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Windshield wiper arm puts too much pressure on blade (buckling)

I have a 97 accord (190K). Over the past 40K miles, I noticed that the drivers side wiper blade leaves streaks. I tried replacing the blade from a Trico to a Honda stock. Still the same problem. Recently I noticed that the blade is buckling in certain parts as if there is too much pressure from the arm. There is no such buckling on the passenger blade which continues to wipe fine. Is there some way to adjust the pressure of the wiper arm on the blade? This problem may have something to do with getting a new winshield a year ago. However, I am not sure if this problem was happening before that. Thanks

Reply to
techman41973
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Does it feel like too much pressure when you lift the arm? If not, if you are just replacing the rubber instead replace the blade.

Reply to
Art

I doubt there is any adjustment.

Did you replace just the rubber blade or the entire wiper frame? If just the rubber, go back to the dealer and get the entire frame with rubber.

Swap passenger side & driver side wipers and see if the problem follows.

Reply to
Bob M.

Check the wiper blade angle. When the blade is halfway through it's arc the blade and it's holder should be at a right angle to the glass. If the wiper frame is tilting either direction GENTLY bend the arm in the opposite way. I usually use a small square on the side of the wiper frame to check for the angle. Ideally the entire blade should fold over on each stroke. When you get streaks it is because of wear on the wiping edge OR the blade isn't folding completely.

Reply to
Steve W.

Dealers ass, homey. Is that the best you can come up with?

Sheesh!

Reply to
hls

I concur. If you acquired this car used, the previous owner may bave already replaced the stock arm/blade with an aftermarket unit. This is quite often the case as aftermarket arm/blade combos can often be purchased for less than OEM blades alone. But, in the end, it's a bad idea. I tried this once and had to go back to stock.

Stock units are designed to work with the specific vehicle on a specific windsheild at speed. Aftermarket units are not so thoughtfully designed. The aftermarket unit I bought worked fine around town, but above 60 mph, the poorly designed arm acted like an air dam and actually lifted the whole arm/blade assy up away from the glass, making it useless at speed. At least go down to the dealer and look at an OEM arm/blade assy. A side-by-side comparison may reveal the problem.

nb

Reply to
notbob

Lets eliminate the simple problems first.

  1. Throughly clean the window to remove any the builtup road grime. It doesn't take much to make wiper blades jump and grab like crazy, and it will appear only as a slight radial streak at places along the wiper radius.

  1. Did you replace the wiper assembly or just a rubber wiper insert. If the latter replace the frame too.

  2. Check to be sure the wiper flexes easily and pivots properly.
Reply to
John S.

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