sickntired

I have always been annoyed that even at its fastest speed (set manually by having the lever all the way down), the wipers on my wife's 2004 RX 330 seemed somewhat slow. This is not on the intermittent setting where you adjust the speed of the rain sensing wipers. Its only a problem when in a hard downpour.

Yesterday, I got a 2009 RX 350 loaner and I decided to check its wiper speed and was surprised that it was faster, maybe by 20%

Was there a change to the wiper motor or something with the newer RXs? Or is there a setting somewhere that sets the maximum speed? Or is mine defective? It has always been this speed so it wasn't like it got slower with time.

Thanks.

kiwi

this wont help the speed, but go and get some Aquapel. it is the same as rainx, but will last on your glass for at least 6 months, and only costs about 20 bucks (if you do it yourself, 50 if you get the shop to do it).

since putting this on i use my wipers half as much

hesham1

could be an impending electrical issue? My friend recently replaced the alternator and battery on his car and was amazed at how much faster his wipers and windows operate. Are you noticing any other electrical components on your RX operating slowly? like the windows, sunroof, etc

sickntired

sometimes I wonder if the steering wheel retracts slower than what it used to but that could be the way it's always been. I don't think that it is the battery as I just replaced it last winter w/ an Optima Red Top and it was doing the same thing before then. Could it be the alternator in this case? However, doesn't the battery control the retraction of the steering wheel when the car is turned off?

What is the way to test the alternator to see if it's going bad?

hesham1

autozone will test your alternator for free. they can test the output to see if its putting out a high enough voltage. if your electrical system is good to go, then perhaps you can at least narrow your troubleshooting a little closer to the actual wiper motor?

mandyfig

Could be your wiper motor going out....