Driver side wiper blade leaves smear in the center!

[phipster]

Hi all,

The driver-side wiper blade on my 2015 Sonic Hatchback LT loses contact in the middle area on the down-stroke, leaving a nice smeary streak right smack in the middle of my field of view - very annoying!

It clears the windshield properly on the upstroke, so I'm seeing where I'm going half the time

I've tried bending the blade back against the curve a couple of times, this fixes the problem temporarily, but it always reforms back to its original curve.

I also had my local dealer replace the blades a few months ago, but no improvement. I'm thinking it has something to do with the amount of force applied to the blade by the spring in the wiper arm, but I don't see any obvious adjustment, and I'm reluctant to fiddle too much myself and break it.

Any ideas? Anyone else have this problem? Should I try a different type of wiper blade? Go hassle the dealer?

Appreciate any suggestions!

 

[RMinNJ]

Have the dealer replace the arm ?

 

[Natesriv]

Get new wiper blade???

 

[lmilam]

Have the dealer replace the arm ?

Replacing the arm will be am out-of-pocket cost. I had my 2014 Sonic looked at today because the wiper arms are placed too closely so the wiper blades hit each other and fly off, but even for them to look at the arms, $85 on the spot. Not even getting them fixed. Factory warranty and my extended warranty through Ally wouldn't cover it. I would just buy a new wiper blade.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[$ub$onic]

There is a service bulletin or something on this.

Take it to the dealer and you get a new arm and wiper

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

 

[jyahknots]

I'm have the SAME EXACT ISSUE on my 2015!! I brought it to the dealership and they replaced the wiper blade the first time, but it didn't fix the issue. The second time I brought it in, they ended up replacing the wiper arm (under warranty) and it STILL didn't fix the issue. Still dealing with a nasty smear like you are, and it's very very annoying. I thought maybe it was something on the windshield itself and tried different cleaners, but didn't make a difference. If you look at the wiper blade while going down the road, you can see the wiper blade fluttering and losing contact with the windshield in the off position (or the resting position, if you wanted to call it that). I think it's simply a downforce issue on the wiper blade, and not sure how to correct it. A different style blade possibly, but I don't think we should have to spend a ton of money trying to fix a GM issue, either. Hope you (or they) find a fix, and fix others Sonic's. Keep us posted!

 

[TurtleOverlord]

Has this been solved yet?

I have this same problem on a 2015 hatch. The smear starts right where the passenger blade stops. It might be worth mentioning that I have a PGW replacement windshield.....

Mine is not losing contact, if anything it looks like its pushing harder than it should.

I have replaced the blade with one from the dealer with no difference.

I recall someone on here suggesting Bosch blades (not icon?) but I cant find them in 15" I&L connectors

 

[Antkiller2013]

Same issue with my 2015. Going to Walmart this weekend to try the RainX Latitude. 14 months of down-swing smears is enough... hoping this will fix the issue...

 

[TurtleOverlord]

I would be careful when doing that, I tried the rainx latitude and replaced only the driver side. On the upstroke it contacted the passenger wiper and bent completely in half.

Now I'm back to factory...

Our driver side blade is 25.5"
why on earth...