gain from rear windshield wiper deletion
 

So I have a kammback (ish) hatchback. I can see the benefit of removing the front wipers, but is there really anything substantial to gain by removing the back wiper?

http://www.automedia.com/2009-New-Ca...ear_Yellow.jpg

That's (basically) my car. It actually doesn't have the weird fin at the top (but you can't really see it in that picture anyway)

It doesn't look like it would do anything, if the rear were more sloped, then it would do something, but it doesn't look like air really touches there.

Based on the near vertical nature of the back, you could probably glue egg cartons all over the hatch and not see a change to economy.

What ^ he said.
Even the front wipers have 'barely' any effect on aero.

If you want to do a test to see what the air is doing back there, tape some 1.5" yarn strips on the glass and do some tuft testing .

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3019/...b8d2f333_o.jpg

Here is the wiper on my car at around 50 MPH. The air is just a huge vortex back there.