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740 juddering wipers

daniels740

Member
Joined
May 8, 2019
Location
South Florida
Every setting. It's driving me crazy.

It started when I replaced my blades with cheap-o Bosch blades from FCP Euro. It annoyed the heck out of me so I replaced them with other cheap blades from Walmart. It seemed to have worked but then they started juddering as well.

I then coated my entire windshield evenly with Rain-x water repellent. It neither helped nor made the problem worse. Both the wipers and windshield are exceptionally clean. I've also tried silicone wd-40 on the wipers but that didn't help whatsoever.

What can I do?!?! I will pay up to $100 for wiper blades if there are any that will stop the juddering and last long. It is rainy season here in FL and it is driving me crazy. I hope I can get this resolved ASAP.

Thanks in advance.
 
If you figure out a solution, let me know. I have been fighting the same issue with my 92 940 for several years. I've changed wiper arms twice, wiper blades countless times.
 
Tried an old, worn rain-x blade off my Nissan and it didn't judder. Have you tried those, Roy? I'm thinking they may have the same issue of seeming good then developing the same problem not so later on. Not to mention they are both expensive and in my opinion look awful with their bulky universal connectors.

Nonetheless, I'd try them out if you haven't already. I'd even rock pink blades because of how much the juddering annoys me.
 
Have you tried a clay bar on the glass? Get it super clean. Make sure you don't use washer fluid with Rain-x or other stuff in it.

If you use silicone or Rain-X on the window you need the corresponding blade.
 
Have you tried a clay bar on the glass? Get it super clean. Make sure you don't use washer fluid with Rain-x or other stuff in it.

If you use silicone or Rain-X on the window you need the corresponding blade.

I've clay bar-ed the rest of the car, but I've never thought about getting the glass. The glass looks really, really clean. I think I have two spare clay bars so I think I'll use one on the windshield if the new blades I pick up don't do the trick.

Since I used rain-x water repellent, I'll pick up two of the best rain-x blades I can, maybe even silicone ones. I'll see what is available at the local Walmart.$50 for a pair of blades better be worth it!!!
 
Silicone blades come with a little tube of silicone stuff to apply, pain in the butt. I would try the Rain-X ones since you started in that direction.

Obviously the clay bar will remove what you have on there, if you try that.

If it was my car, I would clay bar the window, then use regular rubber blades and see what happens. If that fails, apply Rain-X and Rain-X blades.
 
Silicone blades come with a little tube of silicone stuff to apply, pain in the butt. I would try the Rain-X ones since you started in that direction.

Obviously the clay bar will remove what you have on there, if you try that.

If it was my car, I would clay bar the window, then use regular rubber blades and see what happens. If that fails, apply Rain-X and Rain-X blades.

Just tried the clay bar on my driver's side of the windshield. No noticeable difference, unfortunately (w/ the pass. side up in the air.) I'll try out rain-x wipers tomorrow, the ones with the repellency coating. I'm thinking these cheap wipers I've been trying lack any sort of coating, causing too much friction. These rain-x ones should only be $15 each. Not at all happy with how they look but it is worth it if they work well.

I'll keep you guys posted.
 
First: Never buy cheap wiper rubber/blades/arms. They suck.

If all else has failed remove and inspect your main wiper arms, check for slop in the pivot point and tighten (hammer/punch) as necessary. While they're off check that the spindle bearings aren't worn sloppy.

Finally, you may have slop in the wiper linkage itself. Or it could be running dry, or a combination. How many miles on the thing?
 
The wiper motor/wiper assembly doesn't sound too tired. While you may be talking about theoretical 'miles' on the wiper motor/assembly, I really have no idea how many miles my 740 has, period. Odometer doesn't work and hasn't worked for a long, long time. Carfax says that it was set back from 112k to 82k in 1998. Now, in 2021, it's at 110k. Yeah. -2k miles in 24 years. I'd say it's anywhere from 200k to 250k or even more.

It must have at least 140k when accounting for the odometer rollback. No doubt in my mind the car's at 200k+. Sad that we'll never really know. I never even made the actual calculations up until now. Funny.
 
Just picked up "aerodynamic" beam wiper blades from Walmart. Rain-x latitude blades with water repellent, to be exact. Maybe I'll make .05 mpg more with less wind resistance facing my turbobrick.

They did not streak nor judder during the dry wipes to leave behind the water repellent. Hopefully they remain that way as I drive in the rain later this evening.
 
If all else fails that might indicate that the problem is not with the blades.

Might the motor be getting weaker and need to be replaced?

Fortunately it's an easy fix, at least compared to a 240: go to a JY, remove the three bolts holding the cowl, remove it and voila, there you are.

Unbolt the entire assembly (not just the motor) then bolt it in your car.
 
The new wipers work great, for now. This could be accredited to the beam style that allows for a more even force onto the windshield. Alternatively, it could be better rubber/ coating on the rubber blade itself.

Hope they'll last.
 
I believe juddering can be due to weak springs in the arms, not pushing the blade into the windshield hard enough. You could try these things:

wiperspringtomstruck.jpg
 
interesting springy-thingy. Never seen those before. I prefer aeroblades. The wind helps push those onto the glass while the car is moving.
It has already been said before: try slightly changing the angle of the wiper blade in relation to the glass. 90 degr is OK. If there is too much sloppiness between wiperblade and wiper arm then that could be a cause of judder as well.
Then there is the wiper mechanism. If there is too much wear on the wiper arm axel then that can also be a contributing factor. Sometimes lubricating that axel+ bushing + all mechanism joints helps because it relieves the wiper motor. All the torque will be available for the wiper arms.
 
The rain-x started juddering after a day of wiping. Put them on another car and got myself Michelin silicone wipers. They perform horrible from the start.

I'll try bending the arms and if that doesn't work I guess I'll have to investigate the motor and related parts. Not a fun summer project whatsoever.
 
Try bending the arm to change the angle that the blade hits the glass. The blade is just a squeegee.

To amplify this, make sure that the blade is being dragged across the glass trailing the arm in both directions, not being pushed ahead of it, if that makes sense. Is the juddering in question happening in one direction only?

Those helper springs look ugly, but could be the solution to 35-year-old arms with weak springs. Where can they be had?
 
I'll look into if the judder happens one or both directions. I can't recall. I returned the $40 blades and switched to the cheap conventional ones I had in my trunk.

The springs in the arms are great. You could almost feel like they are applying TOO much pressure. It's not likely though. I think I'll end up taking the cowl off and oiling the whole wiper mechanism up nice and good. I'm just not very happy about that option because the last time I took the cowl off I remember breaking clips and having troubles that I cannot spare to have a second time. Maybe I learned enough from the first time not to have issues.

One thing I do want to point out is that the rain-x blades, when they started to judder, wiped fine DRY but juddered awfully when the windshield was wet with windshield washer fluid this morning.
 
I think it's the rain-x coating. I thought I put the coating AFTER the juddering started, but now I think it was before and the cause of the jitter. I will look into removing the coating, as the clay bar didn't seem to have removed it.
 
Late to this discussion, but the only time I had issues with chattering wipers on my 745 was when I used Rain-X on the windshield. The wiper brand didn't make any difference.
That was very annoying.

It took forever for that stuff to wear off. Didn't have the issue after.
 
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