Wiper blade sweep closer to A pillar

[TurboMike]

I have to do this to all my cars, but the G8 was really bad. Its pretty brainless but I figured I'd take pics in case anyone else didnt know about it.



The wiper blade doesnt get NEAR close enough to the A pillar. In rain its bad enough that the water isnt pushed to the A pillar so you can see, but in snow and hail having that much buildup blocking your view IMO is unsafe.



The solution: Loosen the bolt on the driver's side wiper, and clock the arm one inch higher, tighten bolt. The good: the wiper will now sweep all the way to the A arm, cleaning the windshield farther to the edge of the glass and get the rain and snow out of your vision. The bad: the driver's wiper will sit one inch higher from where it normally sits and is more noticable (its not as hidden by the hood line as before).



How: pop rubber cover off wiper arm, use socket to loosen bolt (I think it was 1/2 or 9/16th?), pull wiper up a little, tighten bolt, use wipers (with fluid, or it wont go as far as it will in rain), see how far arm goes to apillar, adjust to liking.

Before:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2690/4342808091_ff01990cd2_o.jpg

After:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4024/4342808527_162aa1bc59_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2708/4342808563_6b70211e54_o.jpg

From inside the car:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4343545112_18d00bbde6_o.jpg

The bolt:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4343544592_d40290c4dd_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4342807941_ab8225644b_o.jpg

[96Prix]

Interesting. My complaint is that my wipers have an odd overlap that causes them to contacts each other as soon as they begin their stroke. A loud slap that scares the beat hell out of me is the result. Seems like this would eliminate my problem as well. Good writeup!
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Teleca Q7; Brew 3.1.5; U; en) 240X400 LGE VX9700

[TurboMike]

Sounds like your passenger/small blade is higher than your driver's/large blade, and they contact when they go up. Do they look like mine in the "before" pic above (both blades in a straight line)?

[Biggberger]

96Prix: did you replace you wipers? Mine did that when I replaced them with a set of Rain-x blades but when I tookthem back and got a different brand they didnt touch.

Turbo: How does this affect the blade when its at full speed? With mine the faster I have them going the closer it gets to the A-piller without me modifying the arm.

[p71]

TurboMike... practical solution to something I do not consider a problem...
96prix... sounds like one of your blades is the wrong size

[TurboMike]

Mine moves less than an inch more between slowest speed and full speed.

Full speed with the glass wet before moving arm: my blade was about 2 inches from the a pillar at the bottom and 4+ at the top. If its snowing, I was getting a huge white band making my Apillar blockage of my line of site about double. With my arm moved its an inch top to bottom (and when its that thin most of the snow falls off the edge of the apillar as long as the car is fast enough).

[waltah]

fyi, the manual calls for a 15" blade for the passenger , 16" fits perfectly.

just thought id share

[Belo]

thanks for testing it. was going to do it myself. f'n drives me nuts how much is left on the windshield.

[96Prix]

96Prix: did you replace you wipers? Mine did that when I replaced them with a set of Rain-x blades but when I tookthem back and got a different brand they didnt touch.

I bought the car with 6,000 on it. I've never replaced them, but I can't say for sure if they are the original blades or not. With all the snow and ice built up between the hood and windshield this winter I'm wondering if the passenger side arm has cheated up a little bit in the same manner as the OP has done intentionally with the driver side arm.