[ka7slc]

Since the very first day I drove my Terrain off the lot, I have had a difficult time getting the front windshield (passenger side) to clear off rain.

The blade leaves a large wavery section that actually appears to be an abberation in the glss and not a wiper blade function.

Has anyone else noticed that there may be abberations in their front windshield glass?

In the meatime, I have used glass cleaner, RAIN-X and other glass cleaning items without success. I will try to replace the wiper blade this week.

Either way, I am seeing very economical materials, glass, wiper blades, materials, sheet metal being used to build the Terrain.

 

[GMCdriver]

I found the wipers to be fantastic on this vehicle but I also opted to have my windshield treated with Aquapel at the dealership before I took delivery.
That stuff is fantastic and is likely a big part of why I have been so happy with the preformance of this vehicle's water clearing abilities.

 

[nitti48]

If I make short trips when I get my Terrain and its raining every so often I am gonna stop and give the wifey a squeege every so often..make her get out and do the windshield,hehe....another post I never should have read...right Snowitch

 

[tbox302]

first let me say that I haven't tried all I can yet to narrow down the cause for this, but I have noticed lately that I can see little squiggles (the closest I've gotten to describing the way this looks is heat shimmers) in the windshield. they are most noticeable at edges of objects seen through it (bumpers, road lines, signs etc.). this is not the case with the other glass in the vehicle as far as I can tell, and it's one of those things that once you notice it, you see it every time. it's gotten to the point where I have to make myself not focus on those areas. I still need to do a full wash and clean but using the windshield wiper fluid didn't help. just wanted to throw that out there.

 

[Steve A]

Take to dealer and bitch vigorously !!!

 

[nitti48]

Nope..she will never drive it unless an emergency arises and she has to..She got a new Chevy Malibou..She is content driving her own car..

 

[Narg]

I also have a consideration about the "economical materials". What I see is materials made to be very light weight in order to save gas. I can see that they may be considered cheap. But after time, you'll see that they are not that bad.

Far too often I read reviews that bash GM for plasticy interiors. In the 7 GM vehicles I've owned, the interiors have outlasted any other family or friend's Toyota or Honda for longevity on those materials. I think they look fantastic, espcially after 10 years when they still look like new (at least where I could take care of them). In contract my Sister had a Toyota Camry that was the same age, and garage kept. Her dash and doors shredded, where my Chevy at the time still looked very good.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents on that topic.

 

[z73421]

I have the above mentioned problem on the driver side. A fairly large section that does not clear very well. I am hoping it is just the wiper blades but have been too cheap to try another pair.

 

[scottyyyc]

I'd be willing to bet I know what it is. I had this issue on an 07 Civic of mine (right out of the factory), and it drove me nuts for the better part of a year. On my civic, the wiper wasn't clearing a small portion of the glass (near the middle of the blade) at the top half of its stroke. The area got bigger and bigger over time, and throwing new blades and fluid at the issue solved nothing. It got so bad, the middle 50% of the blade wasn't even touching the glass on most of the window. But at first, it just loooked like the wiper wasn't doing a terribly good job.

Enter WD40.

It turned out that although the spring was 'sucking' the wiper to the glass, it wasn't nearly strong enough. Take some WD-40 (and self-respecting car owner person should have some of this), and lube the entire hinge and spring mechanism at the base of the blade. Let the oil work in for a few minutes while working the hinge a bit manually, and then repeat the whole process again. Wipe off excess. After I did this, I felt a massive difference in the amount of force pulling the wipers towards the glass. Voila, fixed the wiper issue that drove me nuts for the better part of a year. WD-40 is the nectar of the gods.

I would highly recommend giving the whole mechanism a good lubing before you take it into the dealer. It'll take you 5 mins, and wont hurt anything anyway. Chances are it's not the blade or the glass, and even if you feel pull, it might not be sucking the blade to the windows hard enough. Even if there is a slight imperfection in the glass, a good tight wiper should make up for it.

It may or may not fix the issue, but hopefully it does.

 

[Roesterman]

Im going to try that WD-40 thing on the Trailblazer I am borrowing till I get my 'Nox.
The rear tailgate glass has one of those big round areas that's not getting cleaned!

 

[tbox302]

thanks for the info scotty, i'm going to try that soon (i also have an area on the driver's side that is missed or smeared on the wiper's return, but this could also be due to dirt or something).

 

[Islander]

We've had a fair amount of rain since I got the Terrain and I've been quite pleased with the wiper performance, windshield and rear window. Actually does a much better job with a lot better coverage than I expected. I'd get the dealer to try new blades first, hose the window down on the lot and see how they work. As a backup, I'd follow Nitti and SnowItch advice!

 

[gearhead]

It's a good idea to frequently clean the wiper blades themselves as well.
Just take an old clean rag, towel or shop cloth and give them a good wiping.
You can pour a little windshield washer on the towel first for added cleaning power.
You may be amazed at the gunk that comes off the blades!

 

[Islander]

Good point Gearhead. I like to keep my blades pretty clean as well. It's hard to believe what comes off on that towel. Makes ya wonder how it ever worked at all. FLA, when we really do have all that sun, and then thunderstorms, and then sun again, punishes wiper blades. I replace them regularly.

 

[ka7slc]

Hi All, well, I tried rain x, glass cleaner, you name it, the windshield has a hard time looking clear, especially after the blade runs past it.

I replaced the Driver side wiper ($23.00) from the auto parts store (yes, they are fully available and OEM units).

It helped allot.

Having put in a few brand new windshields in my other vehicles in the past, this one that comes with the Terrain is cheap and not polished very well.

My GMC vehicle was close to $28K, so to the "Snow" ******* who keeps saying "you should have bought a more expensive car" I can only say shut your mouth and want to tell him that his silly comments are not warranted or useful.

 

[TerryG]

I had a Camaro long ago that had an distortion in the glass. I was on the drivers side next to the roof post. It wasnt in the direct line of sight but still noticable. The dealer/GM could also see the problem but said it wasnt in the area of the windshield that you would normally look so they refused to fix the problem. I never did get a stone chip or crack so I had to live with it.

 

[gearhead]

"Keeps saying". I stated it once, and I'll stick by the comment. If you wanted top tier parts, buy a top tier car. You paid for a Chevy, you got chevy parts. (Now I've said it twice, so I guess that counts for "keeps saying" it now).

The second part of that same post, which would have taken care of your problem, was to get a glass polish.

You go Snow!!!
Funny how some peeps read into things sometimes.

On the topic of the thread, I have noticed some "ripples" in the windshield.
Is it a show stopper for us?
No.
Will we mention it to the Dealer?
Yes.
They need the feedback to send to GM to make the quality better for all of us...JMHO.

 

[gearhead]

I had a Camaro long ago that had an distortion in the glass. I was on the drivers side next to the roof post. It wasnt in the direct line of sight but still noticable. The dealer/GM could also see the problem but said it wasnt in the area of the windshield that you would normally look so they refused to fix the problem. I never did get a stone chip or crack so I had to live with it.

Thanks for the feedback, TerryG.
It does seem to stand out more once you know it's there, but I rarely give it second thought, maybe ours is not as bad as others?
The wife hasn't mentioned it once, and she drives the Terrain a lot more than I do...
Maybe I noticed because I saw the thread here LOL???

On another note, I noticed in your signature line you have some Husky liners in your Equinox.
You mind me asking is it a cargo liner or for the floor?
I'm more interested in the cargo liner and what you think of it if that is in fact what you have.
Sorry to get off topic, maybe you've already posted in another thread somewhere?

 

[gearhead]

I haven't seen any ripples on mine. Do they appear to be on the outside?

Have you tried a glass polish? My wife had a similar issue on her Toyota ("ripples" is a good way to describe it), and I got some polishing pads (for my random orbital) and some glass polish from Griot's Garage. The polish has small abrasive particles that actually "sand" the glass and make it smooth. Took about 15 minutes of polishing her windows to completely remove the "ripples".

I really haven't checked into it in detail, Snow, as far as on the outside, inside, what have you.
As I posted above, I probably would never have noticed had it not been for the thread here!
8) ;D 8)
I will investigate in more detail this weekend and if I can get the right lighting, I'll see if I can get some clean Hi-Res shots to show how trivial it is IMHO.
I mean it's not the Hubble telescope we're working on here LOL!!!
I don't mean to offend anyone here, they may have legitimate gripes, of course, and their case may be worse than ours.
Just sayin'...some folks tend to demand perfection in everything and will always find a flaw somewhere.
That's what makes the world such an interesting place LOL!

 

[TerryG]

OK, other than NASA has anyone else used Griot's garage polish? Is it worth the $$ Ya know you guys and gals are costing me alot of money with your good ideas :>)