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Seeking Advice on Wiper Blades for 2024 Highland Model

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Hello everyone,

I have a 2024 Highland Model 3 which I absolutely love. Recently, I had the entire car, including the windshield, ceramic coated. However, I’ve noticed an issue with the standard wiper blades. They tend to chatter on normal speed during light rain but work fine in faster modes.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? If so, what wiper blades do you recommend to resolve this issue?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Regards
Brett
 
This is expected behavior, seen it reported a bunch of times by people. The coating adds friction. You don't need windshield wipers with ceramic coating just speed up 😅

Personally I used Glaco glass compound and repellant on windshield. Wipers are buttery smooth and water beads easily.

Maybe try lubricating your wiper blades with something like 303.
 
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I am not 100% certain, but shouldn't that not make a difference?

Yes, it would make a difference as far as asking Tesla to provide wiper blades under warranty because they are chattering. Tesla specifically says not to put stuff on the windshield in the manual:


Tesla wiper blade1.png


Doesnt mean anyone has to listen to it, but does mean this isnt a warranty issue if you put something on the glass. The OP should try cleaning the wipers as mentioned by a couple people in the thread, or buying some replacement ones and seeing if that helps, like they planned on doing.

I bought my replacement wiper blades from Rock Auto, online, but my model 3 is not a highland one. OP If cleaning them didnt work, you should just buy replacement wipers from Tesla itself as parts.
 
Recently, I had the entire car, including the windshield, ceramic coated. However, I’ve noticed an issue with the standard wiper blades. They tend to chatter on normal speed during light rain but work fine in faster modes.
Has anyone else experienced this problem?

I've had my windshield ceramic coated with Stoner / Invisible Glass product a few months back. Water beads perfectly off it (similar to fresh RainX, but supposed to last way longer) with zero windshield wiper (Michelin) chatter.
I did wipe-off and polished it as soon as applied coating flashed, and left the wipers off the windshield overnight to allow everything to fully cure.

What product brand did they use?
Do you have some of it on hand to polish/re-apply as necessary?


If so, what wiper blades do you recommend to resolve this issue?

Wiper blades are unlikely to be your problem.
The more likely culprit is uneven application of ceramic coating to the glass.
The only tricky thing about ceramic and graphene coatings is that they evaporate and harden in 1-10 minutes (varies with weather and product), and require instant leveling and polishing before they harden into a wavy pattern. In a large scale commercial shop that makes money from volume of cars processed, it's easy to miss the narrow window (pun intended) before ceramic coating hardens into a wavy surface pattern in which it was applied, with high spots catching the wipers as they pass.
Or, if they dropped the wiper blades onto the glass before coating fully hardened - that will create a "step" on which blade will "catch" from there on out.

This is expected behavior, seen it reported a bunch of times by people. The coating adds friction.

Sorry, it's the opposite.
Ceramic coating fills in unevenness in the glass surface and seals them. Thus reducing surface friction and allowing water to bead / roll-off with minimal effort.
There are dozens of products out there that strive to achieve this result. Most work really well. Few last longer than the others.

Try massaging and cleaning the wipers with alcohol.

Totally agree on the first step - clean the wipers.
If they are covered in gunk, they will catch over any surface!

Could they have gotten ceramic coating on them?

That would not be a problem. In fact, some coatings (but not Stoner) call for the ceramic fluid to be applied to the blades as well.
 
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I've had my windshield ceramic coated with Stoner / Invisible Glass product a few months back. Water beads perfectly off it (similar to fresh RainX, but supposed to last way longer) with zero windshield wiper (Michelin) chatter.
I did wipe-off and polished it as soon as applied coating flashed, and left the wipers off the windshield overnight to allow everything to fully cure.

What product brand did they use?
Do you have some of it on hand to polish/re-apply as necessary?




Wiper blades are unlikely to be your problem.
The more likely culprit is uneven application of ceramic coating to the glass.
The only tricky thing about ceramic and graphene coatings is that they evaporate and harden in 1-10 minutes (varies with weather and product), and require instant leveling and polishing before they harden into a wavy pattern. In a large scale commercial shop that makes money from volume of cars processed, it's easy to miss the narrow window (pun intended) before ceramic coating hardens into a wavy surface pattern in which it was applied, with high spots catching the wipers as they pass.
Or, if they dropped the wiper blades onto the glass before coating fully hardened - that will create a "step" on which blade will "catch" from there on out.



Sorry, it's the opposite.
Ceramic coating fills in unevenness in the glass surface and seals them. Thus reducing surface friction and allowing water to bead / roll-off with minimal effort.
There are dozens of products out there that strive to achieve this result. Most work really well. Few last longer than the others.



Totally agree on the first step - clean the wipers.
If they are covered in gunk, they will catch over any surface!



That would not be a problem. In fact, some coatings (but not Stoner) call for the ceramic fluid to be applied to the blades as well.
Thanks for posting, good info. Also ... I follow Pan and like his channel a lot.
 
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Sorry, it's the opposite.
Ceramic coating fills in unevenness in the glass surface and seals them. Thus reducing surface friction and allowing water to bead / roll-off with minimal effort.
There are dozens of products out there that strive to achieve this result. Most work really well. Few last longer than the others.
Ceramic coating adds a hydrophobic barrier which eliminates any lubrication water previously provided the wiper blades. Googling "ceramic coating windshield chattering" results in ton of posts from people that ran into this exact issue. Perhaps some coatings are more "problematic" than others when it comes to wiper blades.
 
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So my wife put rainx on the windshield of our m3. The wipers chatter pretty bad, I am guessing this could be similar to the ceramic coating concern? We never drove it in the rain before using the rainx, so have no basis for comparison. I did tell her that Tesla said not to use windshield coatings, but she did it anyway…
 
So my wife put rainx on the windshield of our m3. The wipers chatter pretty bad, I am guessing this could be similar to the ceramic coating concern?

Sort-of.
I've had RainX on cars for decades, before upgrading to dedicated ceramic glass coatings recently. Zero chatter, if you apply it evenly and buff-out residue as instructed.
Draw your own conclusions.

We never drove it in the rain before using the rainx, so have no basis for comparison. I did tell her that Tesla said not to use windshield coatings, but she did it anyway…

Have you ever used RainX before? In your life? On any other car?
Same outcomes.

a
 
Sort-of.
I've had RainX on cars for decades, before upgrading to dedicated ceramic glass coatings recently. Zero chatter, if you apply it evenly and buff-out residue as instructed.
Draw your own conclusions.



Have you ever used RainX before? In your life? On any other car?
Same outcomes.

a
Yes we routinely use rainx on our cars. We have never had a chattering issue before. My other vehicles have optical sensors for the water detection. I figured that since Tesla uses the camera for water detection the rainx may cause water to react in a way that the Tesla’s logic is not expecting. Ultimately causing issues with wiper speed/frequency etc. I never expected a wiper chatter issue.

Sorry didn’t mean to hijack the thread!
 
Don't replace your wiper blades - alcohol is the answer. Just put a little plain alcohol on a cloth and run it down the length of your blades. You'll be surprised how much black gunk will be on the cloth. It's partly dirt and partly "dead rubber" that needs to come off.

I have a big box of those little individually-wrapped alcohol prep pads they use when giving you shots, and I keep a few in the glovebox in case I need them to clean my sunglasses or the wipers.
 
Don't replace your wiper blades - alcohol is the answer.

I don't know if it is always the answer, but it's a good first guess.
I prefer scotch.
;)

Just put a little plain alcohol on a cloth and run it down the length of your blades. You'll be surprised how much black gunk will be on the cloth. It's partly dirt and partly "dead rubber" that needs to come off.

Yep, there is also that use-case.

a
 
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