Wiper arm has chewed out teeth

[zac510]

Hi fellas, a friend of mine's GF has a mark 1 '5. The thing has chewed up two of the wiper arm splines.
He's fairly sure the steel side must be worn so obviously it just rips the aluminium side to shreds as soon as there is some slop between the two.

Is this a common problem on mx5s?

What's the standard path for replacement - change both parts I guess?

[franv8]

No and yes. And make sure the bolt on the new ones is pretty tight (but not so tight as to remove the thread...) on the new parts. I'd recommend a drop of thread lock as an insurance policy too!

For some reason, I think a bit of tin foil wrapped round may get a little more life out of the wrecked parts. It's such a bodge, but may eek a bit more time to source spares. (I've got a feeling I may have done this at some stage...)