DIY: Refinishing A Vehicles Wiper Arms (Video Tutorial)

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ProStreetDriver
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DIY: Refinishing A Vehicles Wiper Arms (Video Tutorial)

Postby ProStreetDriver » Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:06 pm

Video tutorial on how to clean up those rusty pealing windshield wiper arms on your vehicle. This method applies to both front and rear windshield wiper arms of a vehicle.

Procedure:
-the wiper arms can either be painted on the vehicle or removed from the vehicle, extra taping off will have to be done if you decide to paint the arms on the vehicle to ensure there is no over spray
-in order to remove the wiper arms, most are held on my a nut to the shaft on the cowl which can be accessible from under the hood of a vehicle
-sometimes there is a plastic cap covering the nut which needs to be popped off
-once the nut is exposed, determine the correct size socket and loosen the nut
-sometimes the wiper arm will pop off, other times you will need a puller to remove it
-in this case, I used a battery puller to remove the arm
-leaving the nut flash with the threaded shaft, install the battery puller and tight until the arm comes free
-sometimes the puller might need a light tap with a hammer to jar the arm loose
-once the arm is removed from the vehicle, you can now remove the windshield wiper from the arm assembly
-scrape off an loose paint with a scraper
-continue to sand down the rusty or pealing paint areas with 200grit sandpaper
-once done, give the rest of the wiper arm a sand down with 400grit sandpaper
-another option besides sanding would be to sand blast the arm assembly if you have access to one
-wipe the arm down with a degreaser and now you're ready to apply a coat of filler primer or ordinary primer
-filler primer will help fill in any pitting from the rust on the arm itself if you decide to go with that route
-once the primer is dry, give the arm another sand down with 400grit paper careful not to expose any of the bare metal
-give the arm another wipe down with degreaser to ensure there is no contaminants on the piece
-pick your choice of color or finish of black (I picked the low gloss black Fleet Paint by Dupli-Color)
-now you can paint the piece, apply 2-3 coats to both the underside and top portion of the arm
-allow the paint to fully harden before you flip it over to paint the opposite side or reinstall it on the vehicle
-installation of wiper arm and windshield wipers in reverse order of removal/disassembly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxKg5bvHPk


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