windshield wiper lacking pressure!

[dawggpie]

hi,
I have a '91 NSX. As far as i know the windshield wiper assembly and wiper blades (metal and rubber parts) are all original. The wipers haven't been working that well which i figured was due to the fact that the rubber was old. I finally replaced the wiper blades (metal and rubber part) the other day with Bosch assemblies, but still the top of both the blades don't seem to contact the windshield. The wiper arm doesn't seem to be putting enough pressure down on the blade. I assume because the spring has gone weak. Is there any way to fix this? Bend the arm slightly? I'd rather not spend $165 for each new wiper arm. I'd sooner switch to the wiperless rain-x approach.

Thanks for the help.

 

[MarkB]

I recently replaced my wiper blades during an oil change. The replacement blades did not have the little wing that Honda uses on their blades. The performance of the blades was terrible. I turned around and replaced the blades with Acura OEM and voila the problem was solved.

It appears that the aerodynamics of the OEM blade adds downforce to the wiper blades thus giving a clean sweep.

 

[dawggpie]

thanks for the suggestion, but even the oem blades i had weren't receiving enough pressure from the wiper arms to touch the windshield at the ends. Someone was saying to little wing on the oem blades stops it from catching to much wind at high speed and lifting off the windshield.

 

[Briank]

There is a spring at the base of the arm that holds the blade down. Does it seem to be working, when you lift the arm can you feel the resistance ? Is the wiper assy. reversed ?

 

[dawggpie]

There is a spring at the base of the arm that holds the blade down. Does it seem to be working, when you lift the arm can you feel the resistance ? Is the wiper assy. reversed ?

The spring seems to be fine to me. Seems to be putting down a decent amount of pressure down, but i guess not enough. Is it possible to reverse the arms? I don't think they've every been changed. The spoiler thing was on the driver's side wiper.

 

[MarkB]

...The spoiler thing was on the driver's side wiper.

That's where it is supposed to be (only 1 side).

 

[dawggpie]

hah! I just bent the wiper arm more towards the windshield and now they work fine. Cheapest fix ever. I guess the arms had been bent back a bit due to people trying to pull them up to clean the window. They don't go upright like on most other cars.
Thanks for the suggestions tho.