Why your wipers chatter.

[Jdub]

I had always thought it was road grease, dirty blades, or RainX that caused my wipers to grab and chatter.

I can now report that it is heat. It never happens until I push all heat to my windshield. The wipers grab at the lowest point where the heat is concentrated.

I keep a very clean windshield that is new BTW. With RainX, without, the heat was the constant. And this from a person in the rainly NW who always wipes down his wiper blades (once a week when needed) with alcohol to pull off the grunge.

John whose opinions are humble yet esteemed.

[old_skul]

Leave the grunge on. I never clean my blades - just replace 'em in spring and fall - and they don't chatter at all.

Then again, my windshield doesn't stay very clear with them on. I think there must be a middle ground somewhere.

[GT911]

I had a very similar problem, and yes they seemed to always hang about three or four inches up. Once they were going they were fine as long as they were in constant motion, but if I used the intermittent delay they would end up hanging.

A couple of months ago I had my gauges out to add some lighting, so I went in to get my wiper motor out, only to find out it must come out from the luggage compartment side. I took it apart and cleaned it real well. I pulled the armature out and hit the brushes and their contact points on the armature with Emory cloth. Put it all back together and now they are like new, they work great.

The only difficult part is getting the armature back with all of the brushes out. I used real fine wire, like inside a phone cord, to retain the brushes in their housings. Once the armature was back in I pulled the wires out, and finished the reassembly.

Hope this helps.

[kristian85]

Originally posted by Jdub
I had always thought it was road grease, dirty blades, or RainX that caused my wipers to grab and chatter.

I've never heard mine utter a word. Can't imagine what yours are chattering about, either.

[island911]

Wiper chatter usually means the wiper rubber has become too hard and/or deformed.

The wiper action should be dragging the contact edge across the glass; then (with the direction change) on the back stroke, they should roll and drag the edge the opposite way.

When the wipers are "parked" they usually sit "rolled" the wrong direction for the next up stroke . . . though the bigger problem is when they hvae taken a "set". (The "Rubber" can creep)

[Randy Webb]

My guess is that the heat is altering the rubber or the glass/rubber adhesion. I'd try new blades, and spread a mild abrasive over the windsheild (toothpaste) and scrub well with newspaper, then hose it off and do a regular cleaning with vinegar and water (ie Windex). See if that doesn't work.