LR4 wiper noise

[gsxr]

I'm sure you've tried or at least thought of this, but a little vise-grip action on the metal parts to dial it in, maybe? Or 2-day free delivery from AMZ!

I checked all 3 of my wiper blades:

Fronts are Bosch, and they make the slight clunking noise when changing direction.

Rears have no visible brand name, which is odd, but appear to possibly be OE/OEM? The blade itself is flexible rubber so it's not possible to bend the outer section. I noticed a very slight warpage just outside the center connecting point, which I suspect is the reason for the odd wiping behavior I described earlier. The rubber wiping blade itself is fine. Really odd.

I'm going to pick up new Trico front & rear sometime in the next few months and see how those work when the rains return...

 

[abolton]

@vindio How did you adjust the travel on the front wipers? I have the same "cracking" problem but its from the wiper hitting the windshield gasket. Thanks!

 

[gsxr]

I'm going to pick up new Trico front & rear sometime in the next few months and see how those work when the rains return...

UPDATE:

I installed new Trico front blades and they are silent! No more clicking noise when they change directions. The old Bosch blades looked fine visually, I don't know if they were just at the end of their service life, or if they made the clicking noise when new (they were on the LR4 when I bought it). Really happy with the Trico fronts. LR part # LR018367, $15 each from Importec. Oddly, the box says Made in Mexico, but the stick-on label says Made in China. (?)

For the rear wiper blade, p/n DKB500680, it was $10 and claimed to be Trico brand... but I received "EuroSpare UK" brand, which I was not thrilled about. At least it was made in GB. It's a narrow metal-frame wiper blade and looks funny in the wide rear mounting arm. It fits fine and works fine, and now wipes the entire swept area, unlike the old un-branded blade. But next time I'm going to shell out for the OE/dealer rear blade ($20) and see what the real McCoy looks like.

 

[ryanjl]

I have used Silblade wiper blades since the early 00's. They last years. In fact, they've always outlived my ownership of whatever car I've put them on, so I've never had to replace a Silblade. The longest was probably my 80 series Land Cruiser, which I think I had another 5 years after putting Silblades on.

On the LR4, however, the Silblades I bought off Amazon did not come with the correct adapter. I had to run to my local Advanced O'Reilly Zone and get the correct adapters. Since then, they've been problem free.

I think Silblade switched their production to China, or otherwise cheapened the blade material. They used to last forever, but I got less than a year out of my last set. I replaced those with a new set in November, and then just this past Saturday morning the driver-side blade seppuku'd itself when I started the car and it tried to break itself free from some ice that had formed overnight. Lacking a spare, I replaced it with a cheapo Carquest blade and ordered a new set of Silblades from a different supplier (i.e. not Amazon). If these new ones suck, I'm off the brand.

 

[ktm525]

My Bosch Icons make a loud audible click changing directions and have done it since new. Very disappointing as they don't perform any better than the Michelin blades from Costco. Back to Michelins when the Bosh wear out. What is strange is I have same size and type Bosch on my Honda with no noise.