Wiper service position, ice&frost protection

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arnis

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2016
Messages
1,043
Location
Estonia, Europe
In a few months some regions will have frozen cars in the morning - including LEAF :D
I want to share a tip for everybody who use their Leaf in those climate conditions.

If you turn your Leaf off and during short period of time push&hold wiper stalk upwards wipers will
raise in "change wiper position". But this is also ideal for the next morning if frost is expected.
Those who have massive ice buildup know that preheating Leaf does not melt wipers as they
are way too low for heat to melt them. If wipers are raised to service position:
1) it is easier/safer to pull them off if they are frozen
2) they do not get stuck in ice like they do in normal parked position
3) they melt really fast if preheating is used
4) it is easy to remove ice chunks in the lower end of windscreen (very important as this might ruin wipers!)
5) water will drip down and not freeze around the wiper blade after parking hot windshield outside.

It is totally safe to do this on daily basis. I would recommend to wipe off excessive snow before letting
wipers park at their home position though.
 
Great tip. Although wondering if anyone here has an idea if I did something wrong?

I recently changed MY13 wiper blades myself. Took a little longer than expected to hook them right but I got it done. The blades at rest sit flush with windshield. When I set them to any speed besides the fastest one, they skip and jump across the glass making an annoying sound.

Did I mount them wrong? Something wrong with my windshield? Dirty? Glass seems pretty clean to me.
 
New wipers often come with silicone or similar lubricant. Clean the windshield and the blade edges. I'm not sure what to use as a home-made lubricant.
 
Staque said:
It works for me, but on my 2013, I have to pull the stick back, not up.

Correct! BACK (aka washing function). BMW uses the UP direction :geek:

Jumping wipersis a common problem. I would start with silicone remover:
first clean wishield with regular cleaner. Then use paper tissue and silicone remover to remove residues
(you can see those residues after you wash your windshield and pour water on it, streaks from wiper blades can be seen).
Paper towel will turn yellowish. Also clean rubber blades.

IF that doesn't solve the problem then avoid that wiper blade manufacturer in future.
 
Thanks for the recommendation on cleaning the wiper blades and the windshield. I'll give it a shot. I wish the packaging had these instructions to clean the wipers! Have all replacement wipers always had a layer of silicone on them?

Also...I see some "higher" end wiper blades are made from silicone. Wouldn't those be even more jumpy if silicone residue was the problem? I assume silicone remover would dissolve the blade entirely!
 
I've seen some new wipers come with an alcohol wipe ( i think it's alcohol) to use before installing on the car. I don't know if that process is to help avoid the issue you describe.
 
Windshield is contaminated with all kinds of pollutants. Almost everything comes off with regular car wash.
But silicone residues will not. Yes, there are some wiper blades with silicone in their compound. All silicones
are not the same so wiper made out of silicone is not made out of same silicone smudge on the glass surface :)

It is recommended to waste 30 seconds every week to clean windshield wiper blades while cleaning vehicle.
I wouldn't go hard-core with silicone remover every week. Usually (in my climate and roads) glass tends to be
streak free for 1-3 months after silicone removal process.
 
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