What's the best Mercedes wiper system? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

sfloriII · #1 04-17-2007, 12:00 PM

I've seen several on our cars: the monoblade, tandem, etc. I've always liked the monoblade on my two "gassers". Now that I'm driving a Jetta, I'm back to the tandem system. Though I assumed I wouldn't be as happy with it, I actually find it's better, in my opinion, than the mono-blade on my Mercedes.

Yes, it's completely subjective. But I'd like to hear others' opinions.

Here is a description of some of the wiper systems in use now. The full article is here:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/wiper2.htm

Pivot Points
Most cars have pretty much the same wiper design: Two blades move together to clean the windshield. One of the blades pivots from a point close to the driver's side of the car, and the other blade pivots from near the middle of the windshield. This is the Tandem System in the figure below. This design clears most of the windshield that is in the driver's field of view.

Some of the different wiper blade schemes used by various cars

There are a couple of other designs on some cars. Mercedes uses a single wiper arm that extends and retracts as it sweeps across the window -- Single Arm (Controlled) in the figure above. This design also provides good coverage, but is more complicated than the standard dual-wiper systems. Some cars use wiper blades that are mounted on opposite sides of the windshield and move in the opposite direction, and some vehicles have a single wiper mounted in the middle. These systems don't provide as much coverage for the driver as the standard two-blade system.

...the amount of water hitting the windshield changes as your car speeds up and slows down. It can require almost constant attention to keep the wipers operating properly. Carmakers may finally have conquered this problem with the holy grail of wiper technology -- the rain-sensing wiper.