Windshield wiper arm and blade alignment

Realized recently how my windshield wipers aren't very symmetrical. Or even. The passenger side blade is at rest higher up on the lower portion of the windshield and is fairly horizontal, however, the driver's side sits lower and is tipped a little down from horizontal.

I got looking at quite a few pics of other people's cars and see that the position of their wipers seems to be all over the map. Some are sitting higher on the windshield (when they're off of course) and some sit lower. Some also sit very nice and horizontal while others are kind of at an angle.

I have never seen it discussed before and don't know of a tech bulletin released back in the day, so has anyone addressed alignment of the wipers before?

I suspect that the arm could be removed and rotated a "tooth or two" over within the spline (assuming that's how they are connected, I don't know for sure). I can also see how maybe some of the wiper arms out there are bent though too and adjusting the attachment nut position won't help.

Any thoughts?

I don't know how one would bend their wiper arms, they're pretty stout. To adjust the arms you remove the cover over the nut, loosen the nut, move the arm and then reinstall the nut/cover. Mine are pretty close but from time to time they may not always return exactly perfect, maybe due to play in the linkage.

Problems I've found are:

I've driven many years in upstate NY where a foot of snow would be dumped on my D or the windshield would be ice. The arms can certainly get worn out where the splined shaft goes and at that point you can move the arm without even loosening the nut (it might not be worn so much that it might still work in the rain, but they'll drag out of position or stop on a dry windscreen). The point I bring up the snow and ice is, if the arm is frozen down or blocked from moving, the linkage will keep going and you'll damage the part of the wiper arm where the splines should chew into the metal. Then, once you really need to use your wipers, you'll find the motor spinning away and the arms only going downwards onto the cowl and into the hood, and not upwards at all.

Secondly, once I wore out the arm, I tried to tighten the attachment nut. This caused the linkage to bind and move very slow or not at all. I'm guessing the more it is tightened, the more it is trying to pull the linkage upwards and it strains as it is pinched between all the involved parts.

The arms are splined to the shaft so you do have to move it a tooth at a time and there is no "in between" and you don't bend them to adjust. Set the blades as low as you can but they are not to hit anything or go off the glass. Test with a wet windscreen and good blades at high speed (the blades, not the car).

Thanks for the tips. I made a small adjustment to the driver's side arm and it seems to be more symmetrical now. You're right about there being no inbetween. A tiny adjustment at the spline translates to a few inches of difference out at the other end of the arm.

I don't think I knew they were the same arm on both sides (same part number that is). I also didn't think you could buy replacements for some reason either. I agree with you about them being pretty stout. Might have been that short bend right out at the end that got me thinking they could bend.

I haven't left my DeLorean outside in the winter, but have plenty of experience with other cars in the winter and having your wipers frozen to the windshield. I can see how that might burn the motor out or strip the splines if you kept trying to force it. Like the window motors sort of. No limit switches or similar to keep it from burning itself out if you keep pressing the button. Not like newer cars anyway.

I'll test them out with a wet windshield like you said. And on fast too, the blades that is, not the car, lol.

Reminds me of a joke from a long time ago...

An American, a Canadian and a Newfie are out in the desert. They were each allowed to bring one thing with them. The American brought a canteen of water, so if he gets thirsty, he can drink it. The Canadian brought an orange, so that if he gets thirsty or hungry, he can eat it. The Newfie says he brought a car door. The other two ask him what he did that for and he says 'cause if I get hot, I can roll down the window!

More adjustments needed. Hosed the car down in the driveway last night and tested the wipers. The driver's side one now extends just off the windshield when all the way up and over. Like up on to the black metal strip at the edge of the glass. Will have to see about adjusting them both down to find a spot that keeps them both on the windshield and more or less symmetrical.