Back in February I bought new Bosch windshield wipers. They are the regular windshield wipers, not the one piece ones.

Probably since around July or August, when I use the wipers, the driver's side windshield wiper will skip across the windshield and make a terrible noise. I put up with it for awhile but it is just plain annoying. Recently I tried a few things. First of all I lubed the hinge pin. I also slightly bend the wiper arm in an attempt to put a bit more pressure on the wiper blade. I also switched the wiper blades from the driver's side to the passenger side and vise versa. No change, the driver's side windshield wiper (which was previously the passenger side windsheild wiper) still skips across the windshield. It doesn't do this on the passenger side with either wiper blade.

It seems if the windshield is dry that it will not always skip, however if there is a moderate amount of rain it will skip. Prolonged use of the wipers will result in less skipping but it is still skipping, just a lot less.

What gives? What is happening and why? Any other ideas? I don't wax my windshield nor do I use any Rain-X either. Thanks in advance.

From what I've been reading my self is the spring in the wiper arm just gets old and worn out. The solution is a new wiper arm from the dealer. I'm going to be checking on this my self as my drivers side wiper skips a lot too.

I got new Bosch wipers not too long ago - the premium one piece kind, and they started skipping/chattering too early in my opinion. I've also had Rain-X treatment at car wash but it still does that, and I use Rain-X washer fluid so it should supposedly be fairly slick and easy to glide.

I might have the same issue then, with the wiper arm. I'd suggest trying that too.

Make sure that the wiper blade rubber is at 90 degrees to the glass. If it's not perpendicular to the glass it will chatter. Simply bend the flat part of the wiper arm with a adjustable wrench closed down on the arm and bend in the needed direction. It sounds strange but it works.

FWIW:
I had a "skipping" or "chattering" wiper problem on my brand-new 1987 Mercury Sable. I returned it to the dealer, who replaced the wipers, the wiper arms, and did all sorts of fiddling around, but to no avail. Then one time I was bs'ing with some guy at the gas station about it, and he advised me to clean the windshield with ammonia. I was skeptical... until I tried it, and the ammonia turned the paper towel all sorts of bluish green with crud from the glass. I guess the dealer ran the car through a car wash and got wax (or something) on the glass which apparently captured the coloring agent from the windshield washer fluid. Once I cleaned the windshield really well with that pungent stuff, the wipers never chattered again.
P.S.
Dilute the ammonia about 50% with warm water, and hold your nose. And try not to get the stuff on your paint.

I don't have any ammonia on hand but I will check and see if the wiper is straight on the glass. If I remember it was slightly at an angle.

I doubt it is the spring in the arm because the driver's side and passenger side wipers feel as if they have the same tension, by feel of course.

The majority of issues will be the wiper arm spring.

I recommend the dealer for this as the parts chains re-manned arms didn't last very long before the springs started to give out again.

I thought Mine was stiff and it was constant missing a spot on the window. Tried $60 in various blades over time trying to see if it was my wiper blade.

I would say even if the tension feels strong someone might have got the idea to bend them thus rendering the spring useless.

If they were good and started doing this recently I would just place the arm.

Make sure that the arm is all the way pushed onto the nub it attaches to. otherwise mine does this too and I'm sure it just isn't perpendicular to the glass so I second the bend the arm idea I'll get around to messing with mine someday.

Nebraska summers will kill a wiper blade just as effectively as a Texas summer will. It's a black blade on a black surface. It absorbs a tremendous amount of heat. After a while in direct sun an 100+ deg heat you can pull the blade away from the glass and see that it's been permanently bent to one side.

I get six months out of mine, tops, before they begin to chatter. Sooner if I happen to wimp out and run the car through a wash-O-matic and don't take the time to de-wax the windshield. Sometimes wiping the blades down with denatured alcohol will help temporarily. Sometimes not. Best thing is to keep a spare pair of blades in the garage and just change 'em when the ch-ch-chattering starts.

Brad

I looked at the wiper, what do you know, it wasn't perpendicular to the window but rather at an angle Used a crescent wrench to bend the arm to straighten the wiper.

The passenger side was fine. Just have to wait until it rains or snows to test and see if this fixed the problem.

Regarding a wiper missing spots on the windshield (mostly in the center section of the blade), my buddy's 05 would do this on the driver's side. I found the "lock" pin that secures the wiper arm to the linkage stub not to be seated fully and not allowing the arm to fully pull against the windshield. Once I pressed that in it was perfect.

Six months is about average for a wiper blade. The blades need to "flop" over when they reverse so that the edge on the glass is trailing the edge mounted to the arm. If the angle is wrong, they will be pushed back with the edge leading the wiper arm and skip and chatter. That is why the others write that you might need to bend the arms to get the blade perpendicular. When you check them, position the blades somewhere away from the end of travel, lift them up and set them down gently to release the side-tension. If you don't lift them and they are on a dry windshield, you may get a false impression of their initial condition and bend them wrong at first.

Side note:
I use Bosch Icons and have had them on for close to 3 years...well almost. The drivers side I replaced a couple months ago, but he passenger side is still working great. I'm a little "special" I use the wiper/washers the first time I drive the car in the morning, and I really think that's why I always get great life out of blades.

Anyone else "special" like me?

Kind of I like to keep everything on the car "exercised". I feel like things break if you don't use them for a long time.

Yeah as I said my driver's side wiper was at an angle so I bent the arm accordingly. Haven't tested it out yet, it hasn't rained lately.

Just to mention, if any of you are Costco members, they sell Goodyear Assurance one-piece wipers that are universal fit for all sorts of different wiper arm systems because they include like 5 or so adapters and such. They are like $8.00 each.

I know the "boring" Bosch wipers I bought were something like $15.00 each......and it even goes on up from there for Bosch's one piece wipers.

I wish I had known this before I bought my wipers. Next time, I guess.