Today was my first drive in my new mini in heavy rain, and I must say that my wipers didnt do a very good job, they were leaving huge streaks of water on the window, and were not cleaning the windshield like I am used to on other cars, I bought my mini new which was a demo and had 500 miles on it, so i'm guessing the wipers must be still good, does anyone have this problem too?

also, the wipers dont seem to have a super fast mode like other cars... pretty strange.

Maybe my wipers are just bad, who knows, but I shouldnt have to buy wipers already, the car is brand new..

besides that i'm loving my MINI!

 

they are defientelly not "great" but not that bad either ... try to wipe them down with glass cleaner and a paper towel ... might be some residue on the blade from something.

or ... try Silicone blades ... many people here use them, and they last really long. Had mine on for 2 years already and they still work as new.

 

oh wow, thanks for the quick reply!

thanks a lot for the tip, i'll have to try that.. sounds like the silicone ones are the way to go though..

 

they are poor quality

 

Simple solution:

Apply a couple coats of Rain-X and then you'll wonder why you ever needed windshield wipers to begin with! I should know, I rarely ever use mine and I live in FL at that. As a matter of fact, only time that matters is when I forget to apply Rain-X, but that's a simple matter of making it a habit to do every other week or so.

 

Every other week? My brother put Rain-X on his crane at work, and he says it is still going strong after 2 years! In Iowa.

 

my OEM blades sucked bad, but at my 10K service the dealer replaced them as a courtesy and they're fine now.

 

When you're looking for new blades, you might be tempted to get a set of Bosch Aero blades like I did. They look pretty sleek but they don't work any better than the regular blades. The ends of the blades don't follow the windshield curve very well.

 

seek these out ...

http://www.piaa.com/WiperBlades/silicone.html

 

Personally, I like Aquapel better than RainX.

Steve

 

Yup, it's our big complaint about our car-the factory wiper blades suck and the car doesn't have an adjustable delay. We put some of those fancy new frameless style blades and they are worlds better, and I use rain-x.

 

I buy the rain-x wiper fluid, and I love it. I can't believe how other people are willing to suffer without it just to save .40 or whatever.

 

... UNLESS of course you opted for the auto-wipers. But yeah that would suck to say "I don't need 'em" and realize too late that you don't get manual control over the intermittance.

 

My Solution...my Mini does not get out to play in the rain!

However, you are right...been caught out in it a few times and the OEM Blades really streaked badly. Just put a set of standard rubber inserts in the stock blade assembly and while still not great...they are better than the oem wiper inserts!

 

They do suck........in my car the driver side more than the passenger side. It seems like the wing on drivers side has too much downforce causing the wiper to 'chatter' or skip at freeway speeds.

 

Trick to make your OEM wipers work better:

1. Purchase full set of SilBlades
2. Remove OEM wipers
3. Install Silblades
4. Hate them
5. Return to OEM wipers

 

thanks a lot for all the help guys, i'm glad I'm not the only one

 

1. Remove the "film" on the windshield by pouring 7up or Sprite on the glass
2. Clean off with water
3. Apply Rain-X
4. Never have that problem again as long as you keep Rain-X on it.

 

I'm I the only one who hasn't had a problem with my wipers? My MINI is only about 2 months old... and she's been through some serious rain and I've been fine. I don't use rainx at the moment. I still have the stock windshield washer fluid in the resevoirs (haha!) and it's been fine. Granted, I do have the automatic wipers option... (which I don't know how I'd live without!!)

 

them on my BMW 330i and they are far superior to OEM. They are also better than the PIAAs that they replaced. They are expensive, but well designed and with no framework to freeze-up, they should perform very well come Winter. It is very important (with any car) to keep the windshield and wipers clean. It's likely that a good cleaning will correct/improve your problem.

 

You have never see the 1/3 of an inch Florida rain drops before. This rain can flood a street in 10 minutes and render wipers useless. Rain-X is a requirement down here.

 

Does using 7up or Sprite really work?

 

then use rainX

 

treat ur MINI to sum nano-technology http://www.nanotec-usa.com/
'n worry no more!

 

The acid in 7up or Sprite would have a similar effect to vinegar. But there is nothing special about those soft drinks other than the fact they are not colored.

You'd be just as well off using any window cleaner or plain old vinegar.