Windshield Wiper Problem

[Matt94MR2]

When I use my windshield wipers at the intermittent speed they skip across the windshield and make terrible noises. This is a pretty recent phenomenon as less then a month ago using all of the same parts it worked perfectly. I had loaned my car to a buddy and after I got it back it started doing this, although he said he never used the windshield wipers My windshield is only a year old and the wiper blades are OEM Toyota replacements that are only 2 months old. The only other thing of note I have done is put RainX on the windshield a few months back. Has anyone else had a similar problem and managed to fix it?

[MirrorEyes]

Maybe there is something wrong with your wiper motors.

[Piloter]

Does it still make the noise when you're spraying the windshield with a hose and thereby ensuring ample water? Good wipers on glass/silicone can hop and shudder and make that squeak/scrape noise sometimes when there's not enough water to lubricate the contact surfaces.

[Matt94MR2]

Originally Posted by MirrorEyes

Maybe there is something wrong with your wiper motors.

I was also curious if it might be the wiper motor. I did a search and didn't find much so I was hoping someone that has had a similar problem would chime in.

Originally Posted by Piloter

Does it still make the noise when you're spraying the windshield with a hose and thereby ensuring ample water? Good wipers on glass/silicone can hop and shudder and make that squeak/scrape noise sometimes when there's not enough water to lubricate the contact surfaces.

It still does it on the intermittent setting even with an ample water supply but it's not as bad as without. Once I go past intermittent and get to the normal wiper speed in a steady rain the problem almost goes away. It just seems weird that it would start doing this when it was fine just a month ago. Even in a light mist I could use the lowest intermittent setting and it was perfectly smooth. I might try re-applying the RainX to see if that helps "lubricate" things...

[Rich L]

In my experience, the skipping is typically caused by one of the following issues:

1. Insufficient moisture on the windshield. The blades stick and chatter.

2. New blades will sometimes leave a few small patches of rubber or residue on your windshield. This will create a "sticky" point on the windshield and they will begin to skip. The skipping motion causes more material to transfer to the window and increases the chatter. This is usually solved by a good cleaning.

3. Dried out rubber blades will chatter. I have needed to replace new blades within a few months on a few occasions. Depends how long they sat on the shelf.

4. Driving into a strong headwind causes my wipers to chatter while coming back down (into the wind).

The motor may be wearing out, but electric motors tend to completely fail. I would suspect low voltage at the motor more then a problematic window motor.