Hi,

Been two weeks I have my MINI now...very enjoyable weeks I might add! Anyways, it has rained quite a bit here in northern NJ since I took delivery. I was enjoying the smooth action of the wipers until today.

Drove 200 miles today (literally, 208 miles) and has been raining all day and in the morning the wipers were good. But since around noon, the wipers have been chattering and jumping up and down like crazy!

First week-end I got the car, I clayed the windshield and applied a coat of Adams Glass Sealant. Wipers were working great for a while and then today it was just miserable!

I usually stick with OEM wiper blades since they offer the smoothest performance in my experience. Anybody have any aftermarket recommendations? I popped off the blades and noticed the arms are completely straight, rather than the typical hook-style arms found on most vehicles. Don't want to waste money on wipers that won't work, I just know that the sizes are 18" driver and 19" passenger.

Searching this forum states to strip any and all protection with alcohol/water and a good claying. I don't want to do that; any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Emile

 

Anybody have an answer???

I bought ANCO Contour blades because it seemed like they would fit but the adapter seems to be too narrow.

My wipers are still chattering and jumping up and down like crazy!

 

There are no aftermarket blades available.

I too have been fighting chatter since day 1. The dealer has replaced the blades multiple times to no avail.

I've found that cleaning with alcohol mixed with water seems to help some.

Also try slightly bending the arms.

 

Not wanting to do what needs to be done then complaining about an on going problem doesn't make much sense.
The glass is the problem. It needs clayed and machine polished with glass polish. Glass is no different than any other outside surface. It collects all kinds of residue from all sorts of nasty places on the road. Does the hiway department salt the roads in winter? Do semi-tankers carry all kinds of evil fluids cross country, tar from road repair? That stuff sticks to the glass and has to be removed for the wipers to do their job.

 

I have to disagree with you on this. In the dozens of cars that I have owned, I've never had to clay or polish the glass. Most people never even clean their windshield other than the occasional car wash and their wipers work just fine. For me, cleaning with alcohol did seem to help but I believe that the root cause is the wiper arm not at the correct angle. The other day the chatter was horrible to the point that the wipers were unusable so I adjusted the angle which helped a lot (so far).

The wiper problem for cars with this style of arm does not seem to be wide spread so that kind of indicates that it's the arm and not the windshield.

 

if you are still inside that free maintainence period, go to ur dealer and get the blades replaced lol, if not, try to clean the blades with automotive glass cleaner then put some rain x on the blades

 

I did clay the glass when I first got the car, and then I applied the Adams Glass Sealant. I stated that I am not willing to clay it again and get rid of the glass sealant because I basically do not believe that is the issue. I use a couple different glass sealants on a variety of cars and they never cause any problem. Also, my car is brand new, only less than 600 miles on the odometer so the glass is extremely clean and free of any chips and pits, at least for now.

a2oc, I did purchase a pair of OEM replacement blades which are ready to go but based on what people are saying on this forum and another forum, it would basically just be a waste of time.

I am going to e-mail a couple of wiper blade manufacturers to see if I can stir up at least one company to try to make an aftermarket wiper for our vehicles. I highly doubt I'll be successful though.

For what it's worth, the OEM wipers are from SFW/Valeo.

 

Try a thin layer on rain x on the blades first, kind of worked for my blades for a while

 

 

I e-mailed Trico and they said they have no plans to support our unique wiper arms, since MINI is the only manufacturer to use this type of wiper blade. Understandable but I'm going to try a few other manufacturers now.

 

It's been raining all day and chatters like crazy both up and down. The blade was fairly neutral so I tried to bias it toward the up stroke, seems to work better. IDK

I'm so pissed off, how hard is it to make wipers that work. German engineering at its best.

 

I have been suffering with this for a while. New inserts help just a tiny bit but the drivers side still chatters. I have tweeked the wiper arm so many times that I can't tell if I need to go a little this way or that way any more. The wiper arm looks odd now. So I ordered a new one but its on back order from Germany. 7 -10 days. At this point I'll try anything

And yes have cleaned glass vinegar alcohol clay bar razor blade glass cleaner all of them. And still the same.

Sent from my iPad using NAMotoring

 

Appreciate this input people are giving on what has helped and what has not. I am starting to suspect it's the 19" passenger-side wiper. Today it is very cold with a light rain that has turned into some snow. I have noticed that the last inch or so of the passenger-side blade is not conforming to the windshield and is just kind of floating. I have not noticed this before so maybe it's due to the cold? Either way, I will snap a picture.

The wiping is smooth today, second time it snowed and the wipers have no problem. I guess the slickness of the snow/ice does not give any problems to wipe. Yesterday was raining a lot here in northern NJ and the wipers were chattering all day.

 

PIAA said no. Same story, no adapter available and no plans to make one, but to check again in 6 months. Still waiting to hear from Valeo.

 

I have seen in past threads on this subject that it is better to use a contoured blade for the passenger side, or, better yet in terms of price and availability, use 18" blades for both sides. I know you haven't yet found any other manufacturer but maybe you can change the inserts and use 18" blades?

 

I purchased a pair of replacement OEM blades, one driver 18" and one passenger 19." I installed the 18" blade on the passenger side and there is still about 1" on the end that is sticking up off the windshield. I am not even sure that is the problem anyways.

 

They all do that due to the curvature of the windshield.

 

I have the same issue and have from day one.
The dealer replaced my blades and still the problem persists.
Thank God I live in So Calif where it doesn't rain much.
This is driving me crazy

 

Obviously the only solution is to move to California.

 

We offer OEM R57 wipers at 20% off (plus shipping). You can order here if you would like:

http://www.minipartsmass.com/parts/i...&siteid=215989

 

I had chatter with my OEM blades the entire time of the 4 year warranty. When the warranty expired, I put on the blades that have no metal structure to them. I think they're called beam design. I noticed that Mini switched to these on the later year loaners I had.

Problem went away.