Pro Tip: Avoid chipping your hood by applying 3M paint protection film on the wiper arms

[mikeymaverick]

With winter here, I sometimes leave my wiper blades up to prevent them from freezing to my windshield. However, on the Maverick, if the wipers are then turned on, they scratch the rear of the hood and can chip the paint.

To prevent this, I cut and applied 3M paint protection film to the section of the wiper arms that would scratch across the rear lip of the hood if I accidentally forgot the arms up and turned the wipers on. I chose to put it on the wiper arm instead of the hood because it isn’t nearly as visible when the wipers are in their normal down position. I hope this helps someone from chipping their hood!

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[bluesteel]

Another solution- for the back edge of the hood. Looks good, too!

 

[unclerunkle]

Another solution- for the back edge of the hood. Looks good, too!

This is what I did. Took a bit of time but looks and works great!

 

[Montana]

Another solution- for the back edge of the hood. Looks good, too!

I had no choice but to use this. Mine was bought used and had chips already. One of the things I found out after the fact, but I'm almost certain I would have chipped it myself anyways... Even as careful as I am, this is just an awful design.

If the truck is running, you can't move them to lift them up. Incredibly stupid. Anything you do is going to drag at least one wiper across the surface. I've given up and just leave them in place when cleaning. I lift slightly but barely enough, then have to drop them back down and clean underneath.

One of the few things I actually hate about the Maverick is this design. I'm very picky about my clean windows.

 

[bluesteel]

Yeah, this design is not all that uncommon, but I don't think the engineers prioritize the preferences of those of us in northern climes!

I have found it's most effective (and less hazardous to the hardware) to just dig the snow out from under there by hand instead of trying to use a brush, and yes, slightly lifting the wipers off the windshield for what you need to do there.

Of course there's also the option of turning off the truck when the wipers are at the high point of the sweep and then flipping them out before a snow/ice event, but then the problem is you have to clean the entire windshield and flip the wipers back down before starting the truck again!

(I'm sure all of this has been addressed on the board in the past, but it seems worth reiterating here!)

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