Intermittant Wipers Change Speed [Archive] - Chevy Malibu Forum: Chevrolet Malibu Forums

: Intermittant Wipers Change Speed


Jcol
01-14-2009, 11:49 AM
Not sure if others have noticed this before but my wife kept telling me that the intermittant delay on the wipers appears to be speed sensitive in some cases. I really didn't believe her but I drove the car today and this is what I discovered. On the third intermittant setting, the one with the least delay between wipes, once you hit 80 kph (50 mph) the brief delay disappears and the wipers switch to non-intermittant mode. Slow down below 50 mph and the wiper drop back to interminttant. This doesn't seem to happen on the two other intermittant settings but it does on the third one. Don't recall seeing this mentioned anywhere so I thought I would pass it on. Thanks

Yury
01-14-2009, 11:55 AM
I think it was mentioned before.

BTW, I wish the speed when i becomes constant was lower...

Wisconsin Proud
01-14-2009, 02:42 PM
I'm confused by this as well. If I want my wipers to go faster I will adjust the knob MYSELF. By having it automatically speed up defeats the purpose of the intermittent wiper.

If I'm on the highway and I have it in the slowest postition, it's for a reason: I want it at that speed!! But when I speed up it tends to swipe too often and get that scaping rubber on dry windshield sound.

It forces me to shut off the wiper completely and use the "mist" one swipe position.

Another form of overengineering.

beach
01-14-2009, 04:04 PM
Yes, it's been a common feature for a long while...on GM's and many, many others.

It's interesting, but for me as I never ever use my wipers (Aquapel on all the glass...water beads and even with muck, the most I'll do is a tap down "mist" swipe), it doesn't bother me. That said, on the rental '07 I had where I did have to use wipers--the same stalk--I never could fully get it just right. The ratchet up combined with the spinning knob, both of which seemed to do the same thing and confused me, and then would speed up with driving speed...I just never got used to it, with my lack of wiper use. My mother has never had a problem and enjoys how they work.

TMoneyR523
01-14-2009, 04:24 PM
Yes, it's been a common feature for a long while...on GM's and many, many others.

It's interesting, but for me as I never ever use my wipers (Aquapel on all the glass...water beads and even with muck, the most I'll do is a tap down "mist" swipe), it doesn't bother me. That said, on the rental '07 I had where I did have to use wipers--the same stalk--I never could fully get it just right. The ratchet up combined with the spinning knob, both of which seemed to do the same thing and confused me, and then would speed up with driving speed...I just never got used to it, with my lack of wiper use. My mother has never had a problem and enjoys how they work.

beach
01-14-2009, 06:17 PM
Yes, it's been a common feature for a long while...on GM's and many, many others.

It's interesting, but for me as I never ever use my wipers (Aquapel on all the glass...water beads and even with muck, the most I'll do is a tap down "mist" swipe), it doesn't bother me. That said, on the rental '07 I had where I did have to use wipers--the same stalk--I never could fully get it just right. The ratchet up combined with the spinning knob, both of which seemed to do the same thing and confused me, and then would speed up with driving speed...I just never got used to it, with my lack of wiper use. My mother has never had a problem and enjoys how they work.

Are we twins in this regard too...perhaps? :)

TMoneyR523
01-14-2009, 07:04 PM
No we both just happen to know a lot about this particular topic :-p

beach
01-14-2009, 07:06 PM
No we both just happen to know a lot about this particular topic :-p

Aye, yes, very true.

TMoneyR523
01-14-2009, 07:17 PM
Except I use rain-x on my car... :-O

USA1fan
01-15-2009, 05:46 AM
This is why I miss the RainsenseII wipers that the Avalanche had. There were moments when it would swipe that it didn't need to, or not swipe until there was far too much on the windshield, but by and large it was dead on, with nearly no intervention necessary on my part during rainy-day driving. With the 'bu I often find myself speeding up / slowing down, turning off, turning on, mist tapping, etc. all on a single drive because here in the mountains the rain is seldom consistent in volume from one mile to the next.. :(

I probably need to get some Aquapel too! :cool:

Jcol
01-15-2009, 06:45 AM
Thanks for the replies - while it may have been a known feature for some it wasn't for me. Our previous vechile was a 06 Pontiac Torrent and I'm pretty sure it didn't have this feature and my 99 GMC truck doesn't. Anyway I only see this on the third intermittant setting, does it do it on the other two settings as well?

TMoneyR523
01-15-2009, 07:03 AM
I'm surprised this wasn't on your Pontiac... this is not new technology.. it was in my 06 Cobalt and both of my parents 2005 Cadillacs at the time (Well my dad had rain-sense.. but the escalade had speed-change intermittant wipers).

Yury
01-15-2009, 07:47 AM
In general I like that feature, although in the Bu it could use a little tweaking. On my Accord the algorithm was more elaborate, it would turn on constant sooner and it would slow down when the car was not moving. Overall it did save me some fiddling. Malibu does too, but it's a bit less refined.

Pizza Man
01-15-2009, 08:04 AM
My Ridgeline has a nice feature where, when stopped at a light with the wipers set for intermittant operation, the wipers will swipe when you remove your foot from the brake regardless of the set timing interval.