New to MB, but this morning I tried to place my wipers in an "out" position so it won't get buried in snow and I was unable to because it was so recessed beneath the hood. Is there a trick to this that I'm unaware of? The hinge or elbow or whatever you call sits pretty low on the C300 compared to all the other cars in my train parking lot. I was in a hurry so I didn't mess around with it that much.

Thoughts? I'm sure there is a rational explanation and this isn't an actual defect. I don't have my manual since this is a loaner that I have right now.

 

That's how it is on mine, and on several other cars I've owned. The only way to have the wipers all the way out away from the windshield is to open the hood.

 

Ok, so won't be an issue when I change the wipers but I guess I have the potential issue of them being buried under snow and then freezing against the windshield. An annoying inconvenience but not awful. I wonder why they do that.

 

Its all about drag.

... no, not dressing up as a woman, I don't think that will help in this situation...


But they recess the wipers to reduce wind drag over the car. Great for most days, bad when you need to open them conveniently. You can take all the paint off the hood where the wiper arms catch it.

You'll just have to clear what snow you can without moving the wiper arms too much.

 

The manual shows a method to have the wipers stop in a vertical position for car washing. Presumably you could do the same at other times.

 

turn on wiper till they are vertical, and take out the key.

that said, I see people do this all the time at the train station and never found a single occasion where it would have provided useful. Given that the wipers are basically hidden beneath the hood, I think it will be even less of an issue on this vehicle.

 

I didn't have a problem pulling both wipers out to clear the snow yesterday. They came right up with no issue.

 

The problem with that is if your wipers freeze to the glass and you start up your car you run the risk of damaging the wiper motor.

 

While we're at it, how do you turn of the auto folding mirrors when you lock the car? I do love that feature but would be concerned of impacting the motors if we were to get freezing rain on the car? Thanks.

 

Activating and de-act auto folding mirrors is in the Vehicle Settings in the command system.

 

I keep mine turned off and if the need arrises to fold them in there's always the button near the mirror switch.

 

point being that when teh wipers are vertical, you can lift them off the glass.

 

That's true but you've got to be careful and remember to lower them before starting the car, otherwise you run the risk of damaging either the driver side wiper arm and/or the glass.

 

Yeah...someone mentioned that they broke the glass this way a couple of months ago...they were cleaning the car, and someone turned on the accessory power to listen to music...that activated the wipers, which in turn snapped them shut and broke the windshield.