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Got some flat wipers off eBay this morning and they fit on ok but the passenger one won't fully touch the windscreen not matter how i adjust the wiper arm. Has anyone had this happen them before with the flat blades?

Mine went on OK

Try swapping them.

Sounds like you're suffering from a 'wet triangle'

The spring and joint in the wiper arm have corroded and they're not as flexible as they should be. If you lift each arm up and let them slap the blade against the windscreen you'll notice it's a lot weaker than the other. My passenger one's the same, last car it was the drivers side. On my todo list is to acquire a wiper arm puller, take the arm off and try greasing the hinge. Dunno if it'll be enough though, so I might try cleaning up the spring and soldering some desoldering braid around it to tighten it up...

Of course, you could try getting a new arm and a puller...

Don't do what Bluey did and use the glass as a leverage point to get the arms off

*snigger*

mjb wrote:The spring and joint in the wiper arm have corroded and they're not as flexible as they should be. If you lift each arm up and let them slap the blade against the windscreen you'll notice it's a lot weaker than the other. My passenger one's the same, last car it was the drivers side. On my todo list is to acquire a wiper arm puller, take the arm off and try greasing the hinge. Dunno if it'll be enough though, so I might try cleaning up the spring and soldering some desoldering braid around it to tighten it up...

Of course, you could try getting a new arm and a puller...

Will try that later, cheers matt

Yeah...

Mine were the same, bought genuine Bosch ones but didnt fit well at all.

Ended up going back to the normal style.

i got some from tesco, one side was a bit smeary, so i rotated it 180degs, worked fine!

The ones i picked up off ebay can't be rotated around unfortunately. I'm going to go with Matts advice and readjust the springs and paint the wiper arms while i'm at it. I may do a 'How to...' when i'm at it.

The best way to remove the wiper arms is to undo the big nut holding them to the wiper linkage post, dont take the nut off yet, just screw it back until there is just a few threads left, then press down hard with the heal of your hand on the pivot point....easy ones will come undone by just pressing down and wiggling the arm, tight ones will need banging with the heal of your hand on the pivot point.

You may find it easier to turn on the ignition and the wipers, then stop the blades at the top of the screen.

Lubricate the springs and pivot point with WD40 until they have their springyness back, then refit them.

When refitting, turn on the ignition, turn the wipers on, then off, wait until the motor stops, turn off ignition, then refit the arms with the blades at the bottom of the screen.

Bosch Aero Twin - Use these, they do an awesome job (when it rains - we are in drought)....

They are the flat blades which are used on most of the newish european cars (Zafira/Ashtray etc) - Not cheap, but much better than OEM Valeo replacements1