407 SW Wiper Blade Recommendations

[EDC5]

^ That sounds good and I would use something similar if it wasn’t for the fact than on the X7 you cannot control how long the washer jets come on for. I find this particularly dangerous if you only need a tiny squirt of water yet your vision is obscured for about 3-4 seconds (feels like an age) whilst the spray covers the entire screen!

This means that in winter when clearing salt spray you go through gallons of screen wash as you have to have the full 5 seconds of spray every time you want to clean the window even though most of the time 1 second of spray is more than enough!

[myglaren]

I tried Rain-X antimist on the inside of the screen.
Made it worse and was a bugger to remove.

[GiveMeABreak]

^ That sounds good and I would use something similar if it wasn’t for the fact than on the X7 you cannot control how long the washer jets come on for. I find this particularly dangerous if you only need a tiny squirt of water yet your vision is obscured for about 3-4 seconds (feels like an age) whilst the spray covers the entire screen!

This means that in winter when clearing salt spray you go through gallons of screen wash as you have to have the full 5 seconds of spray every time you want to clean the window even though most of the time 1 second of spray is more than enough!

Indeed! Now multiply that by a factor of 3 if using with headlamps activated with the headlamp washers - these each extend and squirt twice. I go through gallons in the winter. But we use the Halfrauds ready mixed premium stuff and that is pretty good - never freezes.

[white exec]

Please, nobody get me an X7 for my birthday.

[GiveMeABreak]

Very similar now on most new vehicles Chris - the old manually operated pump that works only as and when you pull the stalk are well over

They are all metered and timed operations now - so if you are a bit low on washer fluid and it is a grotty misty rainy day with salt, grime and oil on the road in rush hour traffic being turfed up by the car in front (where the owner can't be bothered to fit mud flaps), then you've had it with trying to eek out a smattering of screen wash to make it last until you can get to a garage. Extremely annoying.

So if caught short, I have to turn the headlamps off from auto, to avoid these spraying what little fluid I have, and leave the windscreen until it literally is getting like spreading chocolate on the glass before I use the wash!

The tale is not over.... so ultimately, I decided to keep a spare 5 litre of screen wash in the boot - but typically the boot strap won't fit a 5 litre container, so wedged it up with some other things. Then 2 months later, my parking assistance started playing up - with intermittent functionality. Took it to the dealer (under warranty) - left it with them for a day, The Service Manager contacted me and said they had found remnants of some unusual purple liquid that was covering the spare wheel and the parking assistance ECU and were at a loss to explain it - suffice it to say there was a strong smell of blackberry everywhere!

So highly embarrassed, I explained it must of been the Halfrauds purple screen wash that leaked out and into the spare and drowned the ECU. I dismantled it and cleaned up everything, and it took me a week to clean the circuits, dry, re-clean, and dry and repeat thoroughly before it recovered and worked again.

So my lesson now is every week I top the reservoir up and never keep liquids in the boot.

[myglaren]

I keep mine in the boot, in a plastic box with bungees and ropes for the roof rack, cleaning stuff and an electric tyre inflater. Can't tip over with all that crap around it.

I was very pleased with myself yesterday, cleaned the screen inside and out, removed the screen spray nozzle and backflushed it - it gets full of crap and needs doing approximately annually, checked tyre pressures and filled washer bottle.
My wiper blades have been on since before I bought this heap almost seven years ago and have seen a screen replacement

I did try and buy a replacement set of the recommended Valeo wipers but the bloke in the parts shop refused to order them (£70)!
Instead he got a bottle of Glasgae Brandy* from under the counter and cleaned the screen with it. Wipers then worked like new, no juddering and screeching.
I do have a set of Michelin spares here, may fit them one day but probably not.
A regular clean with *meths keeps it all working nicely.

[white exec]

The better screen washes seem to contain 'meths' - well, isopropyl alcohol, anyway.
One brand here contains so much of it, you can get a buzz just from using the screenwashers!

Marc, on the X7 quip, it wasn't just the s/wash dosing issue, but the long list of all the other things that plague it, as detailed in these pages. I do take my hat off to anyone who chooses to run and maintain a C5 II or III - and a common preference for earlier versions is interesting - but I really would now not choose to take on leaking racks, unserviceable struts, fluid-damaged pumps, damage-prone reservoirs, etc. etc. etc.

I'm not without maintenance ability, and will face up to the unavoidable and unpredictable failure, and just get stuck in and fix it. However, in the case of C5 X7, component failure now seems both predictable but - thankfully - avoidable. It's just not a car I would choose to run. Not waving the flag, I know, but . . .

[EDC5]

^ I understand compeltely, without a very patient father and a decently equipped workshop at home I'm afraid my X7 ownership would have been a relatively short one.

In the 2.5 years I've owned mine I have had to:

Replace both front struts,
Recondition suspension hydraulic pump,
Reseal the gearbox pan gasket due to a leak,
Replace fuel pressure regulator on HP pump,
Replace driver’s side window regulator,
And most recently affect a repair to the unreplaceable air con pipe that runs from the condenser to the bulkhead.

That's just my ownership! I've found that my car has had at least one new steering rack in addition to a new engine relay module (BSM).

Touch wood the engine and gearbox have been solid, not having the manual gearbox has surely saved me from a clutch and a DMF or two!

They really are delightful cars to drive, almost everyone that travels in mine will make a comment about either the ride or some little noteworthy feature; but I couldn't honestly recommend one to anyone I liked…. unless they could do a lot of the work themselves or had a warranty with the car.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes it is a labour of love on these - very much like my early GS days - it was forever in the garage for CV joints and I lost count how many sets of brake pads I fitted, closely followed by carb and heater issues on my CX.... each has their share of issues.