Non boaty wiper blade question

[VicS]

I hd to fit new wiper blades to my old Pug and also decided to fit new ones to SWMBO's Clio

In the past i have usually just bought new Halfords rubbers and fitted them .... but they dont come much worse so decided this time to fit completely new and hopefully better blades

So at considerable expense I bought Bosch Super Plus blades which have a spoiler on the drivers side one

Fitted to the Pug I was surprised to find the spoiler on the lower side..... where I thought the air flow might tend to lift it rather than hold it to the screen

However some fitting instructions on line apparently confirms this to be correct

But when fitted to the Clio, which has wipers that park on the opposite side, the spoiler is on the upper side of the blade

Both sets were as listed for the respective cars and no options for left or right parking wipers in the various sizes.

One of those cannot be right, can it ?? If not which one is wrong. It may be possible to remove the spoiler and fit it the other side... too cold today to investigate.

Any comments or relevant knowledge.

 

[pvb]

I think the spoiler is mainly there to make you feel happier about buying a "premium product"! Spoilers don't make a big difference to wiping efficiency at the sort of speeds the cars are likely to be driven at.

Does the spoiler just clip on to the metal skeleton of the blade? If so, perhaps you could experiment with clipping it on the other side?

 

[Martin_J]

The first two photos look good... with air flow heading up the windscreen, and the wiper heading down, the spoiler will tend to push the wiper down into the screen..

It looks like in the third photo the drivers side wiper blade should be the other way round. The way it is, if you have a 70mph wind going up the windscreen it is going to tend to lift.. Weird!

 

[Martin_J]

With the spoiler wrong.. and in a strong headwind you do notice the blades can hover entirely above the screen on the down stroke. Looks like it's designed for wipers that park on the other side...

 

[omega2]

Same fitting on the Honda Accord, same sweep as well. Tried those flat blades in the past, these proper Honda ones are better.

 

[VicS]

I think the spoiler is mainly there to make you feel happier about buying a "premium product"! Spoilers don't make a big difference to wiping efficiency at the sort of speeds the cars are likely to be driven at.

Does the spoiler just clip on to the metal skeleton of the blade? If so, perhaps you could experiment with clipping it on the other side?

The first two photos look good... with air flow heading up the windscreen, and the wiper heading down, the spoiler will tend to push the wiper down into the screen..

It looks like in the third photo the drivers side wiper blade should be the other way round. The way it is, if you have a 70mph wind going up the windscreen it is going to tend to lift.. Weird!

With the spoiler wrong.. and in a strong headwind you do notice the blades can hover entirely above the screen on the down stroke. Looks like it's designed for wipers that park on the other side...

I'll take a closer look, as soon as its warm enough, to see if I can remove and refit the spoiler on the Clio t'other way round( 3rd picture)
In the meantime I'll tell SWMO to keep her speed down ... what do you reckon 100mph max?



thnx

 

[pvb]

In the meantime I'll tell SWMO to keep her speed down ... what do you reckon 100mph max?

Good idea, though she might complain!
.

 

[SCMarine]

The spoiler will be on the drivers side of the car and will always be closest to the bonnet. This will hold the wiper to the window and will prevent the wiper from 'jumping' across the window.