W126 wiper pattern...
 

...This may be a silly question, but...why does the W126 have a weird wiper configuration (one practically overlapping the other)??? Is there some sort of advantage to this setup? I've never seen this on any other car before or even on the newer s-classes. Thanks -- Mike

The 107 roadsters and 116 sedans have this too. I think some Porsches also used this design.

The wipers cover a larger area. Also, rain water is not moved into your view by the wipers, as in regular wipers.

I'm not sure that I'd agree that they don't move water into your view. Perhaps my greatest complaint with the design, however, is that it seems to be set up for right-hand drive. The part of the windshield that gets covered by two blades instead of one is in front of the passenger. Why didn't they do the same pattern but reversed?

Personally, I like the "traditional" US pattern the best, especially in the winter when you're often pushing snow around. Making the area around the A piller even larger as the W126 pattern does with built up snow doesn't help visiability one bit.

jlc

Just to show how useless the right side wiper is, I've been driving my SD almost since I bought it without the right side. Had problems finding a blade to fit it, so just took the whole arm off, and haven't missed it at all. And I live in the rain capital of the US.;)

reply
 

Interesting...thanks guys for your input. I found this little blurb on the Ian Dunross W126 homepage, "Having the wipers pivoted close together in the middle of the windscreen enables large screen area to be cleaned twice in one single stroke." Well, for whatever reason they are configured the way they are, i think it looks pretty neat. -- Mike


http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Flats/2188/index.htm