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Reporting the silicone blade strips are performing well so far at front, and fit correctly the profile/carrier channel. Does not fit the rear blade carrier profile.
Half way through the rainy season and I'm ready to go back to my D2 wiper arms. The blades I put on in the above post now only wipe half the windshield some of the time. Not really motivated to spend the money to find the unicorn wiper blade that covers the entire windshield every time. The last decent blades I got were D2 blades from the Dealer and my Indy shop. Not sure of the brand the indy guy uses but I now plan to swap back the D2 arms and get some OEM blades from the dealer.
I did some Amazon shopping for D2 wiper blades and they resell for Atlantic British blades which get mixed reviews for the same issue. Their official looking brand is Lucas/Britpart which also doesn't get great reviews and again many with the same complaint of uneven coverage.
This might be one of those cases where trying aftermarket is just an exercise in burning money.
Half way through the rainy season and I'm ready to go back to my D2 wiper arms. The blades I put on in the above post now only wipe half the windshield some of the time. Not really motivated to spend the money to find the unicorn wiper blade that covers the entire windshield every time. The last decent blades I got were D2 blades from the Dealer and my Indy shop. Not sure of the brand the indy guy uses but I now plan to swap back the D2 arms and get some OEM blades from the dealer.
I did some Amazon shopping for D2 wiper blades and they resell for Atlantic British blades which get mixed reviews for the same issue. Their official looking brand is Lucas/Britpart which also doesn't get great reviews and again many with the same complaint of uneven coverage.
This might be one of those cases where trying aftermarket is just an exercise in burning money.
i use 21” D1 blades on D1 arms
swapped the d2 arms and made the mistake of using recommended d1 blade size, 17” I think. I checked and the 21” size works on the d1 arms and covers 95% of the windshield
Half way through the rainy season and I'm ready to go back to my D2 wiper arms. The blades I put on in the above post now only wipe half the windshield some of the time.
I had the same problem when I installed all three D1 wiper arms on my D2.
I had to remove the wiper blade, stick my steel coffee cup under the center of the wiper arm, push down towards the window on the tip of the wiper arm to slightly bend the arm and give it more pressure on the window, and then reinstalled the wiper blades.
It still works great and cleans the whole wiper area.... 21" driver, 20" passenger & 14" rear.
I bought a rear wiper arm from Atlantic British - HORRIBLE quality. It got really cold and snowy (I live in Alaska) and when I went to move the arm to brush off snow it snapped off like a twig. I also retro fitted the front wipers with D1 arms - so far have been happy but the paint on them scratches really easy. The plastic finishing caps/covers are a nice touch. I echo the sentiment of buying inserts for the rear blade - easy and cheap. I'm still having an issue with the rear wiper not making good contact and the rear motor wiper making a funky noise when it runs, so I bought a new motor off Ebay for $30. Still too cold out to install and I don't have a garage. Definitely sent back the rear wiper arm to Atlantic British and complained. I'll be curious if they give me a refund...
Last edited by user 739349; Jan 29, 2019 at 01:50 AM.
Reason: new to this
alaskan_disco2_girl:
You might try lubing the pivot points near the attach point of your rear wiper arm. See picture.
I just did the D1 front wiper upgrade this evening, I did the upgrade because the drivers side wiper was not making good contact with the windshield and I broke the plastic locking piece trying to clean the ice off of it.
I brought the old D2 wiper arms in and checked them. The joint near the attach point that allows the wiper arm to swing away from the windshield was very stiff, I lubed it and worked it a little bit and it freed up. I'm quite sure it would have made a good bit of difference to the pressure of the blade on the windshield, the spring wasn't strong enough to overcome the friction in the dry pivot point.
Use a lube that won't congeal in the cold. I would suggest Tri-flow. Lube both sides, obviously. Try to get lube into the pin area and on the bearing surface, work it until it's good and free, and you can feel good spring tension.
BTW, if you're around Fairbanks and you have any trouble with the 3 amigos, I have a ABS Amigo. I will read your codes for a fee.
Good luck.
alaskan_disco2_girl:
You might try lubing the pivot points near the attach point of your rear wiper arm. See picture.
I just did the D1 front wiper upgrade this evening, I did the upgrade because the drivers side wiper was not making good contact with the windshield and I broke the plastic locking piece trying to clean the ice off of it.
I brought the old D2 wiper arms in and checked them. The joint near the attach point that allows the wiper arm to swing away from the windshield was very stiff, I lubed it and worked it a little bit and it freed up. I'm quite sure it would have made a good bit of difference to the pressure of the blade on the windshield, the spring wasn't strong enough to overcome the friction in the dry pivot point.
Use a lube that won't congeal in the cold. I would suggest Tri-flow. Lube both sides, obviously. Try to get lube into the pin area and on the bearing surface, work it until it's good and free, and you can feel good spring tension.
BTW, if you're around Fairbanks and you have any trouble with the 3 amigos, I have a ABS Amigo. I will read your codes for a fee.
Good luck.
Nowhere close to the interior, thank god. Glad I don't have to deal with those extreme temps.
I had a fine time with the front wiper D1 mod. It is the back still giving me issues and a motor problem at this point. I bought a motor off Ebay. No, your diagram is actually not where my arm snapped off. It snapped off right near the base, where it bolts on - when I gently wiggled the arm, it snapped. On the pivot/rotation point this shouldn't happen when moving side to side. I did lube it up very well when installed. Made sure to not over tighten.
alaskan_disco2_girl:
I hope I don't hex you but since it was brought up................... I put up with intermittent 3 amigos for a couple of years, I could generally clear it by stopping and shutting of the truck, then starting up again. It finally became permanent when I replaced the rotors, pads, and master cylinder.
I bought the ABS Amigo and cleared the fault, read the codes, and finally decided to do "option B". In retrospect I wish I had just done the "option B" a long time ago to eliminate that as a cause of the 3 amigos. It wasn't difficult or time consuming, I think it took me a couple of hours and I probably wouldn't have ended up buying the code reader.
I haven't seen the 3 amigos for about 3 months now. You might want to consider doing the "option B" as a preventative, or do it first thing if the 3 amigos make an appearance.
alaskan_disco2_girl:
I hope I don't hex you but since it was brought up................... I put up with intermittent 3 amigos for a couple of years, I could generally clear it by stopping and shutting of the truck, then starting up again. It finally became permanent when I replaced the rotors, pads, and master cylinder.
I bought the ABS Amigo and cleared the fault, read the codes, and finally decided to do "option B". In retrospect I wish I had just done the "option B" a long time ago to eliminate that as a cause of the 3 amigos. It wasn't difficult or time consuming, I think it took me a couple of hours and I probably wouldn't have ended up buying the code reader.
I haven't seen the 3 amigos for about 3 months now. You might want to consider doing the "option B" as a preventative, or do it first thing if the 3 amigos make an appearance.
Roger that. I'm adding it to the list. The list is long.
I haven't seen the 3 amigos.... *yet*
As soon as I get all the other fires put out, I will look into this... Good idea and thanks for the tips!!! I'm so happy to meet another AK peep!!!! If only you lived closer we could meet up. Be glad the Interior is between us because I'd probably bug you to death with a million questions
