Winter Problems, But Good Brakes

[markatty]

Anyone else have a rear window wiper that doesn't work very well? Mine only cleans the window over about 1/2 its length. The rest of the arc is just a smear of dirt, since the wiper doesn't touch the window firmly near the top. In the winter with all the water, sand and salt the window gets really dirty and not being able to see out the rear is a pain. Even where the wiper does clean off the dirt using the washing fluid, it leaves a film that at night reflects the lights of the car behind me so that I can't see out of that portion very well either. The wiper appears to conform to the window in its off position and its obviously new. It just doesn't do a very good job. Any ideas?

Also just went to one of those car washes with the spinning plastic pom-poms just to get the road salt and dirt off the car. After car wash I found that the spinner that cleans the front of the car had caught the lower left corner and bent the license plate and the dealers frame around the license at almost a 90 degree angle and partially pulled out the license plate screw on the left side. Looks like its hand washing from here on in.

On the good side, as I was leaving the dealer after my 10K mile check-up, I got to talking with the service manager. I asked him about the long gentle braking to charge the battery possibly causing excessive wear on the brakes. We both took a look and he said the rotors and what he could see of the brake pads looked almost new, so hybrids may be good for brakes.

[RX400h]

I can't say I have much experience with mud and snow on the RX - it's been in the 70s here. BUT, I am happy to hear about the brakes, especially when we're talking about a 4600 lb vehicle. Regarding car washes: I NEVER let a machine clean any of my vehicles. I've seen too many scratches, either from the machines or the people who dry the vehicle afterward.

[SW03ES]

Braking long and smooth doesn't hurt the disc brakes because you're not using them you're using the regenerative brakes. You have to push through the regenerative brakes to get into the disc brakes. The Prius folks have found they can go 100k or more on the original front pads.

As for the carwash, yes thats why you shouldn't use a carwash, but thats an issue with all the Lexus because they only attatch the license plate by the top and don't reinforce the bottom. You can solve that by getting a nice substantial metal license plate frame, like the one the dealer sells for $50 a peice that says "Lexus" on the bottom. You can get them cheaper online though.

[Rx330driver]

yeah i bought one of those 50 dollars ones for the back, but the front is from the dealership. It is actually metal, and it has screws on the top, and until recently, i found out the bottom is also clipped on, but they fall off easily. This is why i told them to give me a new one, since some jack***es keep hitting the front of my car!

Edited January 8, 2006 by Rx330driver

[kmke]

We had similar difficulties with the rear window wiper in snow and road slush until we added RAIN-X to the glass - seems to have made the glass more slippery and the blades now seem adequate to squeegy the entire wipe area. $5 for Rain and 15 minutes to rub it into the glass.

[alank22181]

We had similar difficulties with the rear window wiper in snow and road slush until we added RAIN-X to the glass - seems to have made the glass more slippery and the blades now seem adequate to squeegy the entire wipe area. $5 for Rain and 15 minutes to rub it into the glass.

This is design flaw and should be fixed immediately. No reason at all for rear wipers to contact surface with enough pressue accross the entire window. At over $40,000, no one should be having these types of complaints! The 400h with AWD us supposed to work well in all weather conditions... snow, ice among them. Your life is in jeapordy if/when the rear wipers fail to give you a clear window. I'd bring it in and tell them to fix the problem- don't let the dealer off the hook. While Rain-X is a quick fix, you will be refreshing it often as it tends to wear off uder daily use for ice.snow/rain clearing. The wiper blade pressure might be agjustable.

alank in Vienna, Va (formerly in VT)

[SW03ES]

yeah i bought one of those 50 dollars ones for the back, but the front is from the dealership. It is actually metal, and it has screws on the top, and until recently, i found out the bottom is also clipped on, but they fall off easily. This is why i told them to give me a new one, since some jack***es keep hitting the front of my car!

The dealer one is just cheap metal though if its metal. Trust me, that $50 one from Lexus won't bend, it'll pull the screws right out of the bumper before it bends.

This is design flaw and should be fixed immediately. No reason at all for rear wipers to contact surface with enough pressue accross the entire window. At over $40,000, no one should be having these types of complaints! The 400h with AWD us supposed to work well in all weather conditions... snow, ice among them. Your life is in jeapordy if/when the rear wipers fail to give you a clear window. I'd bring it in and tell them to fix the problem- don't let the dealer off the hook. While Rain-X is a quick fix, you will be refreshing it often as it tends to wear off uder daily use for ice.snow/rain clearing. The wiper blade pressure might be agjustable.

alank in Vienna, Va (formerly in VT)

In all fairness to Lexus, this is a common problem with SUVs and minivans with rear wipers. Since the wiper arm isn't very long they don't put a lot of pressure on the glass surface and you oftentimes see missed patches or skipping. The problem is made worse by swoopy curved glass designs.

Its not really a safety issue as SUVs, wagons, and vans aren't required by law to have a rear wiper in the first place.

There legitimately might not be anything they can do.