VAG OEM Wiper Blades
Discussion
I bought a year old approved Skoda in mint condition a couple of months back.
Runs fine & all systems appear to work as advertised, except the bloody wiper blades!
They juddered like mad, so the dealer replaced them with new OEM items. There was a marginal improvement, but still crap, so I bought Bosch Aerotwins which seem to have cured the problem.
Is this a 'normal' problem for most VAG vehicles?
Runs fine & all systems appear to work as advertised, except the bloody wiper blades!
They juddered like mad, so the dealer replaced them with new OEM items. There was a marginal improvement, but still crap, so I bought Bosch Aerotwins which seem to have cured the problem.
Is this a 'normal' problem for most VAG vehicles?
It's often a question of how the windscreen has been cleaned. There can also be issues if there's excess wear in the in the joint where blade mounts to arm. If the blades have been used, juddering for a long time that can accelerate such wear.
The blade rubber needs to be completely perpendicular to the glass. "Twin" blades tend to be more stable in this regard.
The blade rubber needs to be completely perpendicular to the glass. "Twin" blades tend to be more stable in this regard.
Whilst the condition of the rubber will affect things like juddering etc, I find that this is nearly always down to the cleanliness of the screen.....not so much dirt, but how much 'wax' is on the screen from the car washing process.
This is particularly the case if you regularly wash the car with good quality wash and wax (such as Meguire's Nxt Gen), it contains a fairly repellent wax in the mixture (intended to make the paint shine, which it does), but also tends to cause the wipers to judder on glass which has been coated.
May I suggest you buy a decent glass cleaner (again, Megs or AG) and clean the windscreen after the car is washed....as well as a quick clean of the blades each time to decontaminate them.
Never had the slightest issue in years by doing this, on both new and old cars, with new or used wiper blades.
This is particularly the case if you regularly wash the car with good quality wash and wax (such as Meguire's Nxt Gen), it contains a fairly repellent wax in the mixture (intended to make the paint shine, which it does), but also tends to cause the wipers to judder on glass which has been coated.
May I suggest you buy a decent glass cleaner (again, Megs or AG) and clean the windscreen after the car is washed....as well as a quick clean of the blades each time to decontaminate them.
Never had the slightest issue in years by doing this, on both new and old cars, with new or used wiper blades.
Thanks for the replies - I had indeed tried cleaning to death with isopropyl alcohol & AG Fast Glass amongst others, but no change.
The wiper arms & mechanism all appear to be clean & in good working order. The car was apparently treated with Diamondbrite before I purchased it, but surely cleaning the screen multiple times would have cured any issues?
The wiper arms & mechanism all appear to be clean & in good working order. The car was apparently treated with Diamondbrite before I purchased it, but surely cleaning the screen multiple times would have cured any issues?
Biker 1 said:
Is this a 'normal' problem for most VAG vehicles?
Yes. They juddered on test driving the nearly new Karoq my wife bought - the salesman said he'd get them changed and I told him not to bother and ordered a set of Aerotwins.I knew to do that from previous experience with VW and SEAT. Even then, somehow Skoda are noted on forums as being worse.
Biker 1 said:
I bought a year old approved Skoda in mint condition a couple of months back.
Runs fine & all systems appear to work as advertised, except the bloody wiper blades!
They juddered like mad, so the dealer replaced them with new OEM items. There was a marginal improvement, but still crap, so I bought Bosch Aerotwins which seem to have cured the problem.
Is this a 'normal' problem for most VAG vehicles?
The OEM stuff seems fine to me but when my Wife's Q2 was in for a service a couple of weeks ago, the dealer sent me an 'online check-in' email which seemed to be aimed primarily at upselling stuff, amongst the options were to fit new wiper blades at £70 and a litre of oil for top-ups at £24.Runs fine & all systems appear to work as advertised, except the bloody wiper blades!
They juddered like mad, so the dealer replaced them with new OEM items. There was a marginal improvement, but still crap, so I bought Bosch Aerotwins which seem to have cured the problem.
Is this a 'normal' problem for most VAG vehicles?
The original, 2 year old wipers are fine and I don't know how much they cost but I recently replaced those on my S4 (probably very similar) with Bosch items at around £25 for all 3 (front & rear) and I can buy a lot of oil for £24.
My point is, no way I'm buying OEM from the dealer.
Have always found VAG OEM wipers a bit rubbish. Replaced them within weeks on a brand new Tiguan a couple of years ago (went for Bosch Aerotwins) - put it down to the car having been stored/in transit for three months prior to delivery.
My current year old Honda has perfectly fine OEM wipers in contrast.
My current year old Honda has perfectly fine OEM wipers in contrast.
Biker 1 said:
Thanks for the replies - I had indeed tried cleaning to death with isopropyl alcohol & AG Fast Glass amongst others, but no change.
The wiper arms & mechanism all appear to be clean & in good working order. The car was apparently treated with Diamondbrite before I purchased it, but surely cleaning the screen multiple times would have cured any issues?
Interesting - you've probably done all you can on that front then. (in terms of stripping the wax / coatings off). Good luck in resolving.The wiper arms & mechanism all appear to be clean & in good working order. The car was apparently treated with Diamondbrite before I purchased it, but surely cleaning the screen multiple times would have cured any issues?
MattyD803 said:
Interesting - you've probably done all you can on that front then. (in terms of stripping the wax / coatings off). Good luck in resolving.
Apologies for any confusion: I did all the cleaning & stuff before eventually purchasing Bosch Aerotwins. These are now fitted & are 1000 times better than the OEM.Just seems weird - I have owned more than 20 cars over the years. This is the first one that seems to be sensitive to brand of windscreen wipers...
When the wipers went on R32 I put aero twins on , also when I bought my R aero twins straight on it , I’ve just had it ceramic coated and the screen had 3 coats of gyeon view the rain just falls of not much need for wipers , a recent transit connect I bought are juddering not sure what’s on there but these will be having the aero twin treatment ,, good wiper blades
Glaco glass compound. Get your screen really clean and then fit your next set of wipers.
Their windscreen coatings are really good, too.
Edit: I know you said you did clean it multiple times, but I've found the Glaco stuff is better than anything else I've used.
Their windscreen coatings are really good, too.
Edit: I know you said you did clean it multiple times, but I've found the Glaco stuff is better than anything else I've used.
Edited by InitialDave on Thursday 11th September 20:34
Biker 1 said:
… so I bought Bosch Aerotwins which seem to have cured the problem.
Is this a 'normal' problem for most VAG vehicles?
In a word… yes!Is this a 'normal' problem for most VAG vehicles?
I won’t allow the VAG service garages to replace the wiper blades with OEM blades on either of my Audis, VW Golf or Porsche Cayman for this very reason. I now only ever use Bosch wiper blades, which I fit myself. As you say, problem sorted.
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