Dear Audi: It's Winter again and these wiper blades still suck
12-13-2009, 08:54 AM
#21
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Is the wiper blade problem common across the Audi lineup (e.g. does the '10 S4 have the same blade problem)? It may seem trivial to some, but this is a potential deal-breaker for me. Living in New England, Winter driving is important to me. I drove an '09 GTI though last Winter and don't remember any wiper blade bad problems. I wonder if they are the same.
12-13-2009, 09:13 AM
#22
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Is the wiper blade problem common across the Audi lineup (e.g. does the '10 S4 have the same blade problem)? It may seem trivial to some, but this is a potential deal-breaker for me. Living in New England, Winter driving is important to me. I drove an '09 GTI though last Winter and don't remember any wiper blade bad problems. I wonder if they are the same.
Suckage.
12-13-2009, 07:12 PM
#23
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What can they do? A TSB to shorten the hood so they can be lifted to deice them easily? Change the arm so that off the shelf wipers fit? I really doubt they'll do any of those
12-14-2009, 06:15 PM
#24
I'm not sure what a TSB could do. Knowing about the poor design and coming up with a workable and retro-fittable solution are two different things. It's not as simple as just replacing the wiper arms since they're recessed behind the hood. It'd take a totally different design, which would involve probably reconfiguring the hood and/or wind screen to do right. About the only thing that comes to mind would be a heating element down in the bottom of the recess. Not cheap and not easy to do on an automotive electricity budget considering the wattage it'd probably draw.
12-15-2009, 04:40 AM
#25
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The subaru forested had that since ~2002 I think.. so it's definitely doable and cheap.. but there's no way audi will retrofit that to cars.
12-15-2009, 06:02 AM
#26
AudiWorld Member
And it works as advertised
I have a 2009 Forester XT Limited with the heated wiper base; heats up in about 30 seconds and the wipers are never frozen to the windshield or crusty with ice (between the A4 and the Forester I think winter's pretty well handled in my garage).
12-15-2009, 06:24 AM
#27
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same on '10 s5
We got some good snow today. Holy fu$@ do these wipers suck. I had to stop twice in a 20km commute to smash them against the windshield so the ice / slush would fall off otherwise I wouldn't see anything.
The rain sensing thingy was also crazy, it wiped super fast due to the snow... and other times it barely wiped.
I am definitely NOT impressed with the wiper system. The AWD on the other hand was great (with ESP off of course
)
The rain sensing thingy was also crazy, it wiped super fast due to the snow... and other times it barely wiped.
I am definitely NOT impressed with the wiper system. The AWD on the other hand was great (with ESP off of course
)
12-15-2009, 09:17 AM
#28
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heat would be cool, but all they really need to do is redesign the blade so that it doesn't have channels on the top surface that fill with water and freeze.
I can live with the arms parking under the hood. The main safety issue is the blades.
I think the rain sensors aren't fully baked as well. Sometimes don't work during the rain, don't work when standing still in the rain, sometimes go crazy fast when not really raining or too slow when pouring.
has everyone called AoA to give them a piece of the mind on this yet?
I can live with the arms parking under the hood. The main safety issue is the blades.
I think the rain sensors aren't fully baked as well. Sometimes don't work during the rain, don't work when standing still in the rain, sometimes go crazy fast when not really raining or too slow when pouring.
has everyone called AoA to give them a piece of the mind on this yet?
Last edited by Avant4Adam; 12-15-2009 at 09:21 AM. Reason: add more
12-15-2009, 02:02 PM
#29
AudiWorld Senior Member
Maybe your sensor has a problem ?
