Single arm windshield wiper
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Joined: Jun 2005
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From: Oakville, ON
'12 ML350
Single arm windshield wiper
Raining cats and dogs here in NYC and just noticed that the W210 E-class still had the single arm wiper, which I've always considered to be such an elegant and simple solution.
Wonder why MB ever did away with it and returned to the conventional two arms setup on the W211?
[cross posted on W211 AMG forum]
Wonder why MB ever did away with it and returned to the conventional two arms setup on the W211?
[cross posted on W211 AMG forum]
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From: Blaine, WA
07 E320 Bluetec
Raining cats and dogs here in NYC and just noticed that the W210 E-class still had the single arm wiper, which I've always considered to be such an elegant and simple solution.
Wonder why MB ever did away with it and returned to the conventional two arms setup on the W211?
[cross posted on W211 AMG forum]
Wonder why MB ever did away with it and returned to the conventional two arms setup on the W211?
[cross posted on W211 AMG forum]
. I personally dislike the single wiper concept though it does look elegant.
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From: Brooklyn, NY
2011 BMW X5 SAV
Had a single wiper in W220 and it never failed me. It actually cleaned a bigger area of the windshield than the 2 wiper system. I miss it, it looked so good....
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From: Maryland
03 Eclass, 03 BMW 06 Porsche Cayman S, 03 Harley Davidson "bored & stroked"
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From: Albuquerque
'10 CL550, '12 GL550
Not only were the mechanisms failure prone, the rubber blades didn't last very long and wiping performance is typically not very good. They'll go down is history as a cool idea that never had the bugs worked out.
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From: Clifton, NJ
96 and 08 911 turbos
I love the single wiper, no issues with blade performance or longevity. Wipes perfectly fine, and for $7 a blade, I can afford to replace it every 6 months.
Hard to go back to two arms.
Hard to go back to two arms.
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From: Ft. Lauderdale Area, USA
2015 ML 350
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From: Toronto
2006 E320 CDi, 2008 3/4 Ton Suburban, 2007 "rice rickshaw" Accord 5 speed
I agree totally. My sold 1999 E55 had the W210 body and single wiper and I dislike it so much. When the wiper was going fast in heavy rain it sounded extremely rough, almost as if it was about to fly off. The wiper arm has a counter weight balancer because it has such a large area to cover. At high speeds there was this terrible thumping noise at the end of each and every cycle.
When the wiper breaks there is no cleaning. With a two wiper system you still have 50% function.
The one arm bandit is such a bad design.
When the wiper breaks there is no cleaning. With a two wiper system you still have 50% function.
The one arm bandit is such a bad design.
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Jun 2005
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From: Oakville, ON
'12 ML350
I agree totally. My sold 1999 E55 had the W210 body and single wiper and I dislike it so much. When the wiper was going fast in heavy rain it sounded extremely rough, almost as if it was about to fly off. The wiper arm has a counter weight balancer because it has such a large area to cover. At high speeds there was this terrible thumping noise at the end of each and every cycle.
When the wiper breaks there is no cleaning. With a two wiper system you still have 50% function.
The one arm bandit is such a bad design.
When the wiper breaks there is no cleaning. With a two wiper system you still have 50% function.
The one arm bandit is such a bad design.
The aspect I am very impressed with though is how large an area of the windshield that one wiper arm was able to cover and clear.
But if reliability is an issue, then I guess it wasn't such a great feat of engineering after all...
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From: Ft. Lauderdale Area, USA
2015 ML 350
Single arm system causes a side to side rocking of the car in heavy rain at stop signs & lights. Personally I thought it looked ugly... but that's just an opinion. My Dad has a 2001 E which I wouldn't have bought because of its so "old world" look against its field of competitors at the time. 
Last edited by Barry45RPM; Feb 2, 2008 at 12:12 PM.
Super Member
Joined: Feb 2005
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From: Las Vegas
1987 190E 2.3
I have never seen any problems with the single arm wiper systems.
I have heard they can rip out of the car if the blade is frozen to the windshield, since the motor is so strong.
I think old style two blade systems cover 76%
The single arm system covers 95%
The new style two arm systems cover 97% I think.
I have heard they can rip out of the car if the blade is frozen to the windshield, since the motor is so strong.
I think old style two blade systems cover 76%
The single arm system covers 95%
The new style two arm systems cover 97% I think.
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From: Melbourne
2007 GL500, 2007 E280
The Single Arm Wiper System Wasn't very Prone to Failure, I honestly in my Time working at a Mercedes-Benz dealership for 6 months hadn't seen one problem with them, My Cars 18 years old and the Wiper is Original And Still Working like the Day it rolled off the Showroom floor
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From: Long Island, New York
2018 E400 4matic Wagon
Interesting how other manufacturers had the mono wiper and then abandoned it. Remember the VW Scirocco? And Jaguar XJ-6 starting in 1988?
I always felt that the mono wiper had to travel twice as fast as two wipers to cover the same area, so during a heavy rain it has to really race across the windshield.
Anyone remember Jaguar E-types from the late 60's, perhaps early 70's with THREE wiper blades?
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From: Caribbean/Florida/Colorado
E-ZGO 53hp., 1999 E 430 sport, 2004 E 55, 2008 Tahoe LTZ on 24"s
I believe the new two wiper systems incorporate the eccentric cam on the drivers side. It is basically a scaled down version of the mono wiper. The largest contributing factor to return to two wiper system is dimensional constraints imposed by the size of the windshields, that are smaller top to bottom and wider with greater aerodynamic curvature in it's profile than previous models.
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From: Michigan, USA
2018 S450, 2019 Range Rover LWB, 2015 Range Rover, 2019 S560 Cabriolet (awaiting delivery)
I had the single wiper arm on a few of my past MB's. I liked it. I hate the constant line of spray that I get down the center of my windshield with the two blade system. It's especially annoying when I use the washer. The blade on the drivers side throws a line of spray down the center of the windshield on the down stroke, so I use the one sweep setting to clear it. The passenger side blade clears the spray on the up stroke, and the driver side blade throws it again on the down stroke. Very annoying.
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From: Ft. Lauderdale Area, USA
2015 ML 350
Its sort of a unique feature of the MB blade set up. I don't have that with my other cars. (Maybe 1 extra swipe is necessary on the other cars, but on the MB many are needed.)
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From: Dallas TX
2013 650i Coupe, 2010 IS250 AWD, 1999 S500
Does anyone know of a good aftermarket blade for the 1-arm wiper system? As many have stated here the standard blade isn't that good. I love the design of it though until a heavy downpour, then it can't keep up.
I think this concept could have been perfected, but that would have taken a lot of money to make it quieter, faster and more reliable. The old Mercedes-Benz would have done that, being they were engineering driven. The new Mercedes is engineering + customer driven. Hence the pivot arm on some models on the driver side and a regular arm on the passenger side. I still think this was one of Mercedes' more brilliant ideas.
M
I think this concept could have been perfected, but that would have taken a lot of money to make it quieter, faster and more reliable. The old Mercedes-Benz would have done that, being they were engineering driven. The new Mercedes is engineering + customer driven. Hence the pivot arm on some models on the driver side and a regular arm on the passenger side. I still think this was one of Mercedes' more brilliant ideas.
M
Last edited by Germancar1; Feb 6, 2008 at 04:13 AM.
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From: SFV CA
2008 Black Out C350 Saks Edition / 87 VW GTI
Does anyone know of a good aftermarket blade for the 1-arm wiper system? As many have stated here the standard blade isn't that good. I love the design of it though until a heavy downpour, then it can't keep up.
I think this concept could have been perfected, but that would have taken a lot of money to make it quieter, faster and more reliable. The old Mercedes-Benz would have done that, being they were engineering driven. The new Mercedes is engineering + customer driven. Hence the pivot arm on some models on the driver side and a regular arm on the passenger side. I still think this was one of Mercedes' more brilliant ideas.
M
I think this concept could have been perfected, but that would have taken a lot of money to make it quieter, faster and more reliable. The old Mercedes-Benz would have done that, being they were engineering driven. The new Mercedes is engineering + customer driven. Hence the pivot arm on some models on the driver side and a regular arm on the passenger side. I still think this was one of Mercedes' more brilliant ideas.
M
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 516
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From: Oakville, ON
'12 ML350
Of course we've seen the downside of this goal with the lowered quality and customer satisfaction scores the past few years, all of which MB is now correcting and has already seen some returns on this investment.
I, for one, am sorry to see MB's change from being an engineering company to a consumer products company because the W124 was, and still is, a very solid car - not sure if our W210/211 will hold up as well 20 years after it leaves the assembly line.
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Youngtimer
the single wiper is hot, not to mention i've never failed to get a 'wow, that's cool!' the first time someone someone sits in my car and it starts to rain.
the only problem with them is that the ricer crowd thinks you're one of them...
they can't be all bad though, they're making a comeback!
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/au..._go_go_go.html
the only problem with them is that the ricer crowd thinks you're one of them...
they can't be all bad though, they're making a comeback!
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/au..._go_go_go.html
Last edited by ZedStyle; Feb 7, 2008 at 02:20 AM.
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From: Dallas TX
2013 650i Coupe, 2010 IS250 AWD, 1999 S500
I think I disagree with this quote slightly: like all auto manufacturers these days, Mercedes has been driven by cost...or more accurately, cost savings.
Of course we've seen the downside of this goal with the lowered quality and customer satisfaction scores the past few years, all of which MB is now correcting and has already seen some returns on this investment.
I, for one, am sorry to see MB's change from being an engineering company to a consumer products company because the W124 was, and still is, a very solid car - not sure if our W210/211 will hold up as well 20 years after it leaves the assembly line.
Of course we've seen the downside of this goal with the lowered quality and customer satisfaction scores the past few years, all of which MB is now correcting and has already seen some returns on this investment.
I, for one, am sorry to see MB's change from being an engineering company to a consumer products company because the W124 was, and still is, a very solid car - not sure if our W210/211 will hold up as well 20 years after it leaves the assembly line.
M
