another thing to replace, brand-new but now broken rear wiper arm

[workingonit]

I replaced the wiper blades and washer pumps, front & rear, a few months back, including the rear arm. Everything works OK, until yesterday a.m., when I noticed the rear wiper arm hanging straight down. The attaching nut was still tight, but the new arm was stripped inside (the wiper "post", though, still looked like it did when I had changed the arm, worn but still with splines on the post. The wiper arm was in the usual position after I last drove it a few days before, and the rear wiper hasn't been used for over a month, so something happened to it while sitting there, parked.

I've got the X5 backed up to the garage door, about three feet away, so it'd be in plain sight so the neighbor's kid wouldn't mess with it (I had suspected him with letting air out of my tires, previously, but now I don't believe it was him...just loose valve stems). I feed a group of feral cats we have on the property, on the garage apron behind the X5, and perhaps one jumped on the wiper arm and stripped it out??? One or two of those cats may weigh 10 lbs.

My wife suggests an alternative theory...we've got two HUGE raccoons that show up every week or so, to help themselves to the cat food near the garage, and the largest raccoon may be 25-30 lbs (biggest one I ever saw). A possibility?

Anyway, I tried to use a self-tapper screw to wedge the wiper arm against the wiper motor post, but I had no success, and actually made the arm unusable, after several attempts (the soft zinc? pot metal arm just deteriorated, but the motor post splines still look OK). Now I need a new rear wiper arm, since I threw out the original (at least I can't find it). So, I might as well try the "improved" E70 arm & blade set.

Question: does the E70 wiper arm fit over the E53 wiper post? I've read where others have use the E70 parts on their E53's. I found a cheap Amazon replacement set for $18, that suggests that their wiper arm head has a "non-skid attachment surface...not splined", which I assumed will form its' own firm mating surface, when tightened-down with the lock nut.



Any suggestions or comments will be appreciated.

[AV8R4AA]

Been there, done that.
Just installed E70.
Do it!

[workingonit]

I found the thread (the forum search function wasn't working for me yesterday) from 4 months ago where I replaced my original wiper arm with a new one. in the same thread everyone was switching over to the E70 wiper arm, a plug & play conversion. https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...ng-window.html

So, when I receive my E70 arm and blade, I'll be sure to use loctite to keep it firmly mounted, and hopefully it won't be mysteriously pulled loose again.

[Russianblue]

FYI I fought this forever and finally figured out it wasn't the wiper arm. It was the teeth that the wiper arm slides onto - the ones connected to the wiper motor. They were stripped. Loctite and other remedies helped for a while but eventually i had to buy a new wiper motor.

[workingonit]

My rear wiper teeth are sorta stripped also, but seem to hold, using 115 in/lbs torque and liberal amounts of Loctite blue.

I had to mount the new (E70) arm twice, since I got it too low the first try, and almost too low the second time (I like the resting position to be downward, to keep debris from collecting there). The tip is just barely touching the bottom edge of the glass, but works fine.

We'll see how it holds its' position after a lot of use, so I'm hoping it lasts for awhile; it's not a real priority item, since I barely drive the X5, and it seems to never rain here anymore.

My '09 HHR Panel has a rear wiper too, and I replaced the first blade on it after 12 years (I never use it much). I'd be happy if the X5 blade lasts as long, and the arm stays solidly-affixed.