Has anyone managed to get the wipers on the SD1 to work well? I.e. better than the slow weak crawl they do now?

Have you tried taking the mechanism apart? Mine turned out to be totally dry of any grease/oil and having rust on some of the axle insides. Cleaned/greased it up and it spins a lot more freely and without any "dry" sound.

Mine were rubbish, often they could barely return even on the fast position. I stripped/cleaned/greased the motor & mechanism (I couldn't see anything wrong with it) and that didn't help. Nor did fitting a different motor/mechanism.

I took the stalk switch apart and cleaned it all up, but this only made a small improvement. Then I found a connector under in instrument binacle cover and cleaned it by scraping with a small screwdriver. This helped quite a bit and got the wipers to an MOTable standard. They are still slow on normal speed, but the fast speed is about the same as the normal speed on a modern car. Driving along helps them along, and when it's actually raining the normal speed can be used for light rain.

I'd tried putting 12v directly to the motor wires and they work 100% then. The problem for me is the car's wiring/connectors dropping voltage/current (I only get about 8v at the motor from memory)

Unfortunately you'd have to remove the instrument binacle (or the windscreen!) to actually do anything properly back there.

Otherwise I would have used a relay, which arguably is what Rover should have done in the first place.

Thanks for info punxor. I have to build a relay wiring loom for the wipers.

The 16" blades is a good idea, I shall have to bear that in mind

Mine are also pretty shite, will take the mechanism apart, clean & grease everything & see what that does....

Save loadsa grief. To remove the W/W assy first take out the bonnet latching bracket.
Ramon

Will do! Have been swotting up by reading the manuals!