How to remove the front wiper arm?

[spyderman33]

My wiper arm's black color has faded and looks a little silverish in places.. I wanted to remove it so that I can paint it off the car and put it back on.. Is there anything I should know before removing it? Is it easy or do I need any special tools?

TIA..

 

[ANYTIME]

Grab a 17mm wrench and loosen the nut and the wiper should come off by gently rocking it side to side. When I removed mine, I put the nut back on for athetic reasons(I did this because I don't drive it in the rain and love the smooth look of the windsheild now)

 

[spyderman33]

cool.. I will try it.. Did you see the post on that mod that made the wiper disappear below the edge of the hood..
this is the link

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18913&highlight=wiper+arm

I wish I could take it off but in Miami it could be sunny as hell one minute and raining a downpour the next..

I also don't drive the car in the rain.

 

[hlweyl]

Hi , I did the same thing when I first bought my NSX. It's actually very simply, raise the hood, the wipers come off with one bolt... I think it was 17mm deep dish.

I removed the rubber blades first. I used a scotch brite pad to scuff them up real well, then clean them in a mild degreasing solution and hung them to dry (hung them from my basket ball rim using wire coat hangers).

I primed them with eastwood's etching primer then painted.... forgot which paint i used, it was a flat black from pep boys specifically for wipers etc.

The wiper arms came out looking brand new. good luck

 

[coolnsx]

Powder Coat

Has anyone tried doing these? How much do it run? Thanks

 

[spyderman33]

It should be just the cost of the paint and elbow grease..

should be less than $10-15 .. cheaper than buying a new wiper arm for sure..

 

[RP-Motorsports]

I wish I could take it off but in Miami it could be sunny as hell one minute and raining a downpour the next..

That is what Rain-X is for!!!!! The first mod I did to my NSX was to toss the wipers in a box! I actually see better (above 40 mph) with Rain-X than wipers even in the hardest downpour.

 

[spyderman33]

Actually you are right.. Many time I find myself shutting the wipers off and driving with just the Rain-X on the windows with my daily driver..

Good call.. I might end up doing that..

 

[nsxtasy]

Grab a 17mm wrench and loosen the nut and the wiper should come off by gently rocking it side to side.

Instead of rocking it side to side, all you need to do after removing the 17 mm acorn nut is to press DOWN (I know that sounds counterintuitive) on the wiper arm; that will make the end surrounding the 17 mm bolt more perpendicular to the shaft, so you can slide it right off. Oh, and I use a 17 mm deep socket like hlweyl, rather than a wrench.

 

[shiftright2]

Well, if the wipers are off one does not need

the wiper motor ...so how does one take that off?

 

[shiftright2]

And for that matter, even the windshield wiper fluid container.....

Anyone remove that?

 

[ANYTIME]

Instead of rocking it side to side, all you need to do after removing the 17 mm acorn nut is to press DOWN (I know that sounds counterintuitive) on the wiper arm; that will make the end surrounding the 17 mm bolt more perpendicular to the shaft, so you can slide it right off. Oh, and I use a 17 mm deep socket like hlweyl, rather than a wrench.

Unless the arms have never been off and they don't just slide right off, rocking will do the trick. Ken taking off his wiper blades/arms? That's not stock!!!

 

[nsxtasy]

Ken taking off his wiper blades/arms? That's not stock!!!

Funny! My wipers have been off for years, and I never even considered adding it to my list of my NSX's mods (currently around eight, I think).

 

[spyderman33]

Thanks everyone for their help.. The wipers came right off as mentioned above. I sanded them down a bit using an extra fine hand sander from Home Depot and bought some flat black spray paint as well.. I coudln't find the wiper paint at pep boys..

Gave it two coats, waited for it to dry and put them back on.. They look brand new!! Thanks everyone!

 

[Arshad]

I was going to go do this in a couple of hours and just wondering how important it is to sand it down first? Will it look uneven if I don't? The paint I picked up is some black "bumper paint" that someone recommended I use.

 

[RP-Motorsports]

I was going to go do this in a couple of hours and just wondering how important it is to sand it down first? Will it look uneven if I don't? The paint I picked up is some black "bumper paint" that someone recommended I use.

The main reason you sand is for adhesion between coats, not just the look. If you just paint over the top of a previous finish, you will run the risk of future peeling and flaking. Sand to get a smooth surface, wipe dust off with a clean rag, or use compressed air (oil-free) and recoat. If you need a second coat, read your can........some paints will require an immediate wet on wet coat, or a minimum of a 72 hour dry time prior to a re-coat. The 2nd coat may spiderweb if directions are not followed.

 

[Arshad]

Ahh ok, thanks for the explanation I ended up not doing this today, so I'll go ahead and sand it first tomorrow before applying the paint...

 

[spyderman33]

you'll be amazed at how easy it is and how good it comes out.. Sanding it down will make it look even as well..

Not sure how much wiper arms cost but this is surely cheaper than that..

 

[Arshad]

Well, I finally got around to doing it this weekend. I sanded it down as recommended and painted it and it came out looking brand spanking new! Now the problem is that after putting it back on, the passenger side wiper arm is clipping the hood as it comes up ever so slightly. I've pushed it in to make sure it's seated correctly, tightened it up as much as possible, and tried repositioning the angle slightly to no avail. It keeps hitting the hood as it comes up -- arrgh! Is there some trick to this?

 

[spyderman33]

dude, that is weird.. I pretty much put it back as is and it works fine..

did you tighten correctly? if you don't it will touch the hood since the spring will lift it up..

 

[Arshad]

Well I finally got it to work by repositioning the wiper arm so that it was at a higher angle and then tightening it down. Now it just barely clears the hood but it feels like it's positioned higher than it originally was. Then again, maybe it's my imagination. Oh well.. I'll have to look at some pictures and other peoples cars to make sure it's correct...