tobywood13
Member
My ‘93 Panda has the rear wiper arm where the wiper blade is non-detachable. Is it possible to fit the earlier style where you can replace just the blade?
- Year
- 1993
General Rear wiper arm
- Thread starter tobywood13
- Start date
Currently reading:
General Rear wiper arm
Never heard of such a thing! Can u not just buy a rubber and cut it to length?
Yes is the answer to the question.
However I've never heard of a non detachable blade. Can you post a picture?
tobywood13
Member
I could replace just the rubber, but it isn’t making good contact with the glass so a new arm is needed. The metal bits that apply pressure are worn out.
As I understand all Pandas from ‘93 onwards have a single piece rear wiper arm, where the arm and blade are connected. You’re supposed to replace the wiper rubber by cutting a length to fit, but my arm is worn out so I need a complete new one so it applies pressure properly.
Aye, Becky's is of this design and it's a bit of a pain. So far I've managed by replacing just the rubber itself - They come in different widths so be careful to get the right one. They're available on line but my local Halfords do them, slightly more pricey but I find it handy as you can take the old one with you to match it.
tobywood13
Member
When you replace only the rubber, do you find this improves the actual swept area of the glass? Mine currently has two thick sections in the middle and bottom of the blade which the wiper doesn't clear, making what looks like the WiFi symbol on my rear screen. I belive this is because the metal tensioners are worn out and not pressing on the rubber evenly.
I suppose it might be the main arm spring not pressing the blade against the screen hard enough. It doesn't take that much pressure though. Try pulling it away from the screen and then try one of the front ones, if they feel roughly the same then the spring is probably good. The other thing is that the blade should be free in the fittings that hold it on the blade holder. The blade has thin spring metal strips on either side all of which must be able to slide freely in the blade itself apart from one end which is held firmly in the blade - otherwise the blade would fall out in use. If the blade isn't free to move in the holder arm then it won't apply even pressure to the glass and won't wipe evenly, which may be the problem you have?
I tend to turn the wee metal strips over each time I renew the blade which seems to improve how the blade acts on the glass. Big thing is to have a blade which is only held at one end and is free to move in the other fixings on the blade as the blade shape changes to accommodate the curve of the screen.
Edit. I'm talking about our "old type" blades here of course. The modern one piece, slim line, blades are completely different. However I doubt if you could fit one of them to one of our old Panda arms?
I was thinking about trying to cut the end off an old front arm and maybe pop rivet it to the existing rear arm. However, so far a replacement rubber has always done the job
tobywood13
Member
Thanks all, I'll start with a new bit of rubber and see if that makes a difference. I don't suppose any of you have a link to the right stuff?
They come in many different profiles. Here's an advert which shows some of them: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...90dc9d53ad3a459934a2d8241df6ed58&gad_source=1
The 6mm one second from the left looks like the one I used on Becky. But I bought from Halfords. I've never bought from this website so can't comment on their product.
