Windscreen Wiper Noise, Wobble

[Janine1]

I just purchased a new Yaris, now slightly less than 2 months old and I am a new driver. Recently, the windscreen wipers become quite noisy. I feel that it is now much nosier in a condition of little rain than when I got the car initially. I had a closer look the other day and I saw that the noise is at least partly due to the wobbling of the windscreen wiper. I am afraid I have damaged the wiper !! and would like to seek advice.

Let me tell you what I have done to the windscreen and windscreen wiper so far and see if you can help me diagnose what is wrong.

1. I think the trouble started with my first refilling of windscreen washer fluid. I bought a concentrated version (the Autocare Concentrated Screen Wash) which states that for winter driving condition it should be diluted with 1 part wash to 2 parts water, and undiluted for severe driving condition. However, the salesman at the shop told me that I should do 1:1 to prevent the washer fluid from freezing. So I did what I think is 1:1 dilution, give or take 30%.

The next time I sprayed the washer fluid while driving, I realised that additional washer fluids seemed to keep shooting out of the nozzle after this. The wiper also had more resistance.

2. I bought a pack of those 20 pieces disposable screen cleaner papers for cleaning windows, both interior and exterior. I used one piece to wipe the rubber part of the wiper blade.

Is my windscreen wiper rubber damaged either by the washer fluid or the screen cleaning papers??

How do I make it less noisy?

[alfiejts]

The wobbling is probably actually caused by areas wax or grease on the screen itself that often causes wiper vibrations or wobble.

I use a good microfibre cloth and a glass cleaner (or vinegar will do...) to clean the glass after each wash to remove any wax deposits that have been put onto it from the car wash soap and any traffic film.

The concentrated fluid might actually have cleaned the screen more than before...

Its nowheer near freezing conditions yet - so the washer fluid's not going to freeze yet. YOu only need to put a higher concentration in when its below zero degrees....

Anyway - its not an issue and no real damage.

Give the screen a good clean and then it will eventually all bed down again....

They do say incidentally that you shouldn't wipe the wiper rubbers as that may cause damage to the edge of the rubber blade. I wouldn't think you've damaged them - if they're still clearing the rain off cleanly and there are no "uncleared lines" when they sweep across the screen then they will be fine.

[sisaven]

I just purchased a new Yaris, now slightly less than 2 months old and I am a new driver. Recently, the windscreen wipers become quite noisy. I feel that it is now much nosier in a condition of little rain than when I got the car initially. I had a closer look the other day and I saw that the noise is at least partly due to the wobbling of the windscreen wiper. I am afraid I have damaged the wiper !! and would like to seek advice.

Let me tell you what I have done to the windscreen and windscreen wiper so far and see if you can help me diagnose what is wrong.

1. I think the trouble started with my first refilling of windscreen washer fluid. I bought a concentrated version (the Autocare Concentrated Screen Wash) which states that for winter driving condition it should be diluted with 1 part wash to 2 parts water, and undiluted for severe driving condition. However, the salesman at the shop told me that I should do 1:1 to prevent the washer fluid from freezing. So I did what I think is 1:1 dilution, give or take 30%.

The next time I sprayed the washer fluid while driving, I realised that additional washer fluids seemed to keep shooting out of the nozzle after this. The wiper also had more resistance.

2. I bought a pack of those 20 pieces disposable screen cleaner papers for cleaning windows, both interior and exterior. I used one piece to wipe the rubber part of the wiper blade.

Is my windscreen wiper rubber damaged either by the washer fluid or the screen cleaning papers??

How do I make it less noisy?

I had the same problem with my Yaris Wiper Blades, from New, I now have the Quietest, Most officiant, Wiper Blades, one could wish for, = I reproduce the Post I made on this subject this time last year, Hope this helps. =

Posted 11 October 2009 - 12:18 PM

I have a 2008 1.3 Yaris, which I changed to last year, after lovingly owning a 1.8 mk1 Avensis for 6 years prior.

One of the dislikes I had within a few days of driving the Yaris (during the Summer Months so of course it was raining) was the noisy Windscreen Wiper Blades, which also skipped little bits here & there, especially the passenger side, which left an annoying "end of travel" mark right in my line of vision, but because there were other more important considerations at that time I convinced myself they would probably Bed In after a suitable period.

The Avensis had very quiet more efficient wiper Blades, which in fact remained unchanged in the 6yrs I owned the car, which made it even more surprising that the Yaris was lacking in this respect.

However, spurred on by recent Improvements to the car, = I had my Gear Selection problem sorted out by my local Toyota Dealership, = armed with information obtained on this Forum, of a new Fix for this fault, which has made a vast Improvement to the Gear Selection for this particular Model/ Year. (see threads on Gearbox Crunch)

But back to the original thread title, = I have now Changed my wiper blades to a pair of the latest "Retrofit" Blades, obtained on eBay =

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/CarWiperBlades/RETROFIT-FLAT-AERO-BLADES 1 x 24" blade 1 x 15" blade = Windscreen

These blades have made a vast Improvement, they are Quiet, No Skips, they clear a larger area of Screen, especially on the Passenger side. very good quality,

and they Look Good. I can thoroughly recommend.

So go and Treat yourself, Good Driving, and best Wishes to All.

[Janine1]

The wobbling is probably actually caused by areas wax or grease on the screen itself that often causes wiper vibrations or wobble.

I use a good microfibre cloth and a glass cleaner (or vinegar will do...) to clean the glass after each wash to remove any wax deposits that have been put onto it from the car wash soap and any traffic film.

The concentrated fluid might actually have cleaned the screen more than before...

Its nowheer near freezing conditions yet - so the washer fluid's not going to freeze yet. YOu only need to put a higher concentration in when its below zero degrees....

Anyway - its not an issue and no real damage.

Give the screen a good clean and then it will eventually all bed down again....

They do say incidentally that you shouldn't wipe the wiper rubbers as that may cause damage to the edge of the rubber blade. I wouldn't think you've damaged them - if they're still clearing the rain off cleanly and there are no "uncleared lines" when they sweep across the screen then they will be fine.

I use automatic car wash so I don't clean the windows myself. Anyway with the weather now my washer fluid is really frozen!

The condition has been pretty icy recently. I know for example that you are not supposed to use the wiper when there are still ice on the windshield, but I used it at times still. In fact this morning when I started the car, the wipers wouldn't move because it was frozen in place. I sprayed a liberal amount of deicer onto the wipers.

[Janine1]

Actually what's the right way to break the wipers from ice? Is spraying de-icer onto them the right way to do so??

[alfiejts]

Sprayig deicer on them is probably the only thing you should do to release them. (other than perhaps covering them up or putting something like newspaper underneath so that they don't freeze to the glass in the first place.

What you mustn't do is try to operate them frozen or pull them off the windscreen - you risk both breaking the wiper motor and also spoiling the cleaning edge of the wiper blade rubber.

[Raeman]

Alfs correct, never try to wipe the screen when the blades are stuck to the glass! Young lad i used to work with did this once on his Metro and burned the wiper motor out. Couldn't help but laugh!!

[ToyotaDomo]

Hi I have a 2010 Yaris and they have started to make noise too. I lifted the wipers off the windscreen to see if it was the blades or something else and the noise was still there. It appears to be coming from the linkages or motor.

Any ideas or is this common fault. Is it easy to access the linkages to spray them with oil or grease

Back again,

I brought my Yaris to the main dealer as it is still in warranty. The first thing they did was change the Wiper Blades, which I had told them not to do, as this was not the problem. Unfortunately I was not there myself, as I had as someone else to drop off the car. Anyway, the noise was still there so the mech brought the car into the workshop for a further look. he returned the car saying that he had cleaned the window and that all would be fine.

I called the garage and told them that the problem was with the linkage and they told me that they had lubricated them (yeah right). I think that they sprayed WD40 into the area where the wiper blade attaches. And so after a a couple of weeks and some heavy rain the bad squeak is back. The Squeak is taking place just at the end of the return stroke of the wiper arms.

CAN SOMEONE HELP? IS THIS A COMMON PROBLEM?