Gen 7 Wiper Arms

[Templeton]

I've got a bit of rust developing where the wiper arm attaches to the blade. Obviously I'm wanting to get this treated asap.

Had a look and thought all I'd have to do was remove the bolt holding the wiper arm on, and it would just simply come off the car, but it doesn't want to budge.

Is there something else I need to do in order to remove the wiper arm?

[T600]

It's caught on the splines.

Put the nut back on. Pull the arm back to its 'wash' position. remove nut. Wiggle the arm gently and it'll free it up from the splines.

Note - if wipers are not 'parked' then remember where they are on the screen, otherwise re-fitting will be a gamble.

[Parts-King]

The wiper spindle is tapered with a slight spline, when you remove the nut from the arm, gently move the arm side to side, it can be quite tight to come off, as when you tighten the arm down with the nut, the splines grip the inside of the arm aperture*. It should pop off when you move the arm a bit.

Kingo

* I used the word "Hole" at first and thought it might get censored, lol

[Templeton]

Cheers.

I didn't want to use too much force before I checked in case I broke anything.

[T600]

Also when the blade is on the screen, the spring is trying to twist the arm on the spindle. Therefore you're fighting the spring as well as the tightness of the fit against the splines.

If you lift the arms so that they're locked in their wash position then the spring's no longer a factor and you can very easily wiggle the arm; it takes almost no force at all to loosen the arm from the spindle.

Just be careful not to let go of the arm and have it snap against the screen; especially if you've already removed the blade as that will certainly break the glass.

And do remember where the wiper needs to be when you re-fit or else the first time you start the wipers they'll go off the screen at one end or other of their sweep.

[midfieldwarrior]

This is where a bit of masking tape can be a life saver.

Before you remove the wiper blade, line up and stick down on the windscreen a strip of masking tape along the edge of the blade and be sure to write on the tape which side the blade was located. Saves a lot of messing about later trying to get the arm back in place and fiddling with it for perfection.

[T600]

Good tip there; I never thought of that, so I usually try to remove the arms when they're in park position if that's possible (which it isn't always).