As I drive around today in the New England rain, I am reminded of the simple beauty and elegance of the mono wiper, which I have on both my MB's. Is not any two wiper arrangement clumsy and ugly by comparison? Ah, life's simple pleasures!

It's so obviously superior aesthetically, I guess there must have been mechanical problems (none of which I've ever experienced). Anyone know what the issue was?

Anyway, just can't imagine how people can drive cars with two wipers...

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 159k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 179k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 145k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 77k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

The W126 wiper is very nice in how it moves. On high it is a bit faster to clear the window than the monowiper, just because there are two.

I do like the monowiper though, its a good engineering bragging point. I have one of each.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Blame ricers- The poorly done single wiper that all Hondas seemed to grow overnight cast a bad light on the ones that Mercedes used. Similar to the way Lamborghini no longer uses scissor hinged doors.

the w126 wiper was weird

I agree. haha i really like my W114/5 wipers which wipe from the middle to the outside.

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1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

I have like 12 of the mono wipers now lol, I pull them off when I see them at pick n pull, I hope one day to be sitting on a fortune

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

I agree. The 126 is indeed weird. When at high speed the quicker movement of the other makes it appear to curve as it goes across the window.

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1991 560 SEL / 185k miles
1992 750il / 17k miles - project car

I do like my w124 monowiper setup.

I really like the W126 wiper setup compared to the "normal" arrangement which dumps all the water from the passenger side in front of your face, blocking your view for a moment until the wipers reverse direction...

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Meh. The regular old wipers on my 123 work just fine.

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1984 300TD

A rock works just fine, but a hammer is a better solution. ^_^

I like the ones on my w126, personally. I don't like the idea of a monowiper for the very simple reason that if one piece fails, you're completely wiper-less.

With two arms and two blades, if one breaks even catastrophically, you can probably see enough (hopefully) out the other side that's still working to at least get slowed down and off the road.

Also, I've been known to have wiper blades that were at the end of their life and had to swap left side for right side to get the better vision where I needed it in order to get to the parts store for new blades. No matter how much good safety advice a person hears, for most people, wipers aren't one of those things you "remember" like oil changes. You know you need them when you can't see in the rain.

Having two just feels like extra safety to me.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

One bellcrank, one motor, one transmission, ... the most common failure parts are still single and show-stoppers. The monowiper is a simpler design really, all internal without the push-pull stampings, no side-loads on the wiper bases, and it works so well. Pull it apart and lube it every 15-20 years and it will work dependably.

The reason it was discontinued? The same as many 201-124-140 innovations (like the double-pane glass in the 140): cost. The have to compete with the Lexus and other cheap knock-offs, have to thrift the engineering masterpieces.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

They removed the double pane glass from the S-Class? Even my coworker's Malibu has that! The big Hyundai has it on the front windows only

Having had mono wipers (w202), regular wipers (two w203's), "clap hands" wipers (w114) and w126 wipers I find them quite interesting to compare. The automatic wipers in the '06 w203 seem to keep very good pace with weather conditions. I really enjoyed the mono wiper in my 202, but I owned the car in Tucson so I rarely had to use them. The wipers on the 300SD are pretty neat and work well for the car's vintage, but sometimes the rain and wipers can't agree on a speed meaning I end up rotating the switch a lot. The two speed wipers on my w114 /8 coupe are woefully inadaquate and never fail to make me laugh like a giddy schoolgirl on a rainy day. They really have that "old car charm" to them like something you would expect out of a swinging sixties coupe.

I can't pick a favorite.