Wipers

[planehazza]

Is it just me, or are the wipers crap? Mine stutter and smear and leave water streaks all over the place. It's like they're severely over due to be replaced, yet the car is a fortnight old.

Is its cheap rubber or is it the wash they put in the car?

 

[kevuwk]

Is it just me, or are the wipers crap? Mine stutter and smear and leave water streaks all over the place. It's like they're severely over due to be replaced, yet the car is a fortnight old.

Is its cheap rubber or is it the wash they put in the car?

I’ve replaced mine and it improved but still isn’t great driving in the rain at night

 

[ilyak]

OEM wipers are Bosch OE Specialty AeroTwin (part ID 3397014116), not the best out there but shouldn't be terrible right off the bat either. Check that they are fitted correctly and undamaged. If you want to replace them, this thread has way more info than anyone would ever need: Model 3 Replacement Wiper Blades

 

[Pagemakers]

Is it just me, or are the wipers crap? Mine stutter and smear and leave water streaks all over the place. It's like they're severely over due to be replaced, yet the car is a fortnight old.

Is its cheap rubber or is it the wash they put in the car?

Which car?

My old S had the worst wipers of any car I’ve owned.

My new 3’s wipers are great.

That said the auto mode is still pants. Whatever Elon Musk says about AI learning, it’s poop at the moment.

 

[GazzaM3]

Just got mine today and the wipers are great in terms of clearing screen. Coming on automatically leaves a lot to be desired though.

 

[Mr H]

Mine are superb, virtually silent and the auto function wipes at just the right time, i have no complaints

 

[SteveM3P]

No complaints here, auto function seems to work just as well as my previous Audi too.

 

[jdw]

In my experience, there is often a residue on the windshield that requires a polish with a proper glass polishing compound and an alcohol wipedown to remove. After doing that, I personally apply several coats of RainX (read the instructions! & YMMV).

After picking up the car, I also had the chatter & skippiing and resolved it with the above procedure. Bosch Icon OE wipers seem to be the way to go for wiper blades.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

It's not the wipers, it's the crap on the glass, "quick detailer" and other oily film from delivery.

I had the same issue Top tip for those recently taken delivery, esp in this rain

clear that off and you'll be fine - I recommend Car Glass Polish

 

[Artiste]

My wipers are complete crap. They clear rain fairly adequately when they’re on continuously, but the last wipe always leaves loads of water smeared on the windscreen. I have to press the stalk button for a couple of extra wipes every time.

Does a new car manufacturer have to develop its own wiper technology from scratch? I’ve often wondered why a £20k runaround has auto wipers that work perfectly while the wipers on my £50k M3 are not fit for purpose.

 

[Adopado]

Is it just me, or are the wipers crap? Mine stutter and smear and leave water streaks all over the place. It's like they're severely over due to be replaced, yet the car is a fortnight old.

Is its cheap rubber or is it the wash they put in the car?

I've seen other posts about this but I must say mine have been excellent. They've come through a complete autumn and the wettest winter I can remember and they are still clearing smoothly, quietly and effectively. For some reason most car wipers seem to be unredeemable once contaminated. Maybe there's a magic solution but I've never come across anything that gave more then a temporary fix.

 

[Lupe]

Just wait until those wipers have been through a winter of frozen windscreens

 

[Adopado]

Just wait until those wipers have been through a winter of frozen windscreens

Thankfully the pre-heating means that possibility is greatly reduced! We've had plenty of frost in these parts (including the past few mornings) ... no stuck wipers.

 

[Artiste]

It's not the wipers, it's the crap on the glass, "quick detailer" and other oily film from delivery.

I had the same issue Top tip for those recently taken delivery, esp in this rain

clear that off and you'll be fine - I recommend Car Glass Polish

Thoroughly cleaning the windows and wiper blades didn’t make any difference to me. My wipers are just crap, and there are too many posts on this forum about the abysmal auto function to blame them all on residue on the windscreen. Also, software updates are (painfully slowly) improving things, and a software update can’t get rid of residue.

Half baked software is one of the occupational hazards of owning a Tesla.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

You're conflating two unrelated issues.

Auto on/off: Yes, this still has issues. I've found it's usually because the top part of the window where the cameras sit is quite clear compared to the lower half where the driver's looking out through, obviously worse when it's spary from the road. they work better when it's raining.

Smeering: This is caused by traffic film and other oily residue and wax - especially likely to be the cause on a new car with new wiper blades. Clean the glass properly. Car wash is not sufficient to remove oily residue, and certainly no good at removing wax - car wash is designed to add and protect any wax layers. Use a dedicated glass polish, after you wash the car, one with additives to remove traffic film, oil and wax.

 

[jdw]

Again, in my experience it is not possible to "clean" the residue off the windshield, it needs to be polished off, ideally by machiine with an approved glass polishing compound. Second choice is a lot of elbow grease and a polishing compound.

 

[planehazza]

Thanks all. What better use of my high risk working from home self isolated social distancing time. HRWFMSISD for short.

I find the auto function to be pretty good; at least on par with the BMW it replaced. I've not had a chance to thoroughly clean the glass, and thus far it has only been cleaned as part of the overall wash process; I've not done any special glass cleaning yet. Going at it with a machine polisher is a not going to happen. I've already got a bad stone chip that is awaiting AutoGlass to get a new screen in before it can be replaced.

I'll have a go at it with some proper glass polish by hand as well as some IPA (if I can get any anywhere...).

 

[planehazza]

Just had a thought; would a clay bar be a good stop gap solution? Literally no point spending the time to polish it when it's going to be replaced in the near future

 

[MrBadger]

Just had a thought; would a clay bar be a good stop gap solution?

I've used clay mitt on another car to help reduce what I believe is wax streaking. I've used various cleaners, including those mentioned here, and the mitt is making best progress, but lots more elbow grease to go, hopefully. I've also been recommended Autoglym tar remover for wax - I had some sticky stuff remover and didn't notice much difference. A lot of the time you think you have sorted a streak, only to spot it again in a different light or weather condition.

Our Tesla glass streaking isn't wax though, and is not behaving the same. But I have yet to try clay mitt as we have an outstanding warranty issue with windscreen, so been a bit more conservative cleaning that. And a new windscreen planned to make wasting too much time wasteful - the worst streaking has been sorted with milder methods.

 

[AndrewGR]

My wipers work well at clearing the screen when they choose to operate. Worst experience so far was driving at 50mph in heavy rain at night when suddenly the rain became ‘monsoon’. I gave the voice command ‘increase wipers’ and the car responded with ‘wipers off’. Finding the hazard light switch in a hurry in the dark is almost impossible. It was a miracle I didn’t go off the road and no one ran into the back of me whilst I got them going again. In retrospect I should have just kept my finger on the washer button but it was a panic situation! Think about what you would do. Looking at the touch screen is not an option!