herb

i am on my 4th new style ram and everyone of them have had poor wiper action. seems they are not tight enough (especially on drivers side) to sweep rain off .
Just had a thought recently. everyone of them i have had a bug deflector on. has anyone with bug deflectors expeirenced the same problem?
had also blamed it some on drive thru car washes that put the clearcoat wax on during the wash, shurley it is staying on glass

Commatoze

You bet it is. They make a mess of the glass until it wears off. You might try a cloth and some denatured alcohol and wipe down the glass to get that wax and road oil off. Herb, PIAA makes a fantastic wiper blade, but it comes with a hefty price tag. But, they're literally a silicone squeegee. I've also had good success with the "Triple Edge" wiper blade sold in most auto parts stores.

herb

been using the triple edges for a while.where are these other ones available? do you have a bug sheild on yours? i wonder if the aerodynamics are changed enough by the bug sheilds to cause a wiper problem?

Commatoze

Forgot...yes I do have a bug deflector as well as the "eyebrows" over the headlights. I didn't notice much of a difference in rainflow over the windshield when they were added. The PIAA blades are available online from various automotive sites.

torquefan

Don't know about the Dodges specifically, but the bug deflectors I have had over the years do degrade wiper performance, also washer performance. On my old Ford, at 60 mph, the washer fluid would actually spray forward, away from the windshield.

jfpointer

Be glad you don't have a Tacoma--when it rained, I couldn't drive that thing over about 50 mph! The wipers were horrible, and for some reason the Japanese manfacturers just can't seem to figure out ventilation.

I've had pretty good luck with Bosch Micro-edge blades on my three Dodges. Rain-X helps, but it's a lot of work. Thinking about bug deflectors, I've had three different styles on these three trucks, and I can't remember that the wiper performance changed when I added any one of them. If I had to guess, I'd go with the wax theory--it's going to make them chatter across the surface, no matter how strong your springs are on the wiper arms.

KATOOM

I cant believe you havent seen one of my two posts on this very subject. I feel for you. I hate driving in the rain on the freeway! I have tried switching wipper arms, but no good. I have looked for the whole replacement wipper blade that has the little air foil built right in it. I've heard those work but I cant find them anymore. I've been told to replace the spring in the arm, maybe its worn out. I've been told to get this devise that adds a spring to the arm for more strength. I've been told to use Rain-X and not use wippers, ect. ect. Funny you say what you did because I was wondering if a bug deflector would help stop the problem. When I switched the arms around I sort of bent the drivers side arm to put a little more pressure on the blade but nothing. I've just come to the conclusion that this is what to expect. If I ever see those blade assemblys again I will try those.

BigBlue

Mine aren't to bad. At high speeds they down right suck. Constantly lifting off the glass. I need new wiper blades anyways. Only way mine work good is if they are wet for at least 30 minutes and rehydrate themselves. I've just learned to deal with it.

Commatoze

I've found that Rain-X works great if a) you're going over 40mph, and b) if you keep after it by re-applications. I've driven without wipers in rain so hard that people were parked on the side of the interstate, and I had no trouble seeing at all. The water looked like mercury running up and off the top of the glass. But once you start to use the wipers, that's the end of its effectiveness. Also, you get this period where the remaining film causes streaking and the wipers to hop across the glass.

kandgo

The air foil blades are the one's that work, I replaced ny factoiry ones on my old 94 just a few days ago and went back to the factory ones I took off as they had a metal air foil on them and worked great just needed new blades so I thought why not change the whole arms. Well first good rain and I see too why they need the air foil to pressure them down. Goodluck on finding the aftermarket blades with the air foil and if you do let us know where??? Goodluck,,,Rick

jfpointer

You pretty much summed up exactly what I meant by a lot of work. You have to apply a coat, let it dry, apply another coat, let it dry, and then polish, polish, and polish some more so you don't have a bunch of streaks. Great stuff if you have the time to spend on it, though.

Winged wipers used to be everywhere, are they hard to find now?

infidel

have them on my '95s, work great. Friend with a '97 complained of poor wipers, he didn't have them. Found a pair at the junk yard, $8.

gamiller31

I saw some real nice air foil wipers at Car Toys. Not sure if they have them for our trucks though. I think they were pretty pricey also.

CJ

I've had real good luck with Rain-X heat. They sell it at Wally world. Comes in a gallon jug, just use it as washer fluid and don't dillute. A little squirt every now and then works just like the original Rain-X plus it de-ices the windshield in the winter. It's usually around $2 a bottle around here.

jfpointer

So I researched a bit looking for winged wipers. Turns out that American Products Company makes some that look pretty decent. www.4apc.net then go to the products drop-down to see what they look like. Ignore the one with the goofy blade colors; it comes in basic black as part number 360014, which is a 20" blade that should fit our trucks, I believe. www.stylinconcepts.com sells them at about $10 per.