Windshield Wipers

I've had my NB for about a month now, and love it! Trouble is, it just started raining here in sunny Southern California, and I had to turn on my wipers yesterday. WHAT A RACKET! These have got to be the loudest wipers I've ever heard. Are all VW's like this? It's not too bad on the freeways, but on the street it is annoying. Any suggestions? I will treat my windshield with Rain-X tonight, maybe that will help.

First time its rained in a month? Why do I live in the Midwest?!

What noise are you referring to? Wipers or wiper motor?

If it's wipers, then maybe all that sun in Cali has already hardened the rubber to the point that they need replaced.

If it's the motors, I guess I haven't noticed that they were that noisy.

I m glad to know you got the same problem, I just
got home and thought man these are the loudest wipers I ve ever heard. I already replCED WITH NEW BOSCH wipers didn t help. Any suggestions

I will assume you are talking about the blades and not the wipper motor or mechanizm. If the blades are noisy like mine were after long period of none use they may have just deteritated from air polution.

The cheap ANSCO wipers don't last very long but I refuse to pay $20 for new Bosh wipers every year. Just replace blades and see what happens.

Just for your info my NB is as much fun to drive today as it was in July '00 when I drove it off the lot.

Some suggestions....

(1) Try taking a cotton ball mostened in alcohol and clean the blade. It will also soften the rubber a bit.

(2) If you've been to a car wash recently you may have some wax or detergent that did not rinse completely from the window. Rub the window down with a damp cloth, (no glass cleaner).

(3) Try applying a coat of Rain-X.

(4) When blades and windsheild are cold you are likely to get noise. Nothing you can do about this.... Run your de-froster to get the windshield warm and see if that helps.

Karl

Originally posted by DerDieselmann:
I've had my NB for about a month now, and love it! Trouble is, it just started raining here in sunny Southern California, and I had to turn on my wipers yesterday. WHAT A RACKET! These have got to be the loudest wipers I've ever heard. Are all VW's like this? It's not too bad on the freeways, but on the street it is annoying. Any suggestions? I will treat my windshield with Rain-X tonight, maybe that will help.

Click to expand...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

It's definitely the blades. Even in a downpour they "stick" to the windshield. I also heard that if you treat them with Armorall that will help.

The dealer should replace the blades for free if it's within the first 12 months. Ask, the sqweaky wheel gets the grease!

Get the dealer to replace them. I had the same thing and they replaced it for free. The whole thing, the blades and the rubber refills. Not only it was loud but it missed a spot right at my eye-level that it doesn't wipe off. After the dealer visit, there was no more "blade jumping" or "hopping" and that small spot it missed is now wiped.

However, the wiper refills I used are Lexar B, which is at Walmart. Save those metals strips.

Same problem here.
I did actually buy replacement rubber inserts from the dealer but had'nt time to wait for them to do it so I brought them home thinking "how hard can it be?" Well they are still sitting in my house because I've tried a couple of times to remove the existing ones and had no luck. I'd appreciate if someone can explain the trick to this? Thanks.

Your problem with removing the old ones is probably because one end of the wiper blade is being held by a slightly tighter clamp on the metal part of the wiper.

The key, I found, was to take a pair of needle nosed pliers and, ever so slightly, bend the metal a bit so that it's not holding the rubber as tightly. The old rubber should then slide off.

After replacing, just tighten the metal a little bit with the pliers.

Does this make any sense? I'm not sure what some of the technical terms are for some of the parts of the wiper.

I had the same nosie with my 97' Jetta. Bought a pair of Smart Blades by Valeo at Target ($20.00 total). Not a peep out of them nor window streaks.

I've got an 02 NB that's already on its third set of wiper inserts. The original ones that came with it, a set of Trico N-21 inserts that I replaced in July, and the second set of Tricos that went on yesterday. Wiper inserts don't last long in the Phoenix 110 degree summers! Yesterday, we had the first rain in three months that required the wipers and they were skipping again so I just stopped at the first Auto Parts place and got another set of the Tricos at $5.99 for the set. After you've replaced the original equipment insert its a five minute job from then on to replace the inserts.

The 01 beetle I just bought has noisey blades and skip a spot at eye level too. I have some work scheduled at the dealer in another week, I'll see if I can talk them out of some free blades at that time. They were so bad that I stoped to see if the rubber was gone, sounded like metal running over the glass.

Eureka! I treated the windshield with Rain-X, as well as the wiper blades..........smooth as silk. Thanks for all of your suggestions!

VW an adjust the angle the wiper is held against the window, this fixes wiper chatter. It was a common problem in the Audi’s