I got two cars with the exact same problem. One is a 1987 Subaru wagon and the other one is a 2003 Subaru Baja.
The wipers on both of these cars skip when it's raining. If the windshield is dry, they don't skip. Sounds weird to run wipers when it's not raining but I'm just saying when the rain slacks off the skipping goes away.
First the 1987 Subaru. I've :
1) replaced the wiper arms (thinking the springs were weak) 2) Tried two sets of Anco wiper blades (whole thing not just refills) 3) Cleaned the windshield with various solvents 4) Have a 1 year old windshield (old one was cracked) 5) Cleaned the blades with Purple Magic, rubbing alcohol 6) Tried lubricating the blades with silicone lubricant 7) Removed assembly to inspect and lubricant/clean the bushings 8) Tried with Rain-X, then without. 9) Tried installing a bolt and nut through the hole in the blade to see if this would keep it from moving around.I cleaned wiper blades with rubbing alcohol all the time in the past and use Rain-X all the time too so I don't think either is the cause. I'm just pulling stuff out of the air to try.
Both cars sit in the garage when not driven so it's not parked under any trees.
Nothing I do has seems to work. But if I put some sort of lubricant on the blades it makes it worse. Like silicone spray.
Now the Baja. I replaced the three year old blades the other day because they were starting to leave streaks. I had been running Ancos. I replaced them with new Ancos and the wipers skip worse than on my 87 Wagon! I cleaned the windshield the other day and it helped but it still skips.
So I'm starting to wonder if the problem with both cars are Anco wiper blades because my Baja started doing this the other day immedietly after installing new blades.
That doesn't make sense that a new blade would skip right off the bat.
I picked up some Bosch blades today and will install them tommorrow on the 87 wagon.
Any ideas on this?