Winter and Frozen Wipers...

With winter around the corner (Mammoth this weekend!) I am getting my truck ready for heavy snow driving. Last year I discovered a really big flaw in the Tacomas design. The gap from the where driver side wiper blade ends its arc to the edge of the window. It's almost 2 inches! In my experience driving during snowfall, and especially heavy storms, the snow melt would build up and freeze in the gap. Then over time the ice patch would grow more blocking my visibility, jamming up the blades, and causing all other kinds of havac. During one percular drive back from mammoth I was sticking my hand out the window into 5 degree weather to clean that shit off every few minutes. It got to the point that I was driving with my ski glove on.

Anyhow. Ideally I would like to change the arc of the wiper movement but I doubt that's possible. As an alternative I'm thinking about either installing heated wiper blades or adding some sort of heater bar in that gap. I'm not sure how feasible or successful either of my ideas would be though.

To those who have had this problem with winter driving, did you come up with a good fix?

 

I noticed that when I tried the new arch style wipers on a different truck once, never had that problem with the old tri-y style... might try a different style/brand of wiper blade.

 

Check these out...

https://www.amazon.com/Wiper-Shaker-Effective-Windshield-Weather/dp/B01LT6ZGXE

 

I would sugget repositioning the base of the wiper arm where is links to the spindel so that is reduces the gap. The downside of this is that your wiper will also park, bottom of it's arc, higher by the same amount you have adjusted the top of the arc.

It's cheap, easy, and reversable if you do not like the result.

 

Woh. This looks very helpful.

Awesome, I'll tinker with this.

 

I think I found the solution:

https://www.frostfighter.com/clear-view-front-wiper-defrosters.htm

I'm going to install a strip where the blades rest and a vertical in that gap section. If it's not enough I'll add in the wiper shaker.

If people are interested I can report back in a month or so when the snow starts dumping.

 

Nice find. For those living in snow and ice prone areas it could be a great tool.

I am kind of surprised some enterprising TW member or vendor has not created a simular item custom spec'd for the Taco and ready to install with OEM style switches and PNP harness. I am sure there are a few guys with the expertise, maybe they just don't live in the areas hit by snow and ice.

 

I usually just crank up the heat and go full defrost when that happens.

 

Doesn't work

 

I have good luck with the rainx de-icer fluid. There is also a booster you can pour in that helps even more. It has a lot of alcohol in it.

 

I’ve never had this issue with any vehicle that I have owned or driven in the snow.

 

My wife's WRX came with something very similar on the oem windshield, we have no use for it where we live, but you may want to check out some Subaru forums to see how well they work.

 

Mine had that too. That and the heated seats were pretty awesome on frigid mornings.

 

******************
YES! Move to AZ. No snow, no rain , no need for wipers. Mine are glued to the windshield by now.

 

But I live for winter sooooooooo

 

This will work. For a $150 all in it, you will be stoked. I had this on my Subaru and it made all the difference in the coldest and snowiest conditions.

 

Sub'd. I don't know how much snow we will get in RI this year but i'm interested in your results with the strips.

 

I just purchased ebay blankets for the windows .
I live in Canada and suffer far worse than you guys on the other side of the map .
Its already 30 below zero and we are getting hit with some nasty snow storms .That said , we still get the fog and dew in the morning covering the windshield with frozen ice that needs to be thawed or scraped off before we can legally move our vehicles
When you park your truck , take 2 minutes out of your day to place a cover on your windshield and you will be suprised at how much scraping this saves . Well worth the 6 bucks . Its the cheapest , yet best fix I could come up with for a common complaint
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/401298731569

 

The wife's 4Runner came with this from the factory. I believe the strips are only across the bottom of the windshield where your kit is bottom and side but it's the same concept. I have only had to use it one time a couple years ago but it worked really well.

 

I have bought a cover for this season for that very reason.


I know you guys are in a different league but I'm not exaggerating when I say my area gets hammered too.

That photo was taken about 2-3 hours after I had already cleaned out the bed.