Windshield wipers (possible new thought - parking driver's wiper straight up?)
 

I have not seen this mentioned but then again there are a bazillion posts on here..

I just put a new wiper motor in a saturn. The little arm that goes around in a circle geared off the motor had to be set at 9-oclock for proper parking of the wiper arms. Well, you guessed it, I had the entire apparatus 180 degrees off when I set the lil arm at 9-oclock. Upon putting it in the car it was now at 3-oclock. Works fine but parks in full up rather than down.

Tonight I happened to remove my passenger side wiper arm and blade. My brother was riding with me and noticed it missing. I'd love to take the credit but he said, "Why dont you set the other one to park in the straight up position?"

Think about how much less drag sticking straight up on the windshield it would be than the frontal area and drag of the sideways arm and wiper blade. The blade would be fully functional in this manner. It would simply swipe down then up rather than up then down.

I mean some would scoff at shuch a miniscule savings but others are deleting their antenna. It adds up right? Anyone doing this?

The windshield wipers on my 1985 Camaro retract below the level of the windshield and hood.
That would be even better.

Dave assumes that arm up is better. What if air flow is trying to go just as much off the windshield past the A-pillar as it is up to the roof?

Also you can find much- but not all- answers to things with the search function.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...rked-7920.html

Ah-ha.. I knew there was a reason "I" didn't think of it. Going to have to take the wind out of my brothers sails.

I agree, remembering seeing the rain moving up "and" out on the windshield.

scratch this post, let it get buried.

You can find out for sure by tuft-testing it with some string tied on the wiper arm. Also, if/when you put it back to the normal position you can test to see if it's even seeing direct airflow. I was surprised to find that mine are shielded, even though they look exposed.

This.

My truck is exactly the same.

wipers up?
 

I guess Ive gotten too darn lazy not resetting them in up position with rain every day here lately, but mine wiggle alot in down and up position thier 1.5" up in windshield above hood. "darn KIA" so trial and error stop switch from relay power put them in whatever position I wanted. In straight back or as close as it may be when toggling off it places it directly before Left eye.
If ya need more details just put a strip of tape up windshield where it effects one eye more. I can only stand it on the long hiway trips! even thought about getting a stubby so it diddnt block windshield from top to bottom.
better yet im pulling it out tonight. makes me nutz just posting about it lol
Sorta like looking around a tree while driving.

In a light rain mist, where does most of the water hit the windshield? Almost all vehicles have a "pocket" of higher pressure at the base of the windshield, and the horizontally parked wipers are not in moving air...

A super simple thing you can try is to simply carry a wrench under the seat.
A few twists and the nut comes off allowing you to pop off the wipers.

If you find that you need wipers, just pull over and pop them on. It takes all of three minutes.

As you mentioned though, it really is splitting hairs, and the effort might be better used creating a grille block.

By adjusting the bolt, you can have your wipers do this as well. I simply do it by hand.

Take the wipers and pull the assembly down the extra inch or so. The wipers are fully functional that way, but go back to their factory set position after you use them, so you have to manually pull them down to have them sit below the hood-line.

Here are my wipers at the factory height. Note that the airflow re-attaches within a couple of inches of the wiper. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2021/...432f41a4_o.jpg

Aerodynamics matter when A) absolute best performance matters, and B) you want to move as efficiently as possible.

http://www.exoticsandluxury.com/wp-c...ont-naples.jpg

I am guessing Koenigsegg didn't do it for the fuel economy :)

He may have had to do that for the fluttering.

But notice that the vertical wiper is centered. Along the sides of the windshield the air is swirling around past the side pillars. If you happen to have a center wiper, that's a good place to park it.

Then again, the F1 has a single wiper that parks off to the side, and it's certainly designed for high-speed aerodynamics.
http://static.cargurus.com/images/si...pic-57523.jpeg

Edit: it's probably in line with the airflow going to the side and around the cabin. I'm sure the designers tested it.

24h Le Mans LMP1 racers do it as well. I suppose they are taken in account as the cars go faster than 200 mph. I don't know if they are there for fuel economy or just to accommodate 1 wiper as the windshield is curved, or anything else.

http://cdn2.ubergizmo.com/wp-content...12/06/audi.jpg

To me it just seems more logical to do one wiper, and put it in the center.

-Only one setup- one wiper, one moving motor/mechanism, less power needed, less to break, so on.
-No need to hide it or have extra electrical to pull it away.

Depending on the mechanism, or how hard it would be to change, the single center blade could work for left and right. I know the upper corners would be missed, but that seems superficial to the benefit. It might just be me, but I also think aerodynamics look cool :)

that tuft test really shows the vaacume pockett behind it
 

From air blowing over wiper. doesnt get more obvious than that.
most cars have a pocket of compression air at base of windshield and it hasnt got as much signature.
I seen tunnel test long ago when chevy did malibu or impala testing and it neatly made small omega symbol there in pocket. they also showed that thier side mirrors helped aero, believing it was impalas.

PaleMelanesian, I meant to bring up what you mentioned about the windshield curve.

Unless the wiper is dead center, the air will begin to flow outwards towards the edges of the windshield, possibly making the drag much worse, since more of the airflow is disturbed.

The wiper on the R18 barely functions - the tip of the blade is not in contact with the glass in the parked position, and they have all they can do to get it to wipe the water off of the extremely curved windshield. Given those factors, the best place to park it is straight up in the center.

But for a regular car, with a much broader and flatter windshield that requires two wipers, parking it any way other than horizontal is worse. Interfering with the flow around the 'A' pillar is a bad thing. The i MiEV is an example of how not to do it:

http://www.plugincars.com/sites/defa...02%20small.jpg

The Smart ForTwo has a similar proportion windshield, and it is a much better solution:

http://cimg.carsforsale.com/294092/W...9K244096_1.jpg

Tuft testing will show that most wipers in the parked position are in still air. I have had maple seeds and such sit on the wiper and they move slightly only when there is a side wind gust. Otherwise they just sit there. Light rain mist hits my xA windshield almost 1/3rd of the way up - and that is with a very short and steeply sloped hood.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...s/DSC_7480.jpg