A service station for use with an inkjet printer is described. The service station includes a sled that is mounted to the printer's chassis. Caps and wipers can be mounted on the sled for each of the printer's movable carriage-mounted printheads. The sled and the chassis, and the sled and carriage, are each cam-coupled so that movement of the carriage produces slight vertical and lateral movement of the sled out of a nominal position to automatically place the sled in one of three primary positions relative to the carriage: an elevated position for capping the printheads, an intermediate position for wiping the printheads and a lowered position for free reciprocal movement of the carriage without interference between the printheads and either the caps or the wipers. According to the invention, wipers are biased against corresponding print cartridges such that the wipers that wipe the printhead of a print cartridge dispensing pigmented ink are biased against the printhead in a different manner, e.g., with greater force, than wiper blades that wipe the printhead of a print cartridge dispensing dye. Differential wiping can be obtained by varying the spring constant of springs used to bias the wipers against the printheads. In one embodiment, leaf springs used to bias the wipers are varied in width and/or thickness to produce differential wiping force. In one embodiment of the invention, print cartridges that dispense pigmented ink are spitted to wet the printhead before wiping.