ap0gee

After discussion in another thread, I thought I would do a photo guide when converting the aero wipers for my wife's car. The generic aero wipers from places like Tesco are perfectly adequate, apart from the fact that they are assembled for LHD use. At first glance, the block that connects the wiper to the arm can be switched round, however it does not lock in place like this, and so could come flying off (undoubtedly at some unfortunate moment!)

But, they can be dismantled and reassembled for RHD use as follows:

1. Using a small screwdriver or similar, ease the little locking teeth on the end caps back so that the caps can slide off. Be careful as they snap easily!



2. Next, slide off the rubber spoilers.



3. With the larger of the two holes on the connecting block nearest you, push the block away, releasing it from the wiper blade.



4. Now ease off the plastic piece that surrounds the connecting block. It's best to unclip the 'spoiler' side first as the other side is a bit flimsy.



5. Rotate this piece so that the raised line is closest the the locking tooth on the connecting block boss.



Now follow steps 4-1 in that order to reassemble the wipers, taking care to ensure that the ends of the rubber spoilers go fully inside the plastic piece in the middle and the end caps.

Your blades are now set up of RHD use, and the connecting block will lock in place which should ensure that you don't lose your wipers going down the motorway!

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cheezemonkhai

I know it's a daft question, but has somebody told the "supermarket" they are selling a non road worthy item with safety implications?

I'd be fairly sure they don't realise they are selling LHD specific wipers to a RHD population.

Nice guide thought

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ap0gee

I suppose it depends in the car - I can think of at least 3 RHD cars that have LHD wipers (previous Clio, 206, previous 5-series), and then there's all the MPVs with 'clapper' wipers where one would be LHD and the other RHD. I fear I may have opened a can of worms...

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cheezemonkhai

It's an interesting point but as the previous metal caged items are handed as well I can only guess that there must be a way to deal with this.

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

ap0gee

The 'wrist' of the caged ones can do a 180 to convert easily from LHD to RHD, of course, and TBH I don't know why the connector block on the aero ones only locks in the LHD orientation seeing how it's designed to come off to allow connectors for different fitments to be used...

So as shown, you end up having to remove the connector block and flip everything else around underneath it before putting the block back on the same way as it was before!

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cheezemonkhai

Aye, but not the ones with the spoilers.

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

ap0gee

No, no. The same applies for ones with spoilers.

Hence the OEM-equivalent Bosch ones they sell in Halfords for the Fabia have the Bosch logo at one end of the spoiler on the offside blade partially obscured by the wiper arm, rather than in full view as it would be in LHD-mode.

Think about it - the wiper blade moves over to the other side of the screen, but the only other difference is that the arm approaches it from the opposite direction. The fact it has a spoiler (or indeed a bowed profile as is the case on the OEM nearside ones for the Fabia) is neither here nor there as the adaptor that the wiper arm clips onto can turn through 180 degrees on its spindle. The aero wipers, however, have an end cap on the connector block that prevents this - making the process described previously necessary...

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anewman

Or the lazy option could be to swap the big centre plastic thing around and as it doesn't clip in, super glue it

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94 Favorit GLXIe Estate

ap0gee

If you do that, choose your glue carefully as you're trying to bond plastic to metal, and I know from when part of my rear wiper broke that screenwash dissolves Bostik-type glues pretty quickly (although I needed to use that rather than Superglue as I needed a bit of give to re-fit said part...)

Then again, as long as you check it's secure regularly, I guess it'd be a suitable (and certainly quicker) alternative!

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cheezemonkhai

I must be missing something but the spoilers sit on one side of the blade, usually under it so surely flipping it the other side means putting it to the top?

Are you saying that you can fit LHD and RHD to the holder on the traditionally caged ones?

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

ap0gee

Exacto mundo. You don't rotate the blade at all - it just slides over to the other side of the screen, and the arm approaches the 'wrist connector' from the opposite direction. This wrist connector can rotate through a full 180 (with its axis perpendicular to the blade) to allow the arm to approach from either side!

Of course, this will only work with blades that are symmetrical about the wrist connector, however the only assymmetric ones I've seen don't have spoilers and so would be flipped for LHD/RHD rather than rotating the connector as described above!

HTH

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