Hi, the wiper blades on my Cooper sits about an inch higher than the dashboard line. I was thinking I could remove it and reposition it so it sits lower and hopefully out of sight when not it use. My wife is on the short side and that's bugging her.

Has anyone done this? Did a search and nothing came up. I unclipped the plastic cover hiding the bolt, removed the blot, then tried pulling the arm from the nut but it wont budge. Any secret to getting these off that bolt?

I am hoping the bottom part of the nut would have torx like notches allowing you to adjust the position when re-installing them.

And yes, I moved the passenger side one down by a net of about an inch.

BUT, what you should go by is NOT the rest position as your final determinant, but rather being sure at the top of the arc that the path of the passenger side wiper overlaps the path of the driver side one at least a bit, particularly at the very outer (upper) tip of it. Otherwise if it stops short of the drivers side swept area at the maximum arc, water tends to run down the windshield right there when using the wipers. More noticeable in when trying to clean windshield on a dry day and it doesn't sweep dry completely if this gap exists.

Anyway, if you check that upper position first, you will likely find indeed you can move the passenger side wiper down close to an inch in its rest position. And the new position looks better to me visually from the outside as well; might also affect/reduce wind noise just a tad. As you say, it gets it a bit better out of sight from the inside seats too.

As far as moving them, no trick beyond brute force. You take off the nut at the shaft, then apply pressure until it breaks free. It is a tapered shaft, so the act of tightening it really jams the parts together. Pretty standard design. You may think you will break something as you lean on it to get it loose, but my prior general experience is it always works. Found the same on the Mini (2010 R56).

Thanks MP1.6T. Good to hear that you don't need a special tool. I will use some elbow grease and give it another shot tomorrow. Will also keep in mind the overlapping sweeps when I re-adjust them like you had mentioned.

No "special" tool is needed, but a proper puller would make the job easier.

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/wind...0-p-15056.aspx

I did this to my R53. Although there is no recessed park-position on mine, the adjustment-method should be similar. My car came with the passenger wiper arm too low and, as mentioned above, the sweep was not meeting the driver's sweep at the top of the arc. The result was a V-shaped uncleaned area just above your line of sight that would drip dirty water down on front of you with every wipe...

I was used to other cars which have splined shafts for the wiper arms. These would have to be broken loose and lifted straight off. The MINI's shafts are tapered but smooth, so the trick is to remove the nut (of course) and twist as you lift up on the arm. It'll come right off!

Thanks for all your input. They all helped. Yes, a puller would have made it easier. I sprayed some penetrating oil and managed to wiggle it out like ellcapitan described with some swearing. When putting them back it helped to fold them first so you can push them straight into the notches.

The V shape notches are very small but moving the arm one notch moves the far end of the wiper blade like 3". For that reason I did not move down the passenger side blade cos then it would have not gone pass the driver side sweep. I just moved down the driver side blade and its now out of sight from the inside. Wife is happy and that's what important.

I now see why it came that way from the factory. They wanted the passenger side blade move pass the driver side sweep and also keep both blades at the same resting level so it visually looks better.