How to stop juddering windscreen wipers?

[MJK 24]

The wipers on my Sirocco are juddering. They've been juddering for the past twelve years I've owned the car.

If I fit new wiper blades, it stops. For a fortnight if I'm lucky.

The arms are firmly attached to the spindles. There's no slack in the linkage and the motor is in fine fettle.

Is there anything obvious I'm missing? It's driving me bonkers!!

Please help!!

[andy-xr]

What are you cleaning the screen with?

[Baryonyx]

Is it just at high speed? This is something I've encountered in my MX5 and MR2. Some specialised wiper blades with a spoiler like wing are apparetly available to help reduce drag, though I've heard they're not much use. The common remedy to the problem was to user a stiffer spring in the wiper mechanism. Again, it's not something I've done myself.

[scorcher]

Try a different brand of blade if you haven't already. Halford own brand ones are ste in my experience. VW's own seem to be ok.

[RobM77]

Try a different band. I'm a bit of a fan of Bosch. Could it be the spring that provides a gentle force on the screen has weakened over time?

[kambites]

Our Punto was doing this and it turned out to be play in the linkage. Eventually the linkage fell apart and they stopped working completely. You couldn't feel the slack in the linkage by hand at all.

It's a common fault with Puntos though. I've never seen it on another car.

[Superhoop]

Do they judder on the way up he screen, down the screen or do they judder in both directions?

[Major Fallout]

Superhoop said:

Do they judder on the way up he screen, down the screen or do they judder in both directions?

This guy knows what he is talking about.

It might be the angle, if it only does it one way.

[minghis]

Make sure the blade along the entirety of the length sits at 90 degrees to the screen, if it doesn't simply bend (twist) the arms until they do.

Clean the screen properly, use as clean cloth and decent glass cleaner. Have you applied Rain X type stuff? This can cause a judder.

HTH

[mattcov]

If you've swapped the blades and polished the screen, it will be the arms. Get two pairs of adjustable spanners with some cloth to stop marking the arms and twist the arms until it stops - it will be trial and error - its probably juddering because its digging into the screen.

Juddering wipers are my second irritation after unbalanced wheels.

[MJK 24]

Thanks for all the tips.

Investigations shall beging tomorrow.

[SlipStream77]

RobM77 said:

Try a different band. I'm a bit of a fan of Bosch. Could it be the spring that provides a gentle force on the screen has weakened over time?

+ 1 for Bosch.