C70: What to do with the headlight wipers?

[StatusRed]

So on my project to restore the C70 I've got and get it back on the road (SORNed at the moment) I'm looking at the headlight wipers and although they work the wiper blades would need replacing.. As the whole headlight wipers idea is pretty dated as it is, I'm wondering what options exist for upgrading these, for example is there any pre-made kit which can convert them just to washer jets?

Cheers.

[DSK]

No upgrades available.

Just because it may seem dated, its a great design that works!!! Modern cars have powerful sprayers but, its like spraying your windscreen and having no wipers.

Just put new wiper blades on, its only about 10 pounds and any 70' that has them removed looks like a banger with bits missing.

[Martin Cox]

I just replace the rubber blades on my 1998 V70 headlamp wipers. Each time I replace the windscreen wipers I use one of the old ones to re-rubber the headlamp wipers. One old wiper blade cut to size will do both headlamp wipers on the V70.

It's worth retaining the steel strip inside the original rubber headlamp wiper blade to reuse since it may be stainless steel; mine were.

If you're careful, you can do this many times.

It may be an old system but it does work well. Certainly far more effective than the high pressure jets on my later V70; their only function seems to be to consume prodigious quantities of screenwash!

Martin

[StatusRed]

Thanks for the info, I'll probably keep them then! My girlfriend says they look a bit "out of sync" when I've turned the wipers on, should they be in sync or wiping towards each other or what?

[C70 98]

If you really want to get rid of them, there are blanking plugs available, no washer jets though.

[Luxobarge]

Originally Posted by StatusRed

Thanks for the info, I'll probably keep them then! My girlfriend says they look a bit "out of sync" when I've turned the wipers on, should they be in sync or wiping towards each other or what?

There's no official method to sync them, if one starts slightly later than the other one or they run at different speeds, then they'll be out of sync. To be honest it's not something I'd bother about.......

[Cookeh]

Volvo Composites based in Merseyside sell covers, but as far as Im aware there is no jet only replacement. Never liked them on the C70 (look epic on the 850s though imo), so I'd personally go down the blanking route.

[DSK]

Main reason why modern stuff doesn't have them is that would actually cost more than 10p to make it and new cars are made seriously cheap and generally a sprayer system alone is cheaper.

Usually anything with a decent lighting system usually needs a headlamp wash system of some sort.

I know mine is very useful during winter especially, seeing the car covered in snowy mush and your can see the clean sections of the headlamps where the wash and wipers did their job ensuring the light from the get gets out onto the road and not covered in crap.

[Richard_TD]

Originally Posted by DSK

Main reason why modern stuff doesn't have them is that would actually cost more than 10p to make it and new cars are made seriously cheap and generally a sprayer system alone is cheaper.

That's not the reason, or not the whole reason at least. It's because headlight lenses are made of plastic now, the surface couldn't cope with a wiper blade.

[StatusRed]

Originally Posted by Richard_TD

That's not the reason, or not the whole reason at least. It's because headlight lenses are made of plastic now, the surface couldn't cope with a wiper blade.

I'm pretty sure my C70's lamps are plastic too, are they not?