My other half's car (52 plate) still has the original hooked arm, and after everything else (suspension, throttle body etc. described elsewhere) I decided to go for the budget option for now. The riveted end is a bit worn, but I got a Bosch aero-conversion blade kit to replace the manky original perished blade for about 15 quid - which was an immediate improvement (better wiping, less juddering). Recently noticed that the lowest point on the plastic casing piece under the rivets was beginning to mark the windscreen in a couple of places on an arc due to making contact owing to play in the rivets. Looking at it, it struck me that I could get more clearance under the rivet housing to prevent it scraping the window by increasing the slight window-wards bend in the metal leading to the hook using two big pairs of locking pliers, then reversing the increased angle closer to the hook to avoid uneven pressure to the blade heel or toe. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to increase the clearance between windscreen and rivet housing by 4mm with the wiper blade still working perfectly without juddering on wet or dry screens. I'll give it a couple of weeks (assuming the weather continues to deteriorate) and come back if there are any further comments positive or negative. In the long run I'll get a new aero arm set, but for now I'm hoping this will suffice.
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