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

[davelobi]

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?

[oil pan 4]

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

[Frank Lee]

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

[davelobi]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

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?

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.

[PaleMelanesian]

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.

[JRMichler]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

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.

[justme1969]

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.

[NeilBlanchard]

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...

[Cd]

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.

[Cd]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

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

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.