wiper arm/spring

Aufgeladen944 · 04-15-2010, 03:31 PM

Okay, so the driver's side wiper on my car doesn't wipe my window. Particularly, it's the area directly in front of my face that doesn't get clean. It's the wiper arm; there's little tension in the spring and it's gotta be replaced.

My question is this: does the whole arm have to be replaced ($134? Seriously?) or is there a spring I can get, maybe even from a brake hardware kit or something.

Anybody tried a particular fix that worked out?

Thanks! I don't wanna pay that much for a friggin' wiper arm...

Stephen03 · 04-15-2010, 04:36 PM

I have the same problem, its the spring you figure? I havnt had time to look at mine.

Grandad#3 · 04-15-2010, 05:02 PM

When you pull the wiper arm away from the w/shield DO NOT let it slip out of your hand as it will crack the w/shield.

Cheers,
Larry

Aufgeladen944 · 04-15-2010, 05:57 PM

Well yeah, except there's almost NO tension at this point. I could let that go all day with no results.

But thanks for the tip

Now what about that spring?

Aufenbahn · 04-15-2010, 07:30 PM

Me too. I even went so far as to make a little "wing" to provide downforce at highway speeds but it doesn't help that much. I got the idea from an old Honda Accord that came from the factory with one. (around 90-93)

Vicious · 04-15-2010, 07:33 PM

ive got the opposite problem with my rear wiper, theres to much pressure in the spring and the motor cant overcome it and move the arm. though lifting the arm with my pinky it moves just fine.

Grandad#3 · 04-15-2010, 07:55 PM

You could always go to an auto parts store and buy a cheap arm and use the spring out of it. A little R & R should fix it up or go to a junk yard and pull a couple of wiper arms.

Cheers,
Larry

Grandad#3 · 04-15-2010, 08:08 PM

Hi Vicious, Check out the link below for the rear hatch wiper motor. Yours need a tune-up.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/428848-rear-wiper-motor-fixed.html?highlight=hatch+wiper+motor

Cheers,
Larry

Vicious · 04-15-2010, 10:51 PM

thx grandad, i fixed my issue today. a little wd-40 and flexing the spring a few times then tightening it all down and it works like a charm now

cjpacitto · 04-16-2010, 04:11 AM

Auf, I've got the same issue, but I've been trying to put it off for a rainy day.

The Ace Hardware's near me sell tons of different springs in the nut & bolt department. They probably have something that would work as a replacement. Do you know if the hardware stores near you sell springs?

Aufgeladen944 · 04-16-2010, 05:34 PM

Yeah but I'm lazy and was hoping somebody had "THE FIX" already patted down...

Looks I'm gonna be the trailblazer on this one

cjpacitto · 04-17-2010, 07:13 PM

I hit ACE Hardware today. They a couple that were close but none that were the same.

Aufgeladen944 · 04-17-2010, 08:13 PM

I'm actually thinking a drum brake hardware kit will give the best solution. I'll drop by Advance tomorrow and see what's cooking...

Wow...I'm even there on my days off...

Aufgeladen944 · 07-01-2010, 09:27 AM

Well, I went out today and tried to fix it. I could not.

The good news: it's not the arm, because I switched the sides and the "faulty" one (driver's side arm) works fine on the passenger's side. Now the passenger's side arm (which is now on the driver's side) is doing the SAME thing the driver's side did. Directly in front of my driving vision is not being wiped.

There is no tension pushing down on the arm. It's not spring; it has to be something else. What could it be? I'm at a loss here...there doesn't seem to be that much going on here.

Vicious · 07-01-2010, 10:28 AM

New wiper blades? My passenger side does that and it's got a normal blade, driver side has one of the new curved ones and works great. Are the mounting bolts tight?

Aufgeladen944 · 07-01-2010, 12:06 PM

I went and attacked it again; the blades are new (that was my first thought), and everything seemed okay with the bolts and such.

What I did was I just kind of bent the pivot point up and tilted it towards the window. Seemed to fix the problem. I dunno, it's kind of a weird problem. I assumed it was the arm; it was more of what the arm is mounted to being off kilter that caused the problem.

Porch · 07-01-2010, 02:55 PM

Mine does that because i switched to the newer style wiper blades (the kind that are like one big piece, instead of a bunch of triangles). Anyways, i bent the arm down to help. I think i'm going to pull the arm off and make some modifications to the "stop" that keeps the arm from flexing down further, though. Then i'll add some tension to the spring.

pucks47 · 01-07-2011, 11:36 AM

Aufgeladen944,

Just came across this thread, and have been having a similar problem. I was wondering which type of wiper blade you are using because I didn't see that you specified anywhere; is it the new "flat blade" style? That is the type I am using that produces the problem. It seems as if the arm doesn't put enough pressure on the wiper, and the very center of the blade doesn't contact the windshield very well, leaving a wide, uncleaned streak. I think the problem is mainly with the driver's side, because this part of the windshield on a 944 is very flat, whereas the passenger side has more curvature and therefore the new wiper better conforms to it. Many newer cars also have more convex windscreens.

It also occurred to me to either obtain a spring with more tension, or bend the arm toward the windshield. I was worried that bending the arm might break it, though - have you been able to do this successfully with good results?

Would really like to get these wipers working, they are much nicer than the old metal bracket style ones, even though right now aren't working as well as those did to clean the windshield...

Cheers!

Aufgeladen944 · 01-07-2011, 07:18 PM

Well, I do use the newer style beam type blades; they're much better than regular bracket style ones for a variety of reasons.

However, I ended up just switching the driver and passenger arms and the problem followed the arms, not the window or wiper. In the spring, I'm going to try a different company for blades. The Bosch Icon blades, which are relatively expensive compared to the Trico Neoforms, have "A" and "B" lettering, which denotes the pressure the blade puts down. The B puts more pressure down on the center, so I'm thinking I might try a set of those out and see what happens.

In the meantime, switching the arms solved it enough for me. It's not a critical problem anyways, just one of those annoying things that bugged me. I don't usually drive the car in the rain.

As for bending the arm, I got no results from that at all.

962porsche · 01-08-2011, 06:06 AM

to test the spring pressure of the wiper arm is very ez . get a pull type scale that is used for fishing hook it to the wiper arm were the blade hooks to the wiper arm . what you want is one LBS for every inch of the wiper blade its self . so if you have a 10 inch blade you want 10lbs of pressure for a 11 inch blade 11 lbs and so on . most of the time you don't have to replace the spring in the wiper arm you just have to bend the hook on the end of the spring to get the pressure that is needed to have the wiper blade sit the right way on the glass . remove the squeegee from the wiper blade and with some WD-40 or like product lub the hell out of the pivots as so the little A shaped pieces move freely .