Wiper arm rubbing on bonnet

[Disca]

Noticed today whilst changing my wiper blades that the passenger side arm is catching marginally on the bonnet. It must have been doing so without me noticing for a while now as its worn the arm as shown and the bonnet is also showing a small mark underneath.

Any known causes? I don't think the blades seem too big for the car, Bosch SP Set SP20/20S.

 

[5harp3y]

mine used to do this as i noticed it when i had the bonnet repainted.

not sure what the fix is though?

 

[Faheem]

Push the blade down gently.

I had the same issue when I fit new wiper blades to the car which were supposedly the same size as the old ones.

@Brian4 actually did this for me and with a bit of pushing the clearance was enough so that it no longer caught on the bonnet.

 

[Disca]

@Faheem as in bend the wiper blade casing itself slightly?

 

[t-tony]

My old Z3 did this and I put it down to some wear in the wiper spindles. Never did anything about it though.

Tony.

 

[Disca]

I only noticed it because it makes an annoying noise everytime it did it and I had the engine turned off. Probably won't notice it once the engine is running again

 

[t-tony]

Just how mine was mate. On mine it was the O/S spindle which was worn, but was bloody annoying all the same.

Tony.

 

[Disca]

Good to know Tony, ta

 

[t-tony]

You're welcome mate.

Tony.

 

[Lee]

My old zed used to do this, looking closer it looked like the bonnet was slightly out of alignment.

 

[Stevo7682]

Mine is the same cant remember which side though and i have seen 2 others recently that are also the same

 

[Sean d]

Mine also does it.

 

[Stevo7682]

Sothe question here really is
Does anyone have a cause for this and more importantly a proper fix

 

[t-tony]

Check for side play in your wiper spindles. That was definitely the problem on my Z3.

Tony.

 

[Gundun]

I once pulled the wipers up to clean the windscreen with the bonnet up, then closed the bonnet forgetting to fold the wiper back onto the windscreen...

turns out the wiper arm takes bending quite well, so I reckon you can bend it a bit further away from your edge.

 

[hard top]

I once pulled the wipers up to clean the windscreen with the bonnet up, then closed the bonnet forgetting to fold the wiper back onto the windscreen...

Yep, been there, done that......

 

[Brian4]

My thoughts are that as @t-tony says slight wear in the spindles and the constant pressure of the springs lifts the lower arm. I straightened mine and @Faheem by lifting the blade off the screen and pushing down on the lower section until in just clears the bonnet. Trial and error and gently does it hate to bend too far or break something. Bonus is that doing this does increase the pressure of the blade on the screen slightly.

Easier to move the arms when they are in this position.
Mine has a wear mark on the passenger arm.

 

[g8jka]

Best one is folding the wipers up to clean the windscreen and then turning the ignition on so they return to their original position Haven't smashed a windscreen yet but I've broken several wipers.

Mine also catches at times, it was worst after swapping over the bonnets but aligning it slightly further forward is a way to resolve the issue.

 

[Redsheep]

My passenger side did this.
I raised the bonnet slightly just to allow clearance.
It's just two bolts either side on the side opening mechanism - loosen and adjust.
You can, if you look closely that the bonnet line is slightly high though.

 

[Vince]

I had exactly the same problem and tried readjusting my bonnet slightly and putting a slight bend on the wiper arms but to no avail.

In the end I bought a secondhand wiper motor and mechanism off a late low mileage crash job for £25 and its worked a treat.

I even repainted the wiper arms and with the amount of paint sprayed on them I thought it might catch the bonnet again but it's never touched the bonnet edge since.

A bit of advice though when you take the wiper motor out the scuttle tray unbolt it first and turn it about 180 degrees as it won't come out otherwise.