DIY: The cheapskates way to shaving the rear wagon wiper

[Weekend Warrior]

Hey guys, I recently removed my rear wiper and plugged the hole up with a little rubber grommet. While it looked a damn site better than the big ugly wiper it still looked a little out of place due to the colour difference and i was also worried that someone could break into the car simply by pushing out the grommet and sticking a hooked wire down the hole and pulling on the lock rod to unlock the tailgate. (did it myself as a trial :S)

So i needed to come up with a way to get rid of this grommet while having it still look good, be water proof, secure and most of all completely non permanent - so when i do actually get around to getting the tail gate shaved by a professional it wont take extra work.

Here's what you will need:

- A short length of PVC piping, any size above around 5cm diameter will do it
- Paint - preferably go to auto barn and get them to mix up a can with your paint code
- Araldite glue or some similar strong bonding glue
- Silicon sealant
- a Phillips head screw driver
- Sand paper
- Plastic primer
- Degreaser or metho
- pointed end pliers or a flat head screw driver
- Water proof tape
- A pencil
- Small ammount of Blue tack
- Spanner
- Compass


Step one: Removing rear wiper
To remove the wiper simply flip up the small cover at the start of the arm to expose the bolt, undo this and it should simply just pull off



You will then need to remove the wiper motor from inside the car, so open up the tail gateand first remove the black plastic trim piece by firmly pulling down on an edge, it's held in place by metal clips so they should just disconnect once you pull on it.



Then use either your pointed end pliers or a flat head screw driver to pull out all the little plastic retaining pins, once they are all gone the carpet should drop off to reveal the wiper motor


To remove the motor you simply have to undo the the little screws with your Phillips head to release the metal backing plate, from memory there a seven(i had already done this before writing this guide). Once the plate is off disconnect the wiring loom and the motor should pull free leaving you with nothing but a small hole


Step Two: Prepping
Ok, now we will need our PVC. What you need to do is cut off a section about 8cm long off the pipe


Then cut this section in half


Then cut one half of your two new sections of pipe into a section about 3cm by 3cm


Once you have done this clean up the edges with a bit of sandpaper, doesn't have to be perfect though

The next step involves flattening these pieces, so pre heat an oven to about 150'c and then pop the pieces in until the visibly start to loose shape and flatten (usually about a minute and a half)


Once this starts to happen quickly pull them out of the oven using something like a spatula, then press the pieces firmly onto a flat surface to flatten them out. Hold them down for about 30 seconds then quickly place them in a bowl of cold water or under a cold running tape to cool them and stop warping. The end product should be two nice flat pieces of PVC plastic.



Now get your smaller piece of plastic and a compass, use the compass the scribe out a circle with 2cm diameter.


Then use some scissors or something similar to trim the edges down until you get close to the pencil marking, from then on use sand paper to get a smooth and even edge. Keep testing if the piece fits the hole by attaching it to a pencil or something similar using a small amount of blue tack. This will help you achieve the most snug fit possible.


Once you have achieved a snug fit then it's time to paint. I first gave both plastic pieces a light sand then cleaned them up using some degreaser.


Then i gave them a few coats of plastic primer


I then left the pieces in the hot Brishole sun for about 30mins before coming back and doing about 3 coats of the Phantom mica paint i got mixed up by auto barn, leaving about 3 mins between each coat while in the sun. Once i had applied the last coat i let them sit for 30 mins before applying about 4 coats of clear coat. Heres what i ended up with (Note how s.h.i.t i am at painting haha)

*NOTE: The area you paint on the bigger rectangle piece doesn't have to cover the whole thing, in case you have not yet realised this is going to be the backing plate for the circular piece to be glued onto which will then hold it in place in the tail gate, only being painted black so if the circle piece doesn't 100% fill the hole no white will show through.






Step Three: Finishing it all off

Ok, once the paint has thoroughly dried our next step is to glue the circle piece onto the backing plate. To do this i used Araldite. Araldite is a great bonding glue but you will need to work quickly with it as it starts to set almost immediately.



Once you have mixed the the two additives together apply a even ammount to both the backing plate and the back of the circular piece, then press together and hold in place for a few minutes. If any glue gets pushed out from in between the two pieces quickly clean it up. Here's what i had when the glue had dried.



Give the glue about 10 minutes to set before doing this next step.

Next we will glue the piece into place in the tail gate. to do this i stood with the tail gate open and put down a layer of news paper so no glue would get onto the carpet etc. I then made a circular ring of silicon sealant around the circle piece to (hopefully) stop water getting through, once i had done that i quickly mixed up a large amount of Araldite and applied it liberally the both the backing plate outside of my ring of silicon and to the tailgate

Sorry i don't have any pics of this, was to concerned with the glue setting while fiddling around with the camera. This diagram should give you the gist of it though.



Once both the glue and the sealant are applied press the backing plate onto the tailgate making sure that the circle piece fits snugly in the hole. I found the best way to do this is with the tailgate halfway open so you can look above it to see where the circle piece is in relation to the hole while still being able to apply pressure easily by holding the backing plate with one arm under the tailgate. Once it's in a position that you think is good then hold it there for about 4 - 5 minutes and then the glue should be bonded enough to hold itself in place. So slowly take your hand away and make sure it doesn't fall, if i doesn't then leave it for about 10 - 15 minutes checking it so often and pressing on the plate to make sure you get as much glue adhering as possible.

Once it the glue is dried go around the edges with silicon sealant. let it start to dry for about 5 minutes then smooth it all out over the edges. This will help hold the plate in place and create a water proof barrier.


When the sealant had dried out i covered the whole thing in waterproof tape to again help hold everything in place and act as a water barrier. Once this was done i then assembled the carpet and black trim piece in reverse order to finish it all off! And then your done. Here's some crappy pictures of the finished (unwashed/ polished) product.




I also recommend leaving about 24 hours before washing and polishing the area.

[Tom_1569]

Ummm But now you have no wiper, instead you have a piece of painted pvc pipe that stands out like dogs balls. I dont get it.

[SAV_117]

umm why didnt you just leave the wiper on and than get it done by a qualified person like u said u were going to

[Weekend Warrior]

like i said at the top of the post,

1. i hated the look of the massive wiper which stuck out ALOT more than the small ring you can now only see from up close

2. i have better things to spend $300 on at the moment rather than paying a pro to do it and have my car taken out for a few days

3. because when i am eventually in a position to get a pro to do it it can be done easily because what i have made can be removed without any damage to the tailgate at all.

[Shaundy]

Well I reckon it looks pretty good. I couldn't even see it in the first picture and had to use the second pic to find where it was. A nice cheap fix.

[Weekend Warrior]

^^ Thanks mate. Like i said it's far from perfect, but it's a damn site better than a huge wiper that i don't even need or a grommet that literally sticks out and isn't the same colour

[roon_VR]

I'd just like to acknowledge your fair effort in preparing such a detailed and well instructed do-it-yourself tutorial. I reckon it looks neat! Kudos to you champ

[ruggj]

i think this looks good, definately better than the wiper, and for a cheap fix, then why not

[LightningVP]

Read this a little while ago at home when internet was slow, and just looked at the pictures now, it does actually look alright actually looks original, reminds me of the pop-out pieces inside the car. good work

[azkwazere]

is this legal?

Can you remove it???

I dont see the point, but good for you doing it on the cheap.

aZk.

[social]

nice effort mate good work

[Ozzie]

I still recon a rubber plug would have done a better job....
You did this to save $2 at clarks rubber?

also it'd look better and you could pop the wiper back in if need be

[Ozzie]

good thought though. if it was completly shaved proffessionaly itd look smick

[Weekend Warrior]

Thanks for the replies guys, and yes it's totally legal and can be removed easily

I still recon a rubber plug would have done a better job....
You did this to save $2 at clarks rubber?

also it'd look better and you could pop the wiper back in if need be

read what i've posted multiple times mate...i had a rubber plug/grommet in but this looks way better as it is flush to the tailgate (which the grommet was not) and it's the same colour as the car (again which the grommet was not) and it also makes it a little harder for the car to be broken into wheres with the grommet you could just push it through and put a wire down and pull up on the tailgate release rod. And yes like i said earlier i am going to get it shaved professionally eventually but i don't really have the time/money to get that done right now.

[Morton]

I don't understand removing the wiper, but I admire the effort gone to, and the care taken

I love a good d.i.y. shortcut, so good on ya mate Props to ya for bothering to write up the guide too. Very nice!

[VrWagz1]

I dont know what silicon you used, but if you just used ordinary silicon then its gonna cost you way more now in rust repairs now then getting that hole filled. Not to metion rust holes wont be water proof anymore. But nice effort.

[Weekend Warrior]

i did three seperate walls of silicon around the area with and glue, i also sprayed the area with rust off (not that it will really do anything)

As i said it's a temp fix, im getting the tailgate shaved in a month or so hopefully.

[PaulSV6]

Great effort mate, well done
hope it doesnt leak when it rains.

[Weekend Warrior]

thanks mate

[capitalgainz]

um legal....... no try explaining to the pigs, na officer a forum told me it was legal and see how you go lol,

[Excale]

In my opinion that looks okay but i think it was stupid to take off wiper! i mean what for? what did you achieve? Now you have no wiper at the rear end? Think about it

[Weekend Warrior]

because the wiper is huge and looks stupid IMO

[STEALTHY™]

because the wiper is huge and looks stupid IMO

And because it probably never gets any use, like mine!

[Weekend Warrior]

^^yeah pretty much, the water just runs off anyway because the screen is practically vertical

[kinga]

I am not sure of the legality of having a rear windscreen wiper or not, I am sure you dont need it, but am dubious on your call of" totally legal" without any proof.
It looks ok, but my experience with this sort of thing is once its done, you never come back to it. I doubt you will get it done professionally considering it looks passable now.

I think you miss the point of a rear windscreen wiper, it is there to clear the screen of mist,fog and dirt more than rain i find, and I would not be without mine at all on a winter morning where i cant see sh1t out the back when I am backing out of my driveway.

The VZ actually only has one setting, when you are going forward it is set to intermittant, when you are reversing it is constantly on. It is designed to look out the back of the car when reversing. I remember scraping foggy icy sh1t off the back window of my old sedan so i could see out the back. Love having the rear wiper on my wagon. I think there are better, cheaper mods to worry about before this.

Thanks for the replies guys, and yes it's totally legal and can be removed easily




read what i've posted multiple times mate...i had a rubber plug/grommet in but this looks way better as it is flush to the tailgate (which the grommet was not) and it's the same colour as the car (again which the grommet was not) and it also makes it a little harder for the car to be broken into wheres with the grommet you could just push it through and put a wire down and pull up on the tailgate release rod. And yes like i said earlier i am going to get it shaved professionally eventually but i don't really have the time/money to get that done right now.