viper

Does anyone know why MB does not offer something as simple as continuously variable intermittent wipers on any of its vehicles ? Rain sensor wipers do not address this need in my opinion. Could it be something as absurd as MB refusing to pay the patent royalty to the American developer of this rather simple invention ? Even the cheapest of domestic vehicles has this feature as standard equipment.

SAguirre

Now that I think of it, none of my (or my family's and friend's) Mercedes Vehicles have ever had a variable intermittent setting. They have been 3 speed wipers: intermittent (at a setting set by them), low and high. I found this not to be the greatest. On my car now, however, I find that the rain sensing wipers have been very much on the money. I truly like them and I find that they are better than having to adjust the time interval.

One draw back is that I have to remember to turn them off in the winter months. When I park my car outside and I get ice or snow on the windshield, the last thing you want to happen is to have the wipers start to work.

I miss my single wiper arm! I also would like to sometimes leave the wiper arm up so that the wipers don't freeze on the glass. Although I have not looked into this too much, I have not seen an easy way to do this. My old MBs have always had a notch to hold the wipers up. I also hate the fact that when washing the windshield, the driver's wiper always throws water drops on to the passenger side! This never happened with the single wiper!

I hope that the 1st paragraph answered your question, the other ones are just some observations on my part.

Steve A

wobbles

Hmm... good observations there, Steve... I thought my wipers on my E-Klasse were faulty, coz (like yours) the driver side's wiper throws water droplets onto the passenger side too!

Maybe an inherent design fault? This never used to happen on the 2003-4 2-bladed C-Klasse I used to drive.

ATS

To do this turn off the car with the wiper arms up. They say this is also how you change the blades, by turning the car off with them up.

SAguirre

I did see that in the blade replacing instructions. Sound like an afterthought to me! I find it hard to believe that I have to have the ignition on, then turn on the wipers and turn off the ignition as soon as the wipers are up.

This is a problem. If you did this and left the wipers up, then you cannot start the car to have it warm up (I don't do this much at all, but sometimes I do). If you did start the car, then you would cause the wipers to park themselves and they (since they are still folded up) would bang on the hood.

I think that some engineer forgot something here!

Steve

ATS

I see what you are saying although this car really knows when it is cold and concentrates heat on the windows and drivers seat first. The blast from the front defroster is amazing.. I do like the idea of the blades being down inside the hood, it makes it look sleeker and more I am sure it adds some aero benefits.

Although, the thing that scares me is this.. If I ever had my car hand washed by someone else OR I was getting a parking ticket (this one is more possible in the city I live in) that the guy would lift up the wiper with force and take all the paint off the hood.. Geez.. I have read a thread in here where this has happened to a guy.

SAguirre

Well, I think that we seem to agree on the shortcomings of this system. I really do like the rain sensor, and I think that I will get used to the system. Another thing that I DO like is the wiper assembly (all rubber) is very good in the snow since there is no frame to get full of packed snow. The wipers seem to be a better winter design.

I also have noticed that the ventilation in this car is very good. The best of any other Mercedes I have had.

Steve

Barry45RPM

Personally, I think the 2 wiper set up does a more efficient job. The blades have to travel at a slower rate of speed to do the equivalent job of the single blade... less distracting.

I also think that the single blade looks like they economized, cutting out 1/2 the materials needed for a given number of cars. Also the symmetry of 2 wipers is less visually jarring... and didnt the speed/weight/size of a single arm cause the car to sway when the wiper was on high speed, slamming left to right? (Very subjective opinion)

The rain sensing feature to me is much more efficient than a variable speed wiper, since the rain sensor works very well and will not wipe unecessarily based on time, necessitating a spritz of the washers. If it waits a little to long to wipe for my liking, I tap the button... all subjective.

SAguirre

The alleged cost savings from just having one wiper was eliminated once they had to put the height control assembly. It was a bit fast when it moved across the windshield. It also would make the car shake if the wiper was on high and the car was stopped at a traffic light.

I think that the current coverage is a bit better with the two wipers now, especially since the passenger wiper is asymmetric in its travel (like the old single wiper). I agree with your statements, they were not all subjective; some things can be proven to be true as well. BUT the extra splash of water that the driver's wiper sends to the passenger side could be fixed if the blade were a bit curved down at the tip. Also, they could have designed a way to lift the wiper arm off the windshield. The old single arm was very good since it could be lifted a few inches from the windshield and stay there.

These are my gripes about this! But, if I had to choose one system over the other, I would still probably take the W211's since I like the rain sensor so much!

Steve

BudC

The single wiper system had to be more expensive. First of all, you'd need a very powerful motor to drive that big, heavy arm. Then you also have the cam mechanism to force the arm to cover nearly the entire windshield.

The problem with the single arm is that it didn't work well at high speed (not to mention cost).

Here's an advantage of the single wiper arm that I doubt anyone has noticed. Check where the wiper blade is parked on the single wiper models vs. the two wiper models. You will see that the blade is parked on the driver's side so that when the wiper starts up, it clears the area in front of the driver more quickly than with those versions with two wipers that are parked away from the driver. In the old days, Mercedes did what was best. Now they do what's cheapest.

glojo

Hi Bud,
Hmmm I can't resist it. In the old days Mercedes-Benz done what was cheapest, now they do what's best for the driver The blades finally on the 211 clear the drivers side first.

It's about time they catered for us folks that drive on the proper side of the road

I will have to ask 'the boss' about the rain flicking off the wipers, but we much prefer the two bladed system. The smears were a constant pain on the old single bladed 210.

Sorry about my sense of humour,
John
A cool evening in Torquay

CASL55

Put me down as a vote in favor of rain sensor wipers over timed intermittant wipers. However, I like the BMW system, with a control for how wet the windshield has to be before the wipers make a pass, better then the MB one-size-fits-all-I'll-wipe-the-darn-windshield-when-I'm-good-and-ready approach.

Jim

marcos

I like the rain sensing system, seems to work well and reacts very quickly.

xraymd

I agree with CASL55. My Merc isn't here yet, but I do like the system on the BMW. There are 4 different sensitivity settings for the rain sensor. Also, when the ignition is turned off, the system is deactivated. You have to turn it off and on to use it the next time the car is started. Do I understand you all correctly. Is the MB system always on once engaged?

SAguirre

The MB system is always active once engaged. However, when you are stopped it is much slower or it doesn't wipe. It has some sort of speed variable in the loop. Also, unlike the older 1998 S500 we had, the system does not to a test wipe every time you start the car. That is why you can leave it on and forget about it.

One great advantage of the MB system is that since it is always one as long as you have it on the intermittent setting, if you go over a huge puddle or if someone splashes water on your windshield from the lane next to you, the wipers will immediately activate on full blast! This happened to me twice and I was very glad and impressed with the speed at which it reacted.

In the freezing months I do turn it off, but otherwise, they are always in the intermittent setting. I actually really like that fact that they stay on. O, also, when I had to pick up my Audi from the shop I had a co-worker drive with me (but since she does not drive a stick shift) she drove my E class. It started to rain and she was in the car alone, she was so glad that they turned on automatically because she would have never figured out where to turn them on. Needless to say, she really like the car!

Steve

BudC

Yes John, I should have said that the wipers were parked in front of the vast majority of drivers. Even so, I preferred the wipers on my 318I.

Bud

A beautiful 77F degree day in the Valley of the Sun

CASL55

I don't know how it is on all Mercedes, but on my SL and my E, to turn on the intermittant setting you turn the turn signal stalk 45 degrees. I don't leave it there because, once turned that 45 degrees, the little valleys that are supposed to cradle your finger when you turn on the turn signals aren't where they contact your finger. Instead, you touch ridges.

I think MB should either leave the valleys and ridges off the turn signal stalk, or they should move the wiper actuator to a ring further up the stalk so the end of the stalk doesn't change orientation, like on the newer GMC cars and trucks. I would prefer the second solution.

Jim

E320Star

It is the German pride i tell ya. Maybe they do not want to pass the cost to the consumer like u & I. Something like that on a car like this, could charge us 1,000 more u know !!!!

SAguirre

I am not being obnoxious here! I think that it is interesting that you point this out! This places you on the less than 2% of people who use tact perception along with kinetic and location input. I am the same way, but I just acknowledge the slanted position and it tells me that the intermittent is on without looking at the stalk (which is hard to see). Good point though.

Steve

Barry45RPM

The bad thing about the MB system being on (at rest position) all the time once turned on, is that since they won't wipe needlessly unless splashed, you can forget they are in the "on" position. When you go to the car wash & give the car to the attendant & walk away, you run the risk of the car coming out the other end of the wash with a mangled set of arms/blades, & if the rubber was pulled off, a scratch arc across the glass.

F1Fan

Here's another question. If the wipers are set to Auto and it is not raining, does the brakes still try to keep the rotors dry by periodically rubbing the rotors? What I'm trying to say is that if the wipers are set to auto and it's a clear day outside, will the computer think that the rotors are wet and engage the brakes?

CASL55

You caught me there. For years I hated to use Mac keyboards because they put the little bumps on the D and K keys instead of the F and J keys. They seem to have come around on this issue, but it took them twenty years.

While on the subject of tactile cues, I think Mercedes could go a lot farther than they do. It's not that they're unaware of the utility of tactile feedback: The "5" key on the telephone/radio keypad has a raised bump or an indentation, depending on which car; the four pairs of steering wheel buttons have little divots on one of each pair. However, the double row of buttons to the right of the LCD screen all feel the same. All the buttons in the row across the top of the LCD screeen on the SL feel the same. All the buttons around the shift lever feel the same.

As an example of what I consider to be good tactile design, consider the F-15 flightstick. You don't have to get in an F-15 to experience one: it's become the model for most high-end computer sticks. On the F-15, the buttons are unlabled: that's OK for that kind of plane, because the pilot is expected to have great familiarity; in a car you need labels. But what's great about the fllightstick is that every button feels different, so your finger tells you what button you're pressing without you're having to look. Not having to look to see what you're doing is important in a car, too.

Jim

SAguirre

The brakes are only pre-tensioned if it senses water on the sensor, regardless of the wiper usage. That is my understanding.

Steve

SAguirre

Well, I was just guessing that you were one of those. I am the same way about this and that is why I could relate. Even with Macintrash machines, I use them at work all day. I also have very old Macs so I know exactly what you are talking about!!!! I currently got an after market keyboard for the Mac I use all day which is much newer. It has the tabs on the F & the J. Plus, most of the Mac keyboards now are way to flat and the buttons don't have a nice response! (My opinion).

I use the little dimple on the "5" all the time, but I do find myself hitting the "SERV" button instead of the seek >> button. I also just got a new Denon home amplifier and it has an LCD like remote, I find it hard not to be able to know what buttons I am hitting (by touch). I have to look at eh darn thing before I press!!

I am glad I am not alone!

Steve

xraymd

I'm glad you brought it up Barry, I didn't want to get flamed for not washing my car personally. But how about it? Anyone have a problem getting their blades ripped off at the carwash?