Wiper Strength

[Belo]

I live in upstate NY, I'm not always the most diligent about wiping ALL the snow and crap from my windshield, and with 20 years of driving and a dozen or so vehicles I've never had a wiper motor this wimpy. My wife's mazda hatchback was better. Like if there's any amount of snow between the hood and wipers preventing it from going all the way down it'll quit. Any slight resistance on the windshield and it wont move, and I'm not talking frozen stuck, but just slush. It was bad enough that I was driving during a snow storm and had to pull over as it was accumulating and packing in the trim between hood and windshield and quit working!

 

I think the part that gets me is that this is a freaking truck... a 4wd z71 offroad truck and it's borderline dangerous. 

 

Anyone else in snow country having this issue or just me? This is a bitching post yes, but I'm also trying to verify if maybe I have a defect. 

[Snakes709]

I live in Alberta, Canada. Never have this issue. But im one of the few people that isnt a lazy ass and actually clean the snow off my truck. 

[smit303]

I live in upstate NY too and haven't had a problem with them being wimpy, but the blade isn't conforming to the glass when it's really cold. it leaves a wide unwiped streak when it's in the low teens and below.

 

I'm looking to replace them with a frameless curved blade type. I heard they hug the glass better in the cold vs the steel frame design. I'm looking at Bosch and Michelin Endurance.

[dieselfan1]

Windshield wipers are for keeping the windshield clear. Not moving ten pounds of slush and snow.

Clear it off before you leave and you won't have that problem. Duh.

[newdude]

No defect other than not clearing your window off and relying on the wipers to get rid of snow/ice before heading out.  

[Belo]

I knew I'd get these kinds of responses. Thanks for being unhelpful. The point is, apples to apples, whether you agree with the practice or not, these motors aren't powerful. Never had this issue in my 16.

And if you really read my post you'd know I had a clean truck get clogged and fail in a snow storm while driving... not sure what I'm supposed to do about that.

[GregG10]

4 hours ago, Belo said:

I knew I'd get these kinds of responses. Thanks for being unhelpful. The point is, apples to apples, whether you agree with the practice or not, these motors aren't powerful. Never had this issue in my 16.

And if you really read my post you'd know I had a clean truck get clogged and fail in a snow storm while driving... not sure what I'm supposed to do about that.

I hear ya on this, sometimes I reconsider posting on sites like this because of the responses. I have a great sense of humor and admire the guys that can come up with funny responses. I even admire when they take a funny dig at me, however some responses are just not necessary.  Just joined this group and am picking up my new truck tomorrow, member of a lot of fishing, hunting groups. Same in them all!!

 

[Snakes709]

5 hours ago, Belo said:

I knew I'd get these kinds of responses. Thanks for being unhelpful. The point is, apples to apples, whether you agree with the practice or not, these motors aren't powerful. Never had this issue in my 16.

And if you really read my post you'd know I had a clean truck get clogged and fail in a snow storm while driving... not sure what I'm supposed to do about that.

Dont think anything is meaning to be an **** or rude. I live in Alberta and from Nova Scotia so i have driven in blizzards both wet and dry snow and never had snow build up near the bottom of the arms and prevent them from working. 

[OnTheReel]

This would have gotten roasted ten times harder on the Facebook group. At least people here just tend to act like they are everyone’s father with the tisk tisk-ing.
 

I personally am in agreement that the wiper motor does seem weaker than my 2016. Snow that would normally be no trouble to push right through needs to be brushed off now. Never had an issue in driving though. 
 

Side note, the factory blades were also way worse than my 2016, and went into the dumpster quickly. Spring arm wipers have no place on any vehicle anymore.

 

 

[Thomcat]

No problem in clearing snow while driving after windshield and cowling are initially cleared.  Ditto on dumping the factory blades before the first snowfall, luckily plenty of the stockpiled 24/22 combo used for biennial replacement on previous trucks and SUVs.

[NeverCold]

When I lived up north, I broke a set of wipers being lazy and had to replace the motor of the gears I stripped.  Don't do that.

[Belo]

13 hours ago, GregG10 said:

I hear ya on this, sometimes I reconsider posting on sites like this because of the responses. I have a great sense of humor and admire the guys that can come up with funny responses. I even admire when they take a funny dig at me, however some responses are just not necessary.  Just joined this group and am picking up my new truck tomorrow, member of a lot of fishing, hunting groups. Same in them all!!

 

I'm guilty of being harsh, also on hunting sites haha. But I have thick enough skin that it doesn't bother me as I understand sometimes people are just having a bad day.

13 hours ago, Snakes709 said:

Dont think anything is meaning to be an **** or rude. I live in Alberta and from Nova Scotia so i have driven in blizzards both wet and dry snow and never had snow build up near the bottom of the arms and prevent them from working. 

that's the kind of feedback I was looking for honestly. Sometimes it's a common fault across the platform, or it could be a one off. 

13 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

This would have gotten roasted ten times harder on the Facebook group. At least people here just tend to act like they are everyone’s father with the tisk tisk-ing.
 

I personally am in agreement that the wiper motor does seem weaker than my 2016. Snow that would normally be no trouble to push right through needs to be brushed off now. Never had an issue in driving though. 
 

Side note, the factory blades were also way worse than my 2016, and went into the dumpster quickly. Spring arm wipers have no place on any vehicle anymore.

 

 

the funny thing is that I am the father now haha. But I've also grown up with the internet where everyone is perfect, so it's all good.

 

Appreciate your opinion on the motor power. 

[Belo]

45 minutes ago, NeverCold said:

When I lived up north, I broke a set of wipers being lazy and had to replace the motor of the gears I stripped.  Don't do that.

yeah i should reiterate that I'm not that lazy, but maybe not as diligent as some. I should have taken a pictures, but what happens it seems is that access snow from the hood blows back and gets trapped UNDER the wiper. It may be just a result of the design of the hood, windshield and trim.

[Thomcat]

13 hours ago, Belo said:

yeah i should reiterate that I'm not that lazy, but maybe not as diligent as some. I should have taken a pictures, but what happens it seems is that access snow from the hood blows back and gets trapped UNDER the wiper. It may be just a result of the design of the hood, windshield and trim.

It also depends upon the snow, all snow is not equal and cowling design may contribute.......quickly discover in a snowball fight that there is good packing snow and bad packing snow.....same snow buildup under windshield wipers.....while driving get enough good packing snow builder under the wiper blades and against the cowling on a cold windshield and eventually will jamb the blade then something has to give. Only way to counter is to set the defrost with temp on max hot enough that it will singe your ears.

[Time2gofishing1980]

I had the wet snow get packed between the wipers and cowling during the last storm.  That's after they were fully cleared prior to hitting the road.  There packed snow then began to ice the wipers.  Even having the front defrost on high it wouldn't melt. 

It would be nice to see a heating element at the base of the windshield like Subarus have on the all weather package.  That could help with the icing.