This is driving me nuts. I have gone through two new sets of wipers in the truck in my sig. The first set was Bosch replacements, not refills, and they worked great when the glass was wet but would actually skip and chatter on any dry part. Yes the windshield is clean.

I told my parts guy and he replaced them with Trico blades. I used them yesterday and they were worse. These things seemed to skip across the glass unless it's a downpour.

Now, in my '99 Durango, I have the same problem and the only way I can get wipers that work without the chatter on this truck is to buy them from Dodge.

Am I going to have to do the same with my ford or is there a brand out there that will work without driving me crazy? The radio only goes so loud to drown out the chatter.

I am thinking about the Rain-X blades but I was told that they have rain-x on them and I hate that stuff. If I don't find something soon, I am going to wrap rags around the blades to shut them up.

Any help would greatly improve my outlook on life in the rain (out here in Oregon, we get plenty of it). Thanks.

 

Are the springs in the arms OK?

 

Yes, the arms are fine. I had no chatter with the old blades and they worked fine. I now wish I kept them instead of tossing them cause I would put them back on. The springs have plenty of tension.

 

Just a thought,
The linkages in the cowl could be worn/loose...
Mine do it too, but I just accept it as 'character'

 

Make sure the arms didn't get twisted. Pull the blade up enough to cancel out the spring pressure and see if the blade hits the glass at 90º. Mine being slightly bent drove me nuts changing blades.

 

Clean the windshield(s) with 0000 steel wool and sprayway glass cleaner, then put 2 coats of rain-x on em. Do that once a year, it should be good to go.

 

Thanks for the tips. As far as I can tell, the linkage is fine. The arm can move up and down on the shaft about 1/16 of an inch but this looks like normal play. The springs more than make up for it. If anything, I think the springs have too much pressure as the blades seem to grab the glass instead of sliding on it.

I have used rain-x twice and have even gone as far as getting the solvent to remove it from a used truck a few years back. I will never use that stuff again. I do appreciate the help though, BChance. They must be doing something right or they wouldn't be around for 10+ years. It just does not work for me. I will try cleaning the glass again.

With the angle of the glass in the Durango, I have found that the only wipers that work without chattering are the ones from the dealer. They cost about $2.00 more then what I bought (Trico, Bosch) and they last about a year so I guess it isn't too bad.

We will have rain again tomorrow so I will go out and clean the glass again and give the blades another chance. If that doesn't work, I guess I'm off to the Ford dealer.

 

My 95 has done it very slightly on the drivers side as long as I've had it. I went to Ford for the same reason and if I remember right the Motorcraft blades are actually Tricos. If I ever remember when I'm at a junkyard I'm going to try a different arm. My 97's work perfectly and I notice this every time I use them on it.

 

I'm strongly seconding the above. Any wiper chatter I've ever had has been due to twists in the wiper arm. A pair of pliers to straighten them out will do the trick. Like Sign_man says, lift them up to cancel the spring tension and hold them right above the glass...does it sit at 90*? If not, straighten them. Wiper arms are famous for twisting on the upswing as that's when the most pressure is being applied (pushing it up the glass as opposed to pulling it down). Just straightened mine this past weekend. Works fine now.

 

One other thing you might try is to pour a can of cola on the windshield. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, generic, it really doesn't matter, I've found they all work fine. It's a trick my late grandfather showed me, and it works really well for getting rid of road grime. I usually do it in the rain, but you can do it any time as long as you rinse the truck off quickly.