Recommendations for the operation of wiper blades. What to do if the windshield wipers do not clean the windshield.

Experienced drivers are aware of a number of reasons why wipers do not clean well. Windshield. Because these devices provide good visibility on the roadway, it is impossible to leave without them, especially in rainy weather.

Their main purpose is the constant cleaning of the windshield from moisture and dust, which contribute to the deterioration of visibility during movement. Such devices are quite often subjected to not the most favorable effects from environment. After some time, the wipers perform less efficient cleaning.

Why windshield wipers start to work worse

During the operation of windshield wipers, several main factors can affect the quality of cleaning. First of all, this is the state of the spring mechanism mounted on the leash. All vehicle owners need to understand that it is precisely as a result of a decrease in the elasticity of this structural element that the wipers will not fit snugly enough to the glass and, accordingly, will not perform high-quality cleaning. Therefore, it is recommended that such an element should not be subjected to loads once again.

Let’s take a look at a few of the top reasons why windshield wipers may not clean your windshield a little worse:

• The loss of elasticity of the brushes responsible for cleaning the windshield may be due to the gradual coarsening of the cleaning elements in the process of developing them. useful resource, as a result of which the quality indicators of such work may be reduced. Brushes should be replaced at least once every six months. In this case, it is recommended to use appropriate modification devices for operation in hot summer or frosty winter weather;
• Windshield wipers are often covered with ice crust. This problem may refer exclusively to frame devices, the design of which allows the possibility of ice formation on their base. For this reason, the cleaning element of the structure does not perform its main functions well enough. This problem can be solved by heating followed by mechanical cleaning. Some drivers use specially prepared fluids to defrost vehicle windshields;
• Glass pollution. Problems like these usually result from waxing or soot deposits from other car exhausts. In order to solve such a problem, it is enough to simply wash the glass using a special detergent;
• The leash may gradually loosen. For the most part, such situations can occur when the car is left in the parking lot, while the wipers are in a standing position. It is for this reason that all cleaner springs can gradually stretch, which can eventually lead to a deterioration in the density of pressing against the glass;
• Often, windshield wipers are not selected in accordance with the size.

Important! Poor windshield wipers are one of the most common problems. Most of the drivers, when identifying such malfunctions, simply throw out non-working wipers.

What are the features of the operation of wipers

In order for the operation of the wipers to be as efficient and long-lasting as possible, you need to follow a few simple and very reasonable recommendations. In a situation when the special washer fluid runs out, the wipers should not be activated if the glass is dry. You must always remember to wipe the windshield, because poor visibility can be formed not only under the influence of external factors.

How to clean windshield wipers? It is recommended to periodically lubricate the holder lead in the bend area. Such a procedure helps to improve the density of pressing the structural element to the surface to be cleaned. Fluid nozzles must be adjusted so that the point of maximum pressure is concentrated in the area of ​​movement of the brushes. In winter, it is not recommended to activate the wipers until the snow has completely thawed. No cleaner will help get rid of the formed ice, and the decrease in performance will be accelerated.

New wiper problem

There are several reasons why there is a veil on the windshield after cleaning. In addition to an erroneously selected size, the malfunction itself may lie precisely in the mechanism of the cleaning system. In the event of a malfunction of the gearmotor, oxidation of electrical wiring, mechanical damage, the wipers begin to fit worse and perform poor cleaning. To correct the problem, it is recommended to conduct a comprehensive survey of the entire system, remove defective wiring and remove traces of oxidation from the ends. The lever toggle switch will definitely have to be replaced if there is damage on an element such as a cleaner switch.

When the brushes, moving along the windshield, begin to slow down, the corrector gets dirty or burns a little, the malfunction is eliminated by completely cleaning it and removing damaged components. However, wipers may not work or perform poor cleaning for the following reasons:

• Often in the design of the mechanism different ways foreign objects penetrate;
• The mechanisms of the motor reducers are pressed loosely against the spring in the limit switch compartment. Such a defect can be corrected by leveling the switch plate until the cam is behind it;
• Changing the windshield wiper rods, as well as their interaction with body elements. Such a problem can be eliminated by mechanical debugging of damaged components;
• Burnt wiring in the switch area.

For more information on what to do if your windshield wipers are not cleaning well, watch this video:

When the first signs appear bad work wiper, in the form of stripes on the windshield of a car or insufficient transparency of the glass in the form of a thick water film after the passage of the wipers, many motorists replace the brushes with new ones without even trying to figure out the reason for the poor performance of the wipers. More economical motorists will not be too lazy to wash the rubber band of the brush with soapy water and clean the glass surface from dirt. Often this helps, but if the brush is no longer in order, then rinsing and wiping does not help, even if there is an effect from such prevention, then for a short time.

The device and principle of operation of the frame wiper brush

If the metal or rubber frame of the wiper does not have serious mechanical damage, then such a brush can be easily repaired with your own hands. in order to consciously carry out repairs, one should represent the device and the principle of operation of the windshield wiper.

Wiper frame brush device

The main part of any car wiper is a rubber band, since the cleanliness of the car windshield in bad weather depends on its quality and technical condition.

The rubber band for effective removal of water is made sufficiently elastic and two elastic leaf springs are used to secure it in the wiper. The plates are equal in length to the length of the rubber band and are inserted from its two sides into the grooves specially provided for this purpose in the rubber band.

Rectangular recesses are made at the ends of the elastic plates, and protrusions of the same shape are made at the base of the tape. Thus, the fixation of the plates in the rubber band is ensured, excluding their movement.

The brush frame consists of several rocker arms pivotally connected to each other by means of axles. The number of rockers depends on the length of the brush and there are three to seven of them in the frame. The axles are fixed in the rocker arms with a rivet.

For better mobility when connecting the rocker arms, plastic inserts are inserted between them, which reduce the wear of the rocker arms and eliminate creaking when the wiper is working. In the middle of the longest rocker, an axis is pressed in for attaching a plastic adapter to it - a latch.

Adapters are required to be able to install the wiper blade on the leash (lever) of the wiper of any car model. Usually new brushes are equipped with a set of the most popular adapters, suitable for almost any car windshield wipers. To fix the adapter on the rocker, it is enough to put it on the axle and press it with force. The adapter is securely fixed on the rocker arm. Before installing a new adapter, you need to determine which of the kit will fit your windshield wiper. You can also use the old adapter by removing it from the spent native brush.

The length of the rubber band depends on the size of the wiper blade. But the profile of tapes for wipers of different lengths and designs, including frameless brushes, is almost the same. True, there are tapes that have additional sharp edges on the side surface, but having already excluded this, I have not seen them on sale.

The profile photo of the tape clearly shows three symmetrical grooves running along its entire length. The upper groove is designed to install elastic spring plates into it, which give the rubber band elasticity and shape. The legs of the rocker clamps, including the fixing one, are inserted into the middle groove. The lower groove forms the neck of the tape and provides the possibility of shifting the working part of the rubber band when changing the direction of the wiper while cleaning the windshield of the car from precipitation and dirt.

Frameless wiper blade device

Frameless wiper blades are rarely used and this is due to their high cost and narrow applicability. Each brush is produced for a certain narrow range of car models. They are not universal.

Frameless brushes differ from frame brushes in that instead of a rocker arm system, a flat wide spring-loaded metal plate is used, on which wiper tape holder brackets are fixed with rivets.

The shape of the forming plate is made in accordance with the shape of the windshield of a particular car. Therefore, they do not fit any model. This wide belt is covered with a rubber casing glued to it, which eliminates the cases of disruption of the hinges, as with a frame brush. The design of the rubber band and the principle of its operation when cleaning glass does not differ from the work in the frame wiper. In frameless wipers, it is also possible to replace the rubber band when worn, as in a framed wiper.

Working principle of the wiper blade

The wiper blade removes water from the surface of the windshield of the car due to the special shape of the working section of the rubber band. The photograph shows the position of the tape when the wiper blade moves from left to right, in the direction of the blue arrow.

As you can see, the working web of the rubber band is slightly bent so that its right angle is perpendicular to the plane of the glass. Thus, the wide part of the belt web removes a thick layer of water. The remaining thin film of water, pushing it to the glass, removes the right angle of the tape.

When changing the direction of brush movement, working part The rubber band of the wiper blade is shifted and is already pushing through a thin layer of water to another right angle of the tape. Thus, the wiper blade cleans the windshield of the car in forward and reverse stroke. The remaining water residues after the passage of the brush in the form of a micron film due to scratches on the glass and the ingress of small mechanical particles quickly evaporate and the glass becomes transparent.

If, during the operation of the wiper, the working part of the tape or its part takes a position relative to the surface of the glass to be cleaned, which differs from that shown in the photographs, then the car glass will remain opaque or water streaks will remain.

Causes of poor car windshield cleaning with a wiper brush

Now knowing the device of the wiper brush and the principle of operation of the rubber band, it will be easy to figure out on your own why the brush has become bad at cleaning the windshield from water and try to repair it before buying a new one. Poor operation of the wiper blade manifests itself in the form of remaining streaks after the passage of the brush or opacity, cloudiness of the glass, making it difficult for the driver to see the road while driving.

The first thing to do in case of unsatisfactory operation of the wiper is to remove from the surface automotive glass dirt, oil film and check the wiper frame. The mobility of the rocker arms in the places of their attachment and the absence of looseness, the reliability of fixing the adapter and the wiper lever in it, the sufficiency of the force created by the wiper lever pressure spring. IN winter time often water gets into the joints of the rocker arms, freezes and their mobility is lost. If the frame is in order, then the brush should be revised.

On the windshield of a car
after the passage of the wiper brush, streaks remain

The brush leaves water streaks on the glass due to improper fit of a separate section, or several, of the working part of the rubber band to the glass surface at the level of the streaks left. At the same time, brush strips can be left only in the forward stroke, only in the reverse stroke, or in both directions of the brush stroke. Stripes may remain in the middle of the brush or along the edges. The reasons, depending on the place where the brushes leave the stripes, are different.

The wiper blade began to leave streaks on the glass all of a sudden

If the wiper worked normally and stripes suddenly began to appear when moving to one side, then most likely mechanical particles in the form of sand or dirt got into the groove of the rubber band, which prevent the working part of the tape from bending and the edge at a right angle does not become perpendicular to the glass . In winter frosty time, water can get into the groove and its subsequent freezing. It is enough to remove the dirt from the edge and the brush will work normally. The ice can melt itself from the heat of the windshield, heated by warm air blowing from inside the passenger compartment, or the ice must be carefully removed from the tape groove so as not to damage the tape tightly, with a sharp object.

If stripes suddenly began to appear in the middle when the wiper brush moved in both directions, then it is possible for dirt and ice to get into the grooves of the tape on both sides, and for the tape to fall out of the retaining flat spring plates. This happens in the winter. If the brush froze to the windshield and was torn off, pulling it away from the glass by the rocker, without waiting for the glass to warm up, the ice will melt and the brush will free itself.

As you can see in the photo, the plate has come out of the groove of the rubber band of the brush, and the band has lost its linearity. Therefore, it is unacceptable to tear off the frozen brush by the rocker, if there is no time to wait, then you need to carefully move the tape along the glass with a scraper. Such a brush malfunction is not difficult to eliminate even without removing it from the car. You must first insert an elastic plate into the groove on one side of the rubber band, and then use a screwdriver blade to insert the plate into the groove on the other side.

The stripes on the windshield after the passage of the brush expanded gradually

If, during the operation of the wiper, a narrow strip first appeared, and then gradually expanded for a long time - days, weeks, then the cause of the malfunction is most likely due to the wear of the rubber band of the brush. As a result of aging, cracks appear in the bends of the rubber band, usually the neck, and the rubber breaks in these places, more often along the edges of the brush. The tape continues to break and the zone of stripes increases.

The photo shows a brush with a torn rubber band along the neck line from the loose end. This tape cannot be repaired and should be replaced with a new one. If the untorn part of the rubber band still cleans the glass well and the brush band is torn at the loose end, it can be reused by fitting a shorter brush into the frame.

With a serviceable tape, the stripes may still appear when the brush moves, slowly expanding, when one or more swivel joints between the rocker arms are worn. Then the tape, when changing the movement of the wiper, is not always shifted, and the water remains on the glass. In this case, the brush, when moving, can jump on the glass.

When the wipers are not turned on, the wiper blades are pressed by a rubber band against the glass under the action of the spring of the wiper arm. In this case, the tape along the neck line is bent. Due to the effect of temperature, the rubber deforms over time, which makes it impossible for the tape to take its working position when the wiper is turned on.

The photo clearly shows the deformation of the rubber band, the working part is deformed to the left. With the onset of greater deformation, although the working corners are not yet worn out, the tape will not be able to shift and fully clean the glass from water.

Another enemy car brushes this time. Even if the brush practically did not work, for example, a car long time not used, or new brushes, have lain in the warehouse for several years, rubber aging occurs, it loses elasticity. A hardened rubber band cannot be shifted and clean the car glass from water when changing the direction of movement of the brushes. To check the elasticity of the tape, it is enough to take it aside with a little effort with your finger and release it. The tape should easily deform and instantly return to its original position.

It remains to consider last reason poor operation of the wipers, wear of the working edge of the rubber band. Usually, during intensive use of the car, the brushes have to work hard, removing water from the windshield, along with dust and grains of sand. Sometimes, even solid dirty goo. This is the shape the working edge of the new rubber band should have. As you can see, the working edge has the shape of a rectangle.

The windshield of the car during operation is covered with numerous small chips and scratches. Thus, over time, from friction against grains of sand, chips and scratches on the glass, regardless of the manufacturer and quality of the rubber band, its working edge is rounded off, stops pushing through the water film and the glass after the brush passes, remains insufficiently transparent. Right angles at the worn edge of the rubber band are rounded and take the form, as in the photo below.

Usually the brush is still in good condition, but with worn corners of the working edge of the rubber band, they are replaced with a new one, without thinking that the squareness can be restored by a simple technique, using sandpaper, grinding off the rounded part from the working surface of the tape.

Repair of car wiper blades

If it is determined that the reason for the malfunction of the car wiper brush is the wear of the working surface of the edge of the rubber band, then it can be restored without even removing the wiper from the wiper leash. To do this, you need to take a plate of non-bending material, such as plywood, and stick a sheet of the same size of fine-grained sandpaper on it. The longer the plate, the better the edge will be.

The main thing when doing this work is to try to grind the rubber band evenly along the entire length in order to prevent failures, otherwise stripes may remain on the glass when the wiper is working.

It is even better to grind the rubber band by gluing sandpaper to a plate that is 10-15 cm longer than the length of the brush itself. Then the work will be much easier to do with a better end result. After every few passes, you need to check the result so that you get right angles and do not grind off excess rubber, as it will still be useful in subsequent repairs. In this way, the tape can be restored several times.

If the rubber band has finally become unusable, and the frame is still in good condition, then it is advisable to replace it with a new one. You can also use a used rubber band torn from the movable side along the neck line, taken from a longer brush, for replacement. Removing the rubber band is not difficult.

First you need to use a screwdriver blade to slightly bend to the side the retainer of the rocker arm support of the rubber band.

The rubber band is removed from the legs of the rocker arms. Elastic plates are removed from the tape. Sometimes the elastic plates are bent, and you need to remember which way to adopt in the same way into the groove of the new rubber band. Sometimes the recesses in the plate are smaller than the protrusions in the tape groove. Then you need to adjust the samples to size with a needle file.

Prepared for replacement, a new rubber band is threaded through the groove through all the clamps of the rocker arms. The tape should move freely, but without play, along the rocker arms. If any of the supports does not provide free movement or the tape in it is too free, then you need to, accordingly, slightly push the legs apart or tighten them.

After refueling the rubber band of the wiper into the paws of the rocker arms, it will remain to squeeze the retainer with pliers and the brush is ready for installation on the car windshield wiper leash.

As you can see, after spending only ten minutes, you can give a second life to the brush. Such repairs are especially relevant for expensive branded wipers.

How to choose wiper blades

The first is brush length which must meet the requirements of the vehicle manufacturer. If the brush is shorter than it should be, then the glass cleaning area will decrease, which will lead to a decrease in the viewing angle of the road. In the case of a longer length, the pressure per unit length of the rubber band will decrease and the force of the leash spring may become insufficient to push through the water layer by the working edge of the rubber band and the glass may not remain transparent enough after the brush has passed.

Next, you need to check whether adapter, installed on the purchased brush or the presence of additional adapters in the kit, for the leashes of your car. The most common type of fastening of wipers to a leash is a "hook". Usually all brushes are equipped with an adapter for it.

The third criterion is tape quality. On its planes, especially on the working one, burrs and irregularities are not allowed. The tape should be elastic, uniform in texture and color. The working edge should have a right angle along the entire length of the tape. The same requirements are imposed on the tape when purchasing it for the restoration repair of the brush. Tapes in expensive wipers are silicone, graphite-silicone and Teflon, they are more resistant to wear, as they have a reduced coefficient of friction, but their price is several times higher than rubber bands.

It remains to check the frame and the freedom of movement of the tape in the rocker supports. The rocker arms in the places of the swivel must necessarily be with plastic inserts and there should be no play, but there should be freedom of movement of the rocker arms relative to each other. The tape should move freely without play in the supports, except for its extreme fixing one. This is easy to do by pulling the wiper blade strip away from the frame.

Three story clips show how to test the freedom of movement of the wiper brush in the supports in practice. In the first plot, the tape is excessively clamped in the rocker supports or dirt has accumulated in the supports, such a brush needs to be repaired or replaced. In the second and third plots, respectively, the response of a correctly fixed rubber band in the rocker arm of a short and long brush is shown. From the vibrations of the rubber band, it can be seen that the necessary freedom of movement of the tape in the supports is available.

There is a lot of controversy about windshield wiper blade manufacturers, but in any case, all blades are made in China. Only branded ones are produced under the supervision of well-known companies. It is difficult for a non-professional to find out if it is a fake or not. Therefore, you have to rely more on external examination. If the wiper blade or repair tape meets the above requirements and pleases appearance Your eyes, then with a high probability we can assume that it is of high quality and will last a long time. This brush should be purchased for your car.

Compliance simple rules windshield wiper operation will help prolong the life of the brushes and provide high level your safety.

. Do not force the brushes to run "dry", especially if the glass is heavily soiled or covered with a layer of frost. This has a very negative effect on the resource of the rubber edge;

Wash your brushes regularly with water. Sand that accumulates in the grooves of the rubber band prevents even brush pressure and can even scratch the glass.

When operating the windscreen wiper, brushes when driving should not go beyond the boundaries of the windshield. This leads to damage to the wiper motor, poor fit and increased wear on the wiper blades. To eliminate this malfunction, it is usually sufficient to adjust the wiper arms.

Sometimes the reason for the decrease in glass transparency is not bad wiper blades, but hard-to-see pollution its inner surface (for example, pollution from tobacco smoke). You can remove it with the help of special glass cleaners.

When oiling glass or brush bands, they should be degreased with a 10-20% soda solution and rinsed thoroughly with warm water. You can also use a car shampoo that does not contain protective components (for example, wax). Using gasoline or solvents to clean the belts will corrode the belts and cause them to fail quickly.

Can lubricate the hinges frame models with compounds such as WD-40, which displace moisture and eliminate squeaks. However, be careful not to get grease on the rubber parts of the brushes.

Windshield wipers in winter

General recommendations for using brushes in winter:
Do not dilute concentrated windshield washer fluid with large amounts of water.. The blades are cooled by the air flow much more than the windshield. The water contained in the solution may freeze on them and the hinges will lose their mobility;
Sweep snow and clear ice from glass brush without waiting for the heater to melt it. Melted snow may later freeze on the brushes;
do not turn on the windshield wiper until the windshield warms up. This avoids wear on the rubber bands of the brushes.

windshield washer

To increase the efficiency of the windshield washer, it is advisable:
If your vehicle is equipped with single-jet windshield washer nozzles, it is recommended to replace them with two-jet ones. This will increase the uniformity of wetting the windshield;
adjust the direction of the washer nozzles so that the entire area of ​​the windshield being cleaned by the brushes is moistened. It is necessary to check the direction of the nozzles at a speed of 50-70 km / h, since the air flow deflects the water jet when moving;
before the cold weather fill the washer reservoir with anti-freeze liquid and remove water from the system by running the glass washer for 10 seconds.

Selection and advice on the operation of windshield wipers in the program "Main Road"

Heating the windshield wiper rest zone is a fairly common option, especially relevant for regions where negative temperatures persist for quite a long time. In addition, if there is no heating for the wiper rest area on your car, you can install it yourself.

This option is designed to heat the place where the wiper stops in rest mode. You do not have to tear off the frozen wiper, in addition, heating prevents the formation of wet snow in this part of the windshield, as well as icing and freezing of the wiper blade itself.

I am sure that every car owner has encountered the problem of brush frosting in the winter. In order to return the wipers to working capacity, sometimes you even have to get out of the car and knock down ice and snow frozen on the brush. There are several ways to solve this problem: the use, installation of a fully heated windshield, even the introduction of a special wiper function, which, when briefly pressed on the wiper control lever, puts them in a position 5-7 centimeters higher than the standard one, in the area where the glass is heated by air from the standard stove .

Heating the windshield wiper rest area is another way to solve this problem: simple, fairly effective, inexpensive, and affordable for self-installation.

How is the windshield heated in the rest zone of the brushes

Standard variant

Regular heating is arranged quite simply. On the windshield in the rest zone of the brushes there are conductive paths that heat up this particular section of the glass. To turn on the heating of the rest zone of the wiper blades, the same button is usually used as for heating the mirrors, rear window, or, much less often, a separate button.

Heating kit for self-installation

Kit for self installation most often it is a flexible transparent self-adhesive film with a conductive track and output pads applied to it. Available in different capacities and lengths, which must be selected based on your car.

You will also need a relay of at least 40A, a fuse, contacts and a power button.

Self-installation of heating of the rest zone of the windshield wiper blades

The sequence of heating installation as a whole does not differ from the brand of the car. True, sometimes complete disassembly and dismantling of the front panel is required.

General installation procedure:

1. Prepare the heating installation site. Remove dust, dirt and grease.
2. Gently stick the tape to the inside of the car glass at the point where the wiper blade stops. The wiper stop should be in the middle of the heating element.
3. Connect one wire to vehicle ground.
4. Connect the other wire to the wire on which “+ 12 Volts” appears when the ignition is turned on through the switch, relay and fuse

Self-installation of heating is not the easiest task that requires certain skills. If you are not confident in your abilities, it is better to contact a service center that has the necessary licenses and certificates for this type of work.