Putting a cloth down when changing wipers

[fido]

I never had the wiper arm (edited: hook->arm) spring down when changing the wipers but it happened today (E92 M3). I always put down an old karting balaclava when changing wipers (something my dad always did). Luckily this time it stopped the wiper arm slamming into the windscreen.

BMW designers .. sigh .. "Ja, gutes Design!"

Edited by fido on Saturday 21st February 15:36

[normalbloke]

Not had a car with the hook type attachment on for a while.

[fido]

Not the hook type - it's a box shape with two sharp edges that the wiper clips into!

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

My company used to get our company cars serviced at Halfords, I guess they offered the cheapest quote out of everyone. Guy I work with needed new wipers so I just suggested he fitted them himself for all the hassle of going to Halfords. He ignored this advice, and whilst at work got a call to say they had broken the screen.

To their credit they did pay to fit a new one, but I would never have let them touch it in the first place.

[normalbloke]

fido said:

Not the hook type - it's a box shape with two sharp edges that the wiper clips into!

Side pin?

[fido]

normalbloke said:

Side pin?

No. Actually i checked at Halfords and could only find the side pin one, but my M3 has the later (box says 09-) tab version, so ordered from the local stealer. To remove press two side tabs and the wiper blade comes off.

[BunkMoreland]

fido said:

I never had the wiper arm (edited: hook->arm) spring down when changing the wipers but it happened today (E92 M3). I always put down an old karting balaclava when changing wipers (something my dad always did). Luckily this time it stopped the wiper arm slamming into the windscreen.

BMW designers .. sigh .. "Ja, gutes Design!"

The spring on the arm is what holds the blade on the screen! You cant have the arm without it or it will lift at speed and be useless. Even Airplanes have a spring loaded arm!



You're blaming a design that is on AFAIK every car on the planet for your inability to work correctly!
Heres my tips,

1) only take the old blade off when you have the new blade ready to be fitted in the next 3 seconds.
OR

2) When the blade is off the arm, place the arm back down on the screen so it cant "just fall"

[fido]

Hmmm .. my MX-5 (for example) has a flat hook which whilst I wouldn't deliberately let it go will probably not break the screen .. the BMW one is waiting for an accident to happen!

BunkMoreland said:

1) only take the old blade off when you have the new blade ready to be fitted in the next 3 seconds.

Pretty sure it didn't snap back when I let it go - it literally spring back 1s after I left it go (and 0.5s before that brown pants feeling) to pick up the new blade. Your point 2) is a good one - will do that if i ever risk changing wiper blades again!

Edited by fido on Saturday 21st February 16:07

[Robertb]

And related, but if any Porsche 996 owners are reading this, never leave the rear wiper ‘up’ on the spring when washing the car and rear window.

If it gets knocked back down and the wiper blade spins round, you get a nice deep scratch in the C pillar.

I say this from bitter experience and I’ve seen plenty of other 996s with the telltale scratch!