Ok, odd thing on my '05 Ram 1500. I bought this truck beginning of the year, very nice shortbed, std. cab 2wd hemi. Problem I'd like to ask you all, is whether you've had issues with the wiper blades keeping enough contact on the windshield to clear the rain at highway speeds. I put new blades (the entire wiper blade, not the refills) on both sides and I can not get the blades to scrape cleanly on the glass when going over about 40 mph. I asked my local Dodge dealer service and parts departments whether it was common to need to replace the entire wiper arms on these trucks and they stated its not a common item to replace. I'll gladly buy new wiper arms if that's the problem, I just don't want to blow $60 if others have had same problem, different fix. Oh, I tried bending the arms to make them tighter on the glass with no luck. Thanks for the help!!
Wiper arms "Funked up"
- Thread starter onephat66
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Lil_Ram
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Which wiper blades did you get?
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JPT
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If you have tried a few different manufacturers and the result is the same, I'm going to guess that you windshield is like mine was. Over the years, water spots leave a residue that bakes into the glass. I had my windshield polished at a car wash for <$40, this really helped with chatter, streaks, and missing spots.
When your windshield is wet with rain, do you see water spots as the wipers move? Like a chalky residue in the shape of water droplets?
When your windshield is wet with rain, do you see water spots as the wipers move? Like a chalky residue in the shape of water droplets?
Clean the glass really good with dish soap and then go over it again with dilluted vinagar. Like others have said, its probably just built up crap on the glass, and other than a dollars worth of vinagar, its virtually free to fix. See where that gets you before replacing parts. Keep going with the rag until you don't feel resistance. After you're done, I'd recommend some RainX to keep it protected. Might as well do the rest of the glass at the same time.
No water spots, no chatter, no caulky film. The wiper blades literally want to come off the windshield while driving in rain. I believe the blades are Trico Flex. I went and checked and of course no markings on them, but I replaced them recently with a reputable brand. Here's my 2 guesses: Springs in the wiper arms have lost some tension and unable to hold wiper blades tight on the glass at higher speeds, or wiper blades are too flexible and springs are fine, just too much blade flex for the design of the arm. JPT, when my wipers are being used I do see water on the windshield, but it's about a foot long section on both sides!! It's like my wiper blades have too much arch and don't even touch with the wind coming at them. When parked they seem fine, and even scrapes the glass perfectly when parked or driving slow. In a nutshell, the problem exists when too much wind speed hits the glass, but is it weak springs or bad wiper blade design? Oh, for cleaning my glass so that it's perfectly slick, I use car soap with 0000 steel wool. Removes small scratches and cleans perfectly. I do use the vinegar too at times.
Rustycowl69
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I think the arms are bad. They used to make some arms with a spoiler or airfoil on them to use the road draft to apply a little extra pressure on the arms/ blades. Don't know if anybody still markets such a thing.
Something else to clean the glass is a fresh newspaper! I don't know why it works, it just does!
Something else to clean the glass is a fresh newspaper! I don't know why it works, it just does!
Lil_Ram
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Is it the 4 connection or the full contact flex blades?
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Lil_Ram
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Oh ok. No we have people that come into the store and don't understand that so was just checking
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10-4 Lil_Ram. There's not much I can't fix or figure out on vehicles, but sometimes the stupid simple things can be difficult. This here I know I'm making harder than it could be, but rather than buying new blades, then buying new arms, (or vice versa), I thought I'd feel ya'll out with this issue.
Ok, I forgot to update everyone..... I put a pair of the metal "beam style" wiper blades on my truck and it seemed to fix the problem. Odd that the fancy type blades don't work well on these trucks... (or at least mine!!)
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