Aero question

The wipers on my CRX dont clean the windshield when I am driving over 65 mph. It seems they kinda float over the windshield. They are fine when sitting still. I have seen wipers with little spoilers on the wiper arms. Are they designed to push the wiper on the wind shield at speed or to direct air around the arm for fuel efficiency? If they push the wiper against the wind shield are they avaailable as an add on? What cars had them I could canibilize? Should I fab some from sheet al? Think it would help?

My CRX has the same problem.

I know my mom's 90 Accord had the wiper spoiler you speak of, I believe it was only held on with two little screws. Could be an easy fix, I'm going to look into it as well.

I switched to the low profile single piece wipers and it helped a bit. But I still have a problem were if the windshield isn't SOAKED the blades stutter across the glass. Drives me crazy.

i had the same problem on my 97 Cavalier- getting a set of the new low profile wiper blades helped some, but i actually fixed it by lifting the arm up off the glass and bending it down to stretch the spring and put more pressure down on the glass.

Speaking of Rain-X, I'll fly way off topic to use this opportunity to plug the Rain-X brand windshield wiper fluid. It has a little actual Rain-X goop in it, so eventually you've basically treated your windshield without having to do the actual application.

You'll never go back to the gas station blue juice again.

I have not been paid for this blatant advertisement (yet...). It's just great stuff.

iadr wrote: In reply to novaderrik: Rain-X ... then it doesn't matter what blades you have on. Twice a year if the vehicle is kept inside, as often as every 5-6 weeks if it's outside and dealing with slop and rain a lot. Plus it makes getting frost off much easier, if you have that where you live.

i've never had a problem getting ice of my windows- my handy brass tipped scraper clears off the tough stuff, and the heater does the rest after a mile or two.

but i'm never going back to the old style blades after i got those new flat wipers- they were Michelin branded, i believe, but they sell them under other names. no need for any RainX or anything like that- i'll use the little bit of money i save by not buying that stuff for something useful like gas or something.

A lot of VWs and Audis of the '80s and '90s have the wiper spoilers.

I thought about tweaking the arm to apply more pressure but don't want the arm sticking up with a hump. I hadn't thought about the low profile blades. I'll give them a try. As for rain-x I run it on all windows on all my cars. Some times there is a misty rain (gigity) there isn't enough water to bead and blow off the wind shield. Need wipers then.

Same deal on my old Civic Si. My 96 Miatas had a nice little wiper spoiler on the driver's side. You should be able to find one of them around here.

This is the best photo I could find of the Miata piece:

the 1st gen hyundai excel had them too.. just been 10 years since I saw one of those cars in a JY

porksboy wrote: I thought about tweaking the arm to apply more pressure but don't want the arm sticking up with a hump. I hadn't thought about the low profile blades. I'll give them a try. As for rain-x I run it on all windows on all my cars. Some times there is a misty rain (gigity) there isn't enough water to bead and blow off the wind shield. Need wipers then.

The arm isn't gonna be bent that much. I've had to do it a couple times on customers cars.

My girlfriend bought a set of the low profile blades for my truck once and we love them. We put them on every vehicle we own and change them out every 6 months.

I know that the Winter blades that have the full rubber wrap around the arm are useless on the highway. I had them on a truck once and they would lift right off an flap against the glass.

My KJ had a spoiler on the drivers blade. How about investing in new arms ? Could be the old rusty spring has lost some tension.

iceracer wrote: My KJ had a spoiler on the drivers blade. How about investing in new arms ? Could be the old rusty spring has lost some tension.

Probably not. My 89 Civic did it when it was new.

Must be Honda dynamics. I never had that problem on any of the plethora of cars I have owned. Of course there were some that had difficulty reaching 65 mph.

Bosche Icon blades are shaped to force the air to push them down, I've had good luck with them even though they're pricey.

alex wrote: Speaking of Rain-X, I'll fly way off topic to use this opportunity to plug the Rain-X brand windshield wiper fluid. It has a little actual Rain-X goop in it, so eventually you've basically treated your windshield without having to do the actual application. You'll never go back to the gas station blue juice again. I have not been paid for this blatant advertisement (yet...). It's just great stuff.

Just as a heads up on that stuff. I don't think it's winter rated. My wife's car uses the rainx wiper fluid in the summer, but switch to blue juice for winter. The RainX stuff says 32F on the label

Oh, I've found winter stuff. Maybe it's a seasonal deal.

The low profile blades wouldn't work well on our 1990 Miata, as there wasn't enough tension on the passenger side, and would leave an unwiped section in the middle of the blade. Bending didn't do any good either.

Joey

DaveEstey wrote: Bosche Icon blades are shaped to force the air to push them down, I've had good luck with them even though they're pricey.

Just picked some up from the local FLAPS (Baxter's Auto Parts) on sale for 40% off. Great blades!

Bosch icon +3

Rain-X windshield fluid +2

+1 vfor the bosch blades

Screw rain-x, get aquapel. Much better product.