Those who have been following in the other thread know that I recently purchased my car and had it looked at by a mechanic. One recommendation she mentioned was that I needed new wipers. The old ones looked fine to me... but I went and bought some and put them on anyway.

After this I had my car washed/vacuumed by a detailing service.

The first time it rains, the first time I use the wipers, they squeak with every stroke (basically squeak every time they stop while pointing up). I found this bizarre but figured it was due to whatever chemicals the detailing people must have put on the windshield.

Tonight I'm driving around in a high traffic area (lots of lights) and notice these tiny scratches in the shape of two arcs on the windshield. At first I think it has to be residue from the new wipers... so I spray the wiper fluid on. It has no effect.

I came home and ran my hand over the windshield. The part that doesn't get wiped is smooth to the touch, but my hand catches on the wiped area. I sprayed Windex on it and rubbed pretty hard (to the point of squeaking) on the windshield in various places. It looked good until the Windex dried, then the scratches came back. I'm so mad... why would brand new blades scratch the windshield?! Has anyone else ever had this happen?

I think I threw the receipt away, but I got them at Walmart so maybe if I go back there I can demand a refund anyway because they visibly scratched my car. Just kind of nervous at this point if another pair will do the same thing. I used to put whatever blades on my 3rd gen and never had an issue.

 

How do you know the scratches weren't caused by the old wipers? Maybe you just didn't notice them before. I doubt your mechanic would have looked that closely at the glass either.

 

Sounds like someone used the wipers without blades installed or b) your old blades were so bad that it allowed metal to make contact with the glass in some areas. I seriously doubt it's the new blades

 

It can also happen when using your wipers in a dry, dusty or sandy environment. Without rain or wiper fluid, it's like wiping sandpaper across the windshield.

 

It takes a diamond to scratch glass, or worn wipers (down to metal scraping) over and over to scratch the glass.

Take 000 steel wool and go over the windshield.

 

you put the wipers on correctly, right?

 

They were most likely there before. Rubber wouldn't scratch tempered glass. My two guesses are either the metal in the wiper hit the windshield somehow, or they trapped a small pebble or metal piece between the wiper and glass and dragged it back and forth for a while.