MG Car Club of South Australia
MGC NEWS
MGC conversations with Richard Mixture, August 2019
Wiping a clear vision
H
ello again, it’s Richard here. It’s
raining at the moment and that’s a
good thing providing you’re not out driv-
ing your MGC with the hood down, al-
though if you are a duck …
Now, I know many of you wouldn’t con-
template taking your beautifully clean
MGC out on a run when there is a fore-
cast for inclement weather. Whether it’s
sunny or cloudy, I’ve been caught in a
sudden downpour (generally when it’s
cloudy) and my poor old wiper blades
are struggling to wipe all the rain off the
windscreen. If the wiper blades are just
there for show and never used, they
may well be a little hard and crusty and
displaying the odd crack or two or …
They might even chatter or squeak at
you when you flick then on. Some-
times, when you haven’t used them in a
quite a while the blades have stuck to
the windscreen or some of the rubber
has come apart and you have a little
rubber ribbon following the blades
sweep the screen. If any of these things
are happening, then it’s time to replace
the blades.
If you wet your windscreen and turn on
your wipers, then turn them off in mid
sweep so that they are pointing up-
wards, it can make it easier to access
the blade assembly. Bend them away
from the windscreen so that they are
sticking out and now they are very easy
to access. On the underside or wind-
screen side of the arm, locate a lever
and ease it away from the arm so that
the blade can be slid off the arm.
I had an old BMC product once and this
clipped fitting, all be it slightly different,
12
was so loose that after the wipers had
been running for a couple of minutes
the wiper blade assembly would flick off
onto the road. I’d stop, pick it up, refit it
and continue on my way. Amazingly it
was never run over. Eventually I man-
aged to bring myself to spend all that
money and replace it with a new blade.
Only that one of course, not two, ‘cos I
wasn’t made of money. I would always
recommend replacing both blades to-
day. But I am wealthier now, more or
less.
Over the years I found that fronting up
to the spare parts counter and asking
for a part you are always given a choice
of a dozen or so options. I never knew
which one to choose. It doesn’t take
too many return trips to the parts
counter with a sample until you remem-
ber to take the sample in on the first
visit. When I was younger one trip in-
stead on two was always done in the
interests of my very narrow wallet and
saving petrol. Now a days, it’s to re-
duce carbon emissions.
By the way MGC wiper blades are 12
inches long. You’ll have to make your
own metric conversion on that one. I’ve
noticed that some cars today have dif-
ferent lengths from one side to the
other.
Now with the wiper blade assembly on
the bench you can choose either to re-
place the whole assembly or just re-
place the rubber blade. If the assembly
still works satisfactorily, the rubber
blade can be removed but check that
the length is correct, not too long and
not too short, just like the three bears.
Slide the rubber blade out of the assem-
bly claws after squeezing the metal clip