This group might be an appropriate place to have a discussion about a styling and functional issue with cars that perhaps is overlooked: the placement of the pivot points of the wipers. There are two common setups. The first, and dominant, is to have both wiper arms pivot from the left end. The second, less used, and (IMHO) more elegant, is to have them pivot from the outboard ends. There is a practical reason I think the outboard style is better, at least for those of us who live in northern states where we have to contend with nasty winter conditions. Ever notice how the wipers always seem to wear out in the driver’s line of sight first? That’s not just Murphy ’s Law; it’s inherent in the design of left pivoting wiper arms. With that system, the right arm takes all of what it clears from the windshield and deposits it in the path of the left arm. The left arm catches all of that material--grime, grease, road salt and liquid--and wipes it away. Thus, the part of the left wiper blade about two-thirds up does twice as much work as the rest of the blade. That’s why it wears out in your line of sight. Obviously, the outboard pivots don’t have this problem. And as I previously mentioned, I think that the outboard pivoting wipers look cooler. I assume that the reason we don’t see them more often is that they require a longer transmission rod, which adds weight and cost. But seriously, they look cool. So this is my plea to the designers on this list to become advocates for outboard pivoting wiper arms. I now return you to your far less trivial concerns.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 17:40:40 +0000
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