Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia Forum

Technical => 932 Series (156, GTV, Spider, 147, GT, and 166) => Topic started by: lombardi on December 16, 2013, 10:53:08 AM

Title: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: lombardi on December 16, 2013, 10:53:08 AM
Supercheap does not list a product for rear wiper rubbers for 2002 147, my daughters car, on ebey they seem to sell the complete arm but i just need the rubber blade, anyone out there knows the size required and where to purchase, thanks.regards
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Cool Jesus on December 16, 2013, 11:58:11 AM
There's nothing special about the rear blade from memory. Just head over to supercheap or whomever, pull out the blade and compare. You may need to cut the end to size if anything. Supercheap will even fit it, if your not capable.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Cool Jesus on December 16, 2013, 12:07:19 PM
Here's a post on their sizing. The rear is 300mm, just measure the channel of the arm for relevant size. I'd imagine its a 6mm channel, could be wrong

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-and-gt/239131-what-size-wiper-blades-for-a-147-a.html (http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-147-156-and-gt/239131-what-size-wiper-blades-for-a-147-a.html)

I think you'll find that it's not worth selling a single blade on eBay as postage would cost more than the item. So buyers would be put off. Instead you either get the whole arm or a set of 5 or more blades.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: extraball on December 16, 2013, 05:09:11 PM
mine started to split, the rubber that touches the glass peeling away from the top piece of flat rubber. Super-glued it back together, passed rego, works like new.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Cool Jesus on December 16, 2013, 06:37:25 PM
Don't be such a tight ass ET. Apart from placing air in your tyres this has to be the cheapest part to buy.
By the way, noticed only recently that if it's raining and you have your front wipers going, If you go into reverse the rear wiper comes on automatically.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: extraball on December 16, 2013, 07:16:40 PM
gotta be a tight arse when you own 4 cars, and only one person pays the bills to keep em going  ;) Noticed the same thing awhile back, surprised when the wipers came on when I reversed outside in the rain.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: lombardi on December 16, 2013, 07:20:55 PM
Thanks for the replies, funny enough mine split as well,must be common for the rear rubber.regards
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Cool Jesus on December 16, 2013, 08:04:50 PM
Hang on Lombardi, I think we're going a bit far with blamin Alfa for the wiper blade perishing  :o
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: extraball on December 16, 2013, 08:13:04 PM
prob the original as well :)
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: colcol on December 16, 2013, 09:46:46 PM
In my experience, the wiper blades are 6mm or 8mm wide where they slide into the wiper arm, pull the old one out and measure it, they usuall y come in 300mm - 12 inch lengths that you cut off to suit, and there is usually a clip on the end, that supposed to stop the blade walking off the arm, if not, you can 'burr it up', with some needle nosed pliers to stop any sideways movement.
If you use a metal clip, put it at the bottom of the arm, so if and when the clip comes loose it only scratches the bottom arc of the screen, put it at the top of the arm and when it comes loose it scratches a big arc on the rear screen.
Buy the best brands such as Trico, Tridon or Bosch, no name brands and home brands are rubbish and drive you mad with their smearing and chattering, Colin.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Mick A on December 17, 2013, 12:37:04 AM
6.5mm
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: lombardi on December 17, 2013, 12:52:29 PM
Cool jesus, u are probably right in saying its the original, i would not dare blame Alfa for anything negative,especially so close to Natale, i am a christian u know. merry christmass
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Cool Jesus on December 17, 2013, 12:59:18 PM
It's all in jest, I know. Make sure you mention your indiscretion of taking the Alfa name in vane at confessional and all will be forgiven  8)
PS ET mentioned original.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: pep105 on December 17, 2013, 01:13:38 PM
Vane or Vain ?  :) :) :)

Oh yes forgotten that the rear wiper used to come on when you
Put it into reverse. My sisters old Golf had that feature as well but it wasn't an
Alfa.......

Lombardi see you at church ill be in the confessional box

Boun Natale
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: colcol on December 17, 2013, 08:05:51 PM
I thought that there were only 2 sizes, 6mm and 8mm, according to some catalogs i have seen, but 6,5mm is a new one to me, must be close to the old 1/4 inch, listen to Choderboy as he knows more than me, it never ceases to amaze me how complicated changing a wiper blade can be, with all the different sizes and designs, Colin.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: lombardi on December 18, 2013, 12:53:03 PM
Too right Col about the difficulty of wiper blades, that is why i love the service at supercheap until i showed them the rear 147 blades, the guy is still reeling from experiencing a complicated alfa, go figure, i will just go down the path of taking out the old one and buy accordingly, whilst i am here on the 147 subject, i am a fan of the alfas from the 80s, but must comment on how nice owning and driving the 147 is, absolute pleasure to drive and be in,aicon is awesome,finish is first class,seating position is perfect ,am absolutely impressed by the whole product, gotta be for the price a gem, my daughters has tan leather interior with factory sunroof and red exterior, i can not stop but admire the design,i guess a modern alfasud, i truly recommend a 147 and i was a sceptic, and pep , am steering away from the confession box, my memory does me no justice.regards
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Craig147 on December 18, 2013, 02:18:33 PM
Easy enough to just pop the old one out & put in the multifit type, I use a tridon silicon type from memory & they do the job fine. Had to do it a few times as mine are in the weather lots & I hate when they drag & get noisy. ;D
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: extraball on December 18, 2013, 02:22:33 PM
I hadnt driven the wife's car, a toyota in quite awhile. Jumped into it last nite, and everything just felt wrong. When we bought her camry we both loved it, but since owning the 147 I just expect awhole lot more. I am probably doomed to drive alfas from now on lol 147 GTA would be my upgrade  8)
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: colcol on December 18, 2013, 04:45:24 PM
I changed the front wipers on the 156, and it was about the easiest job i had ever done, from memory they were 6 mm wide, and it was all done in about 10 minutes, sometimes these wiper blade go on forever, bloke at Repco told me the blades i purchased were crap, but they were out of stock of the brand name 6mm wide, after about 3 weeks they started to chatter, so i purchased some brand name wiper blades and they are allgood, Colin.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Mick A on December 19, 2013, 02:02:14 AM
Only the metal rail wiper refills come in 6.5mm/7.5mm/8.5mm.

Rubber/Plastic in round numbers.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: lombardi on December 19, 2013, 11:28:01 AM
Went to repco with old wiper blade in hand, funny enough he had singles behind the counter,thought id have to buy a set, i am not the handiest with the tools but this was an easy job even for a novice like myself,gave me a sense of satisfaction,next time might even bite the bullet and takle front wiper blades. Merry christmas.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: colcol on December 19, 2013, 05:39:50 PM
If the front blades are the same as a 156, then it is an easy job, the wiper blades should 'fall over', that is, the wiper frame should lead the blade and when it gets to the end of its stroke, the blade should 'flip' over, if not, they will chatter, Colin.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: Mick A on December 19, 2013, 09:38:26 PM
Ok cool so now hopefully the painfully boring wiper blades discussion has finished.

Good. Next topic.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: hotalfa156 on December 19, 2013, 10:12:59 PM
Can someone tell me how to stop the chatter on the front wipers.

Sorry for straying off topic from "rear wiper".

Also I have a 156, not a 147.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: colcol on December 19, 2013, 10:40:31 PM
Hello hotalfa156, try using a good brand of wiper blade such as Bosch, Trico or Tridon or any name brand, make sure you have wiper fluid in your wiper reservoir, not car wash, shampoo, dish washing liquid or hand wash, but the proper stuff to clean and lubricate screen.
Give your screen a good clean with some Brasso, toothpaste or swirl and scratch remover polish, to remove the rubbish that accumulates on the glass, and make sure the wiper blade holder leads the wiper blade, so that the wiper blade 'falls over' and flips back the other direction when the blade comes to the end of the stroke, it has to pull the wiper blade, rather than push it, Colin.
Title: Re: 147 rear wiper blade
Post by: extraball on December 20, 2013, 07:56:35 AM
Quote from: Choderboy on December 19, 2013, 09:38:26 PM
Ok cool so now hopefully the painfully boring wiper blades discussion has finished.

Good. Next topic.

147 wipers are a painful subject. The the plastic linkages on the control arms break easily, and have broken on mine. The repair I did a few months ago is starting to fail, so out the whole assembly comes, and I re-think the fix.