How good are you windshield wiper arms

M

mobiledynamics

New member
I`ll have to check my email to see when I ordered it. Replaced entire arm as I could not stand the fading. Coated it on Day 1. It`s been on maybe 14-16 months - I think. Plastic arm is show signs of fade. Eh, off to order another one. I swear, it`s like plastic fades faster these days
 
mobiledynamics said:
I`ll have to check my email to see when I ordered it. Replaced entire arm as I could not stand the fading. Coated it on Day 1. It`s been on may 14-16 months - I think. Plastic arm is show signs of fade. Eh, off to order another one. I swear, it`s like plastic fades faster these days
Click to expand...

The ones on my 164k, lives out door, 2002 Lexus GS300 look fantastic. Of course they are hidden by the hood when not in use. Lol
 
I`m quite fanatical about mine, even most Autopians wouldn`t believe how well I care for them...numerous steps even on the tensioning springs on the backsides, etc.

Wonder why the plastic parts are oxidizing so fast..I assume you`re OCW/etc. them at each wash to keep UV protection on them.
 
The arms on all three of my vehicles are painted metal. I have started polishing and applying an LSP to them in order to keep the fading at bay.

I have noticed the ones on our Toyota appear to be painted with single stage paint as the polishing pad always looks a little gray after giving them a quick once-over. Maybe that is why they seem to fade faster than other parts?
 
I don`t coat them at each wash but the protection should be consistent (car is coated, I do recharge the coating with topper coatings/sealant sprays to keep things FRESH). Whether it`s UV resistant or not is another debate I suppose
 
I do have to remind myself to grab the OCW for them instead of just using a different Drying Aid. I bet a lot of products offer UV protection, but I *know* the OCW works in that regard and it gives more or less the right look (IMO).

Does Meguiar`s M156/UQW block UV? I sometimes prefer its look on some surfaces...
 
For the metal powder coated wiper arms, when the paint looks faded I used to use something like KAIO to try to clean up the best I can, but you never get that black back again. I have had very mixed results trying to abrasive polish powder coat in the past. Sometime within the past year I tried using Solutions Finish on the powder coated paint. I was working on the windshield cowling and got some on the wiper arms by accident. I wiped off that spot and it looked really good. I waited to see if it would go back to a faded dry look after ample dry time, but it didn`t, so I did the whole wiper arm.

So Solutions Finish does something to revive powder coated paint (black of course). I suspect that it may fade quicker than the treated plastic will, but I`ve used it a few times now to make old tired looking wiper arms look much better. I guess I`ll see how they held up when they come back in 6-12 months.
 
I have SF and I`m sure it will work However, since it`s a application on glass, I`m pretty much sticking to a non dressing approach.....trying to keep those glass product free per se.
 
DBAILEY- Ah, interesting! Similarly, I`ve done a few of mine with UTTG+ and it`s held up great (but of course the Drying Aid probably helps).

KAIO is usually my first-try product too, but it`s too mild to do anything serious. Perfect when they don`t need much though.

I was able to bring mine back with abrasive polishing (the Tahoe`s and `93 Audi`s were oxidized white), and/but that made me think they were *not* powdercoated. Wonder what`s on various vehicles...
 
SF=Solutions Finish. Dressing/Trim Dye.

It`s a great dye/trim product. I usually do like 2-3 coats and I let it really dry. Still....just not my thing for something right on glass/proximity of
 
Yeah, putting those dressing on something near the windshield is bad news. I have tried a dressing on the wiper arms many times, and while there were no issues with the glass, it never lasted more than a few days. Makes sense with them being painted/powder coated.

Like Accumulator, gently polishing them by hand with an abrasive seemed to work nicely. I then covered them with a coating and they`ve looked pretty good ever since.
 
I wouldn`t consider SF a dressing. It won`t run like a dressing. It`s dry to the touch. I was treating the windshield cowling, so kind of hard not to work near the glass. The harder part was not getting SF on the wiper arms, which it did and had a pleasant surprise. The carbon black (dye) seemed to soak into the powder coat. Maybe the linseed oil in SF hydrated the powder coat too?
 
DBAILY- Ah, that`s good info, thanks for explaining. Even if it *did* convince me that the SF isn`t for me :o (Note that I also see why it`d be perfect for a lot of people.)

And yeah..the cowls of my vehicles take me literally *hours* to do, using brushes, countless foam swabs, and other things. I often set aside a day for just that part of the car. Complicated pieces, just getting the lighting right is a chore. Absolutely awful task...good thing I don`t have to do the "big job" very often since I can maintain UTTG+ with D156 or even just IUDJ.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top