Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Wiper skip?

I just bought new wiper blades for my car, but they dont seem to be working right. Its almost as if the blades are trying to "grip" the windshield too much when they move, and they kind of skip and hop. Anybody understand what im talking about? dont really know how to describe it. Is there something i can put on the rubber blade things to make it slide smoother?

Many times road and air contaminants get on the rubber part of the blade. I used to work at a place that had an AB Dick, rubber cleaner and lubricant that I used to clean the blade. Now I wipe off the wipers good and use some alcohol that does almost the same job. If you get a lot of black off of them, they are dirty and will do a lot of skipping.

With new blades maybe the windows need an extra good cleaning to get rid of the guck stuck on the windows.

thanks, i tried cleaning the windshield but it didnt help. I can further describe it like what happens when you turn on the wipers when ur windshield is completely dry. Do you think wiping rain-x on the blades will fix it?

same thing has started to happen to me recently, believe me, i know what youre talking about haha

my f150 did that real bad on the drivers side. i just used rain x. that stuff is amazing (except for real light rain, or the mist off of other cars tires). throw some of that one regularly and you will find yourself not even using your wipers. the rain just shoots off when you are driving.

on the interstate i would just put my wipers on one of the lowest interval settings to clear the occasional mist (when its raining a decent amount, the rain clears off the mist) and cruz, even when it was raining hard.

i swear by the stuff, especially in rainy climates like florida.

I've found a lot of the cheap aftermarket wipers do that. I just make sure there's always Rain-X on the windshield, and it's not a problem.

A little hop is common when the windshield isn't completely wet. If your getting this all the time, you might want to check that the new blades are installed correctly and can rock back and forth a little. Did you replace the blade assembly or just the rubber 'refill' part? It sounds like the rubber isn't threaded straight into to all of the little holder arms bracket thingies.

did you put some water no the glass first???? thats why the rubber is skipping... might even be a film on the glass.. i always take the glass and clean it off real good with
Windex and some newspaper.... glass is so clean it looks like it is not there. and always use good real rubber blades like Ainco.. not the cheap $2.00 blades as they will not work.. never had a problem with them doing this.....

If you polish the windscreen (with NON CUTTING polish), they should glide nicely.

Rainex also works well in my experience.



EDIT: Forgot to add, at around 80kph (approx 45-50mph) and up, the water glides right off, you barely need to use the wipers.

yeah, thats the thing- these are full replacements, each cost like $15. Its not as if the windshield is anywhere near dry- it does this in the middle of massive downpours. It is so commmon that i cant stand to drive in the rain now.

Just today i cleaned off the windhield with windex, then gave it a good thick coat of rain-x. The water slides off really good, but the wipers still skip. I guess my only alternative is to buy new wipers? Sucks, tho, just bought these about 2 weeks ago.