Looking out the door at work on a break, I see my 2019 Crosstrek with its mismatched/unequal wipers. The 2013 Abarth has the same thing. I see a Jeep Cherokee my bosses own across the lot, been sitting and trying to rust away for probably a year, circa early 2000s maybe and regular matched wipers.
When did it become popular to have a really long and a fairly short wiper? And why?
Since they put big windshields in stuff. They work better because the big one sweeps most of the glass, and the little one gets the bit left over on the right hand side.
Measure a windshield in a modern sleek automobile, Its way closer to square than you might think.
Depending on the shape of the windshield, sometimes mismatched lengths and/or funky arms with a non-linear sweep can provide better coverage.
My Jeep had matching wiper sizes from the factory, but I put on larger ones within the limit of what won't run off the edge of the glass. That ended up with a 1 inch difference side to side, I think. BMW has a small difference as well, plus a weird sweep on one arm. The Jeep has decent wiper coverage, but nothing special. The BMW has excellent coverage, as do a lot of other new cars I've seen (with the funky sweep to reach further into the passenger top corner of the glass).
I know some cars had different length wipers at least back as far as the 1980s and possibly earlier than that.
yep, big and square windshields need a big driver side blade, and the rest can be handled be a weeny little one. Or rather, it HAS to be a weeny little one, to be able to fit next to the driver side blade when the wipers are parked. Honda Fits are an excellent example of this, the passenger arm is like three feet long and has a tiny little blade, to clear the driver blade that is about twice as long.
There are also Federal standards for swept area, which is why some LBCs had three wiper blades.
Teh RX-7 takes 16s on both sides, but I usually run an 18 on the driver side. And then a 13 on the passenger side, because the wiper motor doesn't have enough oomph to pull the wipers back down over a certain speed unless the wiper area is reduced.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:yep, big and square windshields need a big driver side blade, and the rest can be handled be a weeny little one. Or rather, it HAS to be a weeny little one, to be able to fit next to the driver side blade when the wipers are parked. Honda Fits are an excellent example of this, the passenger arm is like three feet long and has a tiny little blade, to clear the driver blade that is about twice as long.
Came to say this.. my '08 Fit has the massive disparity..
Can't have mismatched blades if there's only one.
buzzboy said:Can't have mismatched blades if there's only one.
I tripped out the first time i turned the wipes on our old W201
m4ff3w said:buzzboy said:Can't have mismatched blades if there's only one.
I tripped out the first time i turned the wipes on our old W201
The highest view count video on my YouTube channel.
It's a monowiper that extends out to the corners and retracts on the sides and in the middle.
I just changed the blades on my '13 F150 and was surprised that both were the same size. Of course, they are 21" each...
I was wondering as I was reading this what vehicles in the US came with a single blade. It's got to be a short list.
In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :
Besides Mercedes, the first generation Impulse was a single wiper.
I have the mechanism from our parted out W210. I pray that I can do something with it.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:m4ff3w said:buzzboy said:Can't have mismatched blades if there's only one.
I tripped out the first time i turned the wipes on our old W201
The highest view count video on my YouTube channel.
It's a monowiper that extends out to the corners and retracts on the sides and in the middle.
When I saw that years ago, I thought, "How berkeleying German can you possibly get?"
Streetwiseguy said:Pete. (l33t FS) said:m4ff3w said:buzzboy said:Can't have mismatched blades if there's only one.
I tripped out the first time i turned the wipes on our old W201
The highest view count video on my YouTube channel.
It's a monowiper that extends out to the corners and retracts on the sides and in the middle.
When I saw that years ago, I thought, "How berkeleying German can you possibly get?"
Engineering for the sake of engineering.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
None. None more German.
It does not dissuade me from the idea of a lowered W202 cornering on three wheels as I schuss my way around the hilly curvy back roads on the way to work.
Bought new blades for the GTI from Canadian Tire. Went with their premium house brand. Discovered that the big blade had the correct mounting hardware. The little blade didn’t. Grrr. I sometimes wonder if it isn’t just a random crapshoot about what connectors are included in the house brands . . .
When I worked for Advance Auto Parts we still installed wipers, and I swear I never installed a pair when it WASN'T raining. At the time most of them came with extra adapters instead of being one part number per car. We kept leftover adapters in a shoebox for the oddball stuff we ran into.
maybe the house brand wipers have a giant box of leftover adapters and they just grab one and stick it on the wiper as it goes down the line.
If you wanna see crazy, may I present Dodge Viper wipers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3WK0hU0SFM
Mercedes was SOOOO proud of their "monoblade" system. I remember w124 brochures when I was a kid bragging about how they covered 85% of the screen whereas regular wipers covered 80% (or whatever number was) LOL
I've owned a bunch of w201 and w124 cars. In real life, the wiper doesn't move fast enough to deal with really heavy rain. But it works well enough most of the time.
The driver's side wiper is twice the size as the passenger wiper on my Fit. It was the same as on my Versa Note.
mad_machine (Forum Supporter) said:Streetwiseguy said:Pete. (l33t FS) said:m4ff3w said:buzzboy said:Can't have mismatched blades if there's only one.
I tripped out the first time i turned the wipes on our old W201
The highest view count video on my YouTube channel.
It's a monowiper that extends out to the corners and retracts on the sides and in the middle.
When I saw that years ago, I thought, "How berkeleying German can you possibly get?"
Engineering for the sake of engineering.
Yup.
Ask a German engineer to design a hammer and it will have three moving parts and an electric motor that somehow leaks oil and that has to be re-programmed everytime you change the AA batteries.
93gsxturbo said:If you wanna see crazy, may I present Dodge Viper wipers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3WK0hU0SFM
This one is called... "Viper Wiper"
My TSX was 19" on the passenger side and 26" on the driver side.
Jerry said:When did it become popular to have a really long and a fairly short wiper? And why?
Probably about the same time parts stores quit selling wiper blade refills.
Not sure which years but some first gen Sciroccos had a single wiper. I converted my Rabbit Gti to single wiper. Was a popular conversion. Might do the same to my 87 Scirocco.
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