Noisy wiper blade in new R230 SL

[team_edition]

As you read this you're gonna be thinking "get the dealer to fix it - you paid enough!" but I want to try and fix it myself before I spend hours taking it to the dealer.

I have a 2 month old SL350 (R230) which I've had from new and it has a noisy near-side wiper blade. You know the annoying rubber scraping noise and you can see where it struggles in one area to slide evenly over the windscreen.

I've looked at the windscreen (to check for any sticky marks) and I've examined the blade and compared it to the other one and can't see what casuses the noise but it's blooming annoying as it rains a lot in this country!

Any ideas what it could be or just take it to the dealer?

Thanks, Richard.

 

[Brian WH]

As you read this you're gonna be thinking "get the dealer to fix it - you paid enough!" but I want to try and fix it myself before I spend hours taking it to the dealer.

I have a 2 month old SL350 (R230) which I've had from new and it has a noisy near-side wiper blade. You know the annoying rubber scraping noise and you can see where it struggles in one area to slide evenly over the windscreen.

I've looked at the windscreen (to check for any sticky marks) and I've examined the blade and compared it to the other one and can't see what casuses the noise but it's blooming annoying as it rains a lot in this country!

Any ideas what it could be or just take it to the dealer?

Thanks, Richard.

Mine does the same when dry.

It is the new type of rubber blade, very efficient but sticks to windscreen when dry and chatters across the screen. My answer is to wipe the blade with a wet cloth before setting of, which moistens the blade and helps stop chatter.

 

[nickmann]

Maybe if you swapped the blades over you would find out if it the blade itself, or an area of the screen that is causing the problem?

Also, I have found that using MB wiper fluid makes my blade quieter.

 

[team_edition]

I'm really appreciative of the input so far, but, it can't be a solution to wipe the blade before setting off, surely?

For starters, only one blade does it - the other is as quiet and smooth as you'd expect.

I could try swapping them over to isolate whether it's an area of the windscreen but I guess if I'm going to do that I might just as well get the dealer to look at it.

 

[RichardM]

I had the same problem, mine were very noisy and juddered across the screen even in heavy rain. The dealer told me it was a known issue and they just needed to bend the blade/arm (not sure which) slightly which would fix it. This didn't work even after several visits to the dealer and I was getting very fed up. In the end a second set of new blades fixed it.

 

[Flash]

Apply Rain X from Halfords which is designed to clean the windscreen and leaves it sillk smooth and the wiper blades move nice and smoothly - Autoglym glass polish is also good to apply to the windscreen but u must thoroughly wipe/buff it off. If I was u I would get the stelaer to replace the wipers first. Make sure u tell them first that u have thorughly cleaned the windscreen with MB Washer fluid etc. and it still has made no difference (this will then leave them with no choice but to replace your wipers).

Good luck.

Flash

 

[rsilva]

Sl 500 R230

Hi

got a SL 500 R230

have you had any problems with central locking, hardtop or water leaking into the boot??


Ro

 

[sv4]

Do not ever use Rain-x ( or anything similar ) on your front windscreen! I have tried it on 2 of my cars previously and it caused the wipers to judder in operation, so I have been religiously avoiding it since.

However, I sent my W203 for valeting recently, and they applied rain-x despite my telling them not to apply anything on the windscreen As expected, it caused the wipers to judder and chatter over the glass. Managed to remove the rain-x with some glass polish, and the problem went away.

 

[fuzzer]

I use rain x on all my cars. Can't fault it...

Does what it says on the tin , quite happy with it.

 

[Flyer]

Me too fuzzer, although it's a bid fiddly to apply. I've been using a similar product from Mer and that does just as good a job, just apply it miyagi stylee.