Front Wipers

[Guest Shazza]

I have a W reg Galaxy and I hate the front windscreen wipers and think they are very dangerous in certain weather conditions. I think the V-reg cars are the same, I don't know about earlier years but I know they changed the design after that.

 

They are bowed inwards and don't reach the edges of the windscreen. The gap is widest at eye level. When I was driving in heavy snow last year, the wipers packed the snow tightly at the side of the windscreen so that there was a band of snow which was about 7 inches wide at eye level. This coupled with the very wide corner bits / uprights / supports (don't know the technical term for those bits of the vehicle), gave me a blind spot of about 13 inches, which made it very dangerous when turning right or going round a roundabout. The only way I could do it was to lean over to me left to try to see around this blind spot, or to open the drivers window and stick my head out. It's almost as bad in mucky conditions, ie motorway driving when lorries are chucking a lot of mud at your windscreen when you're behind them.

 

Personally I think they are so dangerous, they should have been recalled and changed.

 

If it snows this year, I will take a photo of them and write to Fords / Watchdog / Consumer Association and motoring mags about them.

 

Question 1. Has anyone else noticed this problem or do you all have different reg vehicles and different wipers?

 

Question 2. If I was writing a letter about the problem, what would I call those front corner upright bits between the side windows and the front windscreen?

 

Shazza

[Ivor_E_Tower]

The metal pillars at the side of the windscreen are called "A-Posts" or "A-Pillars", and I agree that they are wide and do cause blindspots. I tried to get straight wiper blades not bowed ones when mine needed changing to reduce the blind-spots but didn't find any - those blades sure are long!

Snow build-up is a problem that affects almost all cars though. The width of the Gal's A-posts doesn't help, as you point out. Volvo are working on a semi-transparent A-post which may provide the best technical solution, even if they look ugly!

 

For info, in car language, the "B-Post" is the pillar between front and rear doors, the "C-post" the one behind the rear doors etc (you get the trend?).

[Guest SA Intruder]

Blades are 28" each.

 

Not sure what you mean by bowed?

 

I can't say mine are, from memory, and I find they sweep well.

 

I will look closely next time.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Bowed as in --- if the wipers are at the end limit of their sweep, they are not parallel to the A-post - the gap from blade to A-post in the middle of the blade is greater than the gap at the top and bottom; the wipers are a sort of crescent shape when viewed from the edge of the rubber looking towards the metal part of the blade.

Similarly when they are parked, the middle of the blade is closer to the bottom of the screen than the 2 ends (not sure I've made that sound clear?)

[Guest SA Intruder]

Mine are perfectly straight, and the upper tip when upright is further out than the bottom of the blade, therefore they sweep almost to the A post.

 

The blades are very flexible when lifted off the screen, and they follow the screen contour perfectly.

 

I can't remember my 01 Sharan being any different...

 

The blades seem to last about a year/30000 miles from memory, unlike the Mundano, which seem to need replacing every 4-6 months.

[Dally]

I thought that the curved wipers (as described by Ivor) were a spec on the pre facelifted Galaxy.

 

My 2002 2.3 that I just Px'd and my current 2003 V6 have the straight flexxy rubber types as described by SA.

 

I have yet to see a facelifted Galaxy with the old curved wipers but all pre facelifted seem to have the curved type.

 

I made a mistake by buying some curved Bosch ones of Ebay for about

[Guest Shazza]

They are bowed inwards so that at the top and bottom, they nearly meet the corners (about 2 inches away) and in the middle, they are about 6 or 7 inches away from the egde of the windscreen.

 

Someone on an e-mail list I'm on just suggested that maybe they're interchangeable and are on the wrong sides.

 

Is that possible, do you think?

 

Sharon

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Nope - they are designded the "wrong" way. Mine had the original "banana blades" fitted when I bought it, and I purchased Bosch replacement blades which are the same. The instructions (plus looking at plenty of other used examples of Gals on the road) confirm that the "wrong" way is the "right" way!

Bizarre.

[Mussey1]

Hi,

 

I just bought new 28" blades from Halfords on Saturday for

[Mussey1]

By the way ... do the facelift cars have the screen washer nozzle on the wiper arms or on the bonnet????

 

Mussey1.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

On the "scuttle" panel between the bonnet and the screen, as part of the black plastic trim to the air intake for the heater. The jets are supposed to be heated too but as we didn't even have a frost this morning I can't check if this is true!

[seatkid]

My Mk1 has the curved blades - the wipers sweep about one inch less towards the A pillar on UK drivers side than the passanger side. A legacy of German design, the designer favoured the driver on the left - same is true on the Golf.

 

I remember I had to reset the wiper position after a dealer service when they had mysteriously started parking right down on the scuttle and not wiping anywhere near the A pillars - now I realise they must have removed them to change the pollen filter. ;)

 

Incidently I reckon theyre still too short - 30 inches still wouldnt do the whole screen.

 

Im still on the original blades at 50,000 miles/5 years - but I take great care to clean them regularly and not to get wax/polish on them (or the glass) etc.

 

Rear wiper and washer is bloody useless and blade refuses to follow the curved screen and no amount of adjusting helps :o - this is a genuine replacement wiper and arm which was broken off by a vandal.. :huh:

 

Mk1 heated washer jets are useless - full stop :o they could do with a heater in the washer bottle!

 

The headlamp washers are worse than useless - utter waste of money - only ever really needed them once and the buggers froze up even with strong winter mix. Have pulled fuse on these to stop pumping out gallons of water for nothing.

[gazza007]

We've had a fair dumping of snow in the last 18 hours and the visibility near the A pillar had been poor you also get a bit of steam-up with the cold ice in that area.

Also the snow tends to drop beneath the blades into the air intake area.

I think some serious design work needed for next model.

[Mussey1]

Mind you I think the heated front screen makes up for the slight loss of visibility.

In this weather it is simply brilliant.

 

Should be standard on all cars!! .... I rarely see other brands offering it even as an option.. apart from SEAT & VW on the shalaxy models.

 

I wonder why??

 

I'm sure SA Intruder or Ivor can enlighten us.

 

Mussey1.

[seatkid]

Electrically heated front windows are a Ford invention ("Quickclear"?) and are used in top of range mondeos and scorpios I think.

 

IMO the big irritation with the unwiped area is in dirty weather - it just becomes a distracting dirty blur. Plus when I wash the car beautifically clean, the first wash/wipe and youv'e got that band of dirt almost right in front of you.

[Guest SA Intruder]

Quickclear was invented by Volvo in partnership with Triplex (was Pilkington, now St Gobain/Sekurit)

 

Ford were the first to fit it as standard to run of the mill cars in the early nineties.

 

The one on the Alhambra is particularly effective, although it does draw 18-20 Amps.

 

The entire rear wash/wipe system is dreadful.

 

The front wipers are superb, but the washers do freeze and re-freeze easily.

 

The headlight washers are very good, but do use beaucoup d'eau.

[Guest Shazza]

What do you mean by 'pre-facelifted'? How would I know if that's what I've got?

 

Shazza

[Dally]

Was at a local ford dealer earlier today. I stand corrected - I saw a facelifted galaxy with the curved wipers. Obviously the swith to using the straight thin types that cost

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I think the heated screen issue is because of a royalty fee that would need to be paid by other manufacturers as it's basically a Ford invention. The Gal is my first car with such a device and it is really useful when there is snow or ice about. Although mine stays under cover at night, it got snowed on outside Tescos this evening but it only took a few minutes to make it driveable again. And I did have to use the icescraper to remove the large width of snow that got swept up to the A-pillars!

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Oh well, many postings in a few seconds...

If Volvo invented it, why don't they fit it to their cars, especially as it is a safety feature and Volvo are noted for safety.

...and if Volvo invented it, but Ford are using it (and were using it before they bought Volvo) why is nobody else using it?

 

Anyone know?

[Mussey1]

Hi,

 

Does this mean that even the straight blades from halfords (

[Dally]

Ivor

 

What makes this conundrum worse is that Ford now owns Volvo - but still no heated front windscreens in Volvos!

[seatkid]

The name "Quickclear" is neither trademarked or patented, it is just a Ford marketing thing. Regarding "Quickclear", I think my use of the word "invented" is wrong, it should really be "marketed". Heated windows of this type have probably been used in aircraft, trains etc for many years. Ford decided that it would be a good thing to have on their options list in the "safety marketing" race of the early 90's. Ford have always been in the top team for the longest list of user options since the days of the Cortina.

 

So it comes as no surprise that a 68 Daimler has one. The reason that no-one else uses them now is probably because Ford have an exclusive arrangement with the one supplier. They are much more expensive to make than the screen printed type (rear heated windows) which would obviously not be acceptable in a front window.

 

In really cold climates, Quickclear is a lot quicker to defrost than a rear heated window but certainly not the seconds that Ford used to claim or infer in their adverts.

[mumof4]

Ok......i have on my car..the bowed blades, they were the ones sold to me just after i did the linkage...(will have to look to see how long ago as i cant remember)..i told the guy what car i had and what year..gave me bowed ones..Now i couldnt fit the ruddy things on so took em back and the guy fitted em in what i thought was the wrong way..the ends pointing up.Now i have a problem with these blades as i have such a huge blind spot, when turning right.

So today i try turning the ruddy things the other way so ends pointing down.wont go.Also the blades are completely naffed.

 

How long on average do blades last????

 

Also...after searching and reading loads of old posts, what are the correct blades for my car..straight?curved?some old posts say curved=pre facelift.

 

I am so angry that these blades have lasted for such a short time.

 

 

Also, the bladeds are supposed to point up and be same size.(according to posts).

 

Going to search now to see when i did my linkage.

 

6 weeks.thats how long they lasted.

[tim-spam]

Mine is a late 2001 model and has the curved blades - I don't find the visibility too bad (although it could be better), but I noticed when test driving Mk1's a few years back that they were not set up for this country. The changing over of the wiper arms to set the wipers up for this country was one of the many improvements made for the Mk2. I guess the straight blades are a further improvement - does anyone know how much the wiper arms cost for this change?

As regards the rear wash / wipe, mine is absolutely fine - set the washer jet so that it hits the screen in the middle and use the genuine VW blade which faithfully follows the curve of the rear screen.