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Does anybody else find their windshield wipers irritatingly noisy and operating really fast? I have 1,000 miles on my GLS450 and have only used them a few times. During normal rainfall I find that they operate too fast (the automatic sensor puts them into almost top speed very quickly) and there is no way to make them intermittently wipe every 5-10 seconds or so. They go like every 2- seconds. In my 2018 Audi Q7 they are dead silent and have a sensitivity switch on the lever. They also don’t really stop well when car is stopped.
Also they are quite noisy when operating. Sound like an old school bus screeching across. This part is fixed when spraying the windshield wiper spray which seems to lubricate it for a few minutes until it wears off.
I told the dealer and their reply is “yes we know they are awful” in this generation. They cleaned the windshield with a Mercedes spray. (Unfortunately the screeching is only with actual rain not the wiper spray - it’s also hard to replicate at a dealer - can’t time my visit for rain)
When I got ours last week, the drive home was in rain. I see your point about the wiper speed and how it handles the intermittent timing, but doesn’t bother me too much. On the noise - it’s a Benz thing. My 2014 E350 sedan is the same way - noisy as they go across the glass on a misty rain, and not the smoothest of operations in general when compared to pretty much every other car on the planet. Not terrible, but surprising a little.
What I’ve been told over on that side of the forum is to make sure you’re using the Mercedes brand of windshield cleaner, and not the gas station stuff. Apparently the gas station stuff can put a film on the glass and the wipers react to it with chattering.
Good luck ever solving this while using the factory glass. I've had a few Benz cars, and driven many loaners, and they all do it. My dealership chased it and chased it on my W204 - adjusting arm angles, stripping the windshield, claying the windshield, replacing the blades over and over, trying aftermarket blades, everything. The wipers were never smooth.
Got my W212 and the same story with it. Until I accidentally broke the windshield while changing my wiper blades. I allowed my windshield to be replaced with a FUYAO unit and my wipers have been smooth since.
So it is something to do with the factory glass, which in my cars has been produced by Saint Gobain Sekruit. Our Macan suffers from a similar issue also with the factory glass from the same supplier.
My left wiper also skips along the windshield. Disappointing for a brand new car. I'll mention it next time I take it in but based on the comments here I don't think I am going to chase it for long. My old GL has the exact same problem.
I feel your pain, but I have a solution. This was driving me crazy for the 2 years I've had my car. I own a 2018 C300, I've taken it to MB and had the wiper blades changed out several times. They also replaced my whole wiper mechanism. NONE of it worked. Their last solution was to give me a bottle of their super window cleaner stuff. It worked... for about 20 minutes, then the water washes it away. After trying dozens of things-
THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS!
Blaster Silicon Lubricant.
I know I sound like a commercial or something, but the skipping and squealing was driving me insane. Spray the hell out of your wipers. I put a towel on my hood, and tried to reduce any overspray, but it 100% is the solution. My blades work smoothly and quietly.
I feel your pain, but I have a solution. This was driving me crazy for the 2 years I've had my car. I own a 2018 C300, I've taken it to MB and had the wiper blades changed out several times. They also replaced my whole wiper mechanism. NONE of it worked. Their last solution was to give me a bottle of their super window cleaner stuff. It worked... for about 20 minutes, then the water washes it away. After trying dozens of things-
THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS!
Blaster Silicon Lubricant.
I know I sound like a commercial or something, but the skipping and squealing was driving me insane. Spray the hell out of your wipers. I put a towel on my hood, and tried to reduce any overspray, but it 100% is the solution. My blades work smoothly and quietly.
at this point I’ll give anything a try! Did you clean wipers off first? I have the Gyeon Q2 View on them (made them worse).
do you have to reapply it regularly or did it work permanently after one application?
also, did you ever replace the OEM wipers with Bosch Icon for your c300...I’m assuming available by now? Or keep using the OEM since they work fine.
question - ever try silicone wiper blades instead of the rubber ones? Not sure if a fit is possible out there, but this is an interesting read. My W212 is loud and squeaky too. The GLS is too new to start yet...
question - ever try silicone wiper blades instead of the rubber ones? Not sure if a fit is possible out there, but this is an interesting read. My W212 is loud and squeaky too. The GLS is too new to start yet...
there really is no fit on GLE/GLS aftermarket thus far (would be very happy if I’m wrong). My GLS blades came chattering from factory with 12 miles on odometer and second set of blades did nothing to help.
im unlikely to try any other Gyeon products as the Q2 View didn’t do anything to help the chatter/ noise nor did it help bead water off windshield.
I don't think there is a solution. One thing I have noticed on the modern MB's is the cost cutting on wipers. They have really cheapened this part of the car. I remember the massive single wiper on the E class cars, now just another decline in quality.
Since I posted two years ago, i found a solution for both of my MB’s that seems to last about a year and very easy to do - ceramic coating the glass.
I detailed the GLS back in 2020 after we got it, and in that process, I did a ceramic coat that included all of the glass. There has been no noise on that one.
i then did the 2014 E350 (212) which is notoriously loud. Quieted that one down too, no noise. It’s lasted two years on the GLS, and about 1 year on the E before needing another run down of a claybar on the glass and then a fresh coat of a ceramic spread over it. Let it dry for a day or two (the longer the better), and no noise.
I use this stuff from the magical intrawebverse called The Last Coat (deep ice). But i think any ceramic would do the trick.
what it did not do - is gunk up on the glass, unlike RainX seems to do after the first use of the wipers. No blade line down the middle of the windshield.
claybar the glass, put on a coat (or two) of a ceramic coating from any store you like, and clean the blades themselves. If like me, that should help out a lot, if not fix it for you.
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