I get on. Out of interest, I have the newer wipers with ending with E. Cheers for everyones suggestions on this matter, and funnily, just this evening, I was wondering if a windscreen place would have something that might take it off, great minds eh Chris!

Alan