RJC

Dual wipers were used before the mono on MBz's and CAFE/MPG concerns were a very important issue then (especially without the sophisticated engine management we have today) but they switched to the mono blade years later with even stricter reg's. The air-foil/spoiler can also be added to the mono blade if needed, but it was not, as it was extremely efficient at high speeds. I find the profile and overall demension of the mono blade not to be that much different than the sum of the conventional two blades combined. However, MBZ is now using the "beam blade" design on most of its cars clk E S as a mono "beam" is not yet available. Since MBZ is now manufacturing all their cars with the dual wipers vs a few with the mono this keeps co$t$ down by having one drive design and the simple standard drive is much less costly to produce than the special gear design of the mono blade system. I find the fuel penalty difficult to agree with and if wipers made enough of an impact the hidden wipers of the past that rest completetly under the hood would come back. The mono blade would rock the car a bit when on med to high speed if the car was stationary but it cleaned a greater area of glass with its special gear vs the 2 blade system, that's why it was invented in the first place. It did throw a fair amount of water quite a distance if your windshield was covered with lots of water beads once first turned on. I'll never forget I was at a gas station during a rain shower and after I pulled under the canopy to fill up, the wipers made one last pass and got the guy standing at the next car over in the face and shirt, we all thought it was funny...he did'nt. It's all about cost, a new design (which has had its share of disapointments)and cost. I could be wrong, god knows it would'nt be the first time

karl k

Ahhh - that's it!

MB reverted back to the dual wiper system, because the mono wiper was so efficient, that it generated many nuisance litigation relating to:

"mono-wiper-splatter".

RJC

See Karl you missed you true calling in life...you could have been a windshield wiper system splatterologist

voudou58

I read somewhere that they are trying a wiperless system that uses some type of high pressure air duct across the base of the windshield to keep the glass clear????
I look into this and post any findings. Sounds pretty cool!!!!

RJC

Its on the new Acura TL concept...very cool indeed! But unfortuntely its not making it onto the production version.

Holson

I can definitely feel the wiper rock the car slightly when I'm stopped. [95 E420]. I didn't notice it as much in the 1992 230E but I guess the 2.3 I-4 was nowhere near as smooth on idle.

I suppose if you had a slightly worn out diesel powered W124 it wouldn't matter

no offence diesel owners, I myself would love to trade my E420 for a mint E300 Diesel :p

I miss the single wiper on the newer cars as it's definitely a cool thing to have. Not necessarily efficient I guess.

davis449

I think that the mono system does a WAY better job of clearing the windsheild. It took some getting used to when I first got the car, but now I don't want two wipers again. I can feel it rock the car when I'm stopped, but it doesn't really bother me.

6.3

When I had questions about my rain sensor not working right no one answered and now 4 pages about 1 wiper.
So let me join in.
The car rocks on the highest setting and you do have to watch out when you're parked and your windshield is really wet. Unless you want to get someone wet.
The funny thing is that when the rain is really light and you leave the setting on the sensor and forget about it you may get startled quite a bit once the wiper wakes up. Wooooosh!

KILLERHERTZ

I asked my dealer, and he said it was down to them always breaking after a few years.

last year, mine stopped working, dealer wanted £320 for a new one, my mecanic took it apart, WD-40'd it and its worked ever since.

dtkw

Sometimes I think dealers are more or less of a theif. As for my center console which hold the phone, one of the latch was broken, they told me they had to order a whole new console for 900 USD plus labor to replace it. Then they told me they ordered the whole one that didn't have the phone space on. Then they told me they finally got one and put it back it and now it worked again. I look at it, it was the same as it was except they fixed the latch. Now I have one silver and one black. They just replaced the latch and put my old unit back and charged the warrantee company 900 bucks for thier BS. I don't go to them anymore. Not worth my trip up there and I don't care for the donuts and coffee.

MTI

As stated before, the mono wiper was introduced on the W201 (190) model, which previously had a dual wiper. The mono wiper covered the european requirement of 70% of the windshield and was more aerodynamic at high speed than the dual wiper system. The common fault of the single wiper system was blade failure.

vraa

Unfortunetly i've never owned a car with the mono blade so can someone post some pictures of what a real car looked like with the mono blade?

MTI

ajayz

those are the mafia cars from GTA3!


I miss the headlight wipers too . they were so cool.

RJC

Had 4 MBZ's with the mono wiper...never had a problem, unlike the wipers on my W209

TNblkc230wz

I always liked the look of the monoblade, but the two blade on the C Class works pretty good. the wiper has a unique rotation that allows it to get most of the windshield.

vinceC

Its funny that no one has mentioned smearing with the mono-wiper. I have had three M-Bs with the mono-wiper and smearing was a problem on all three. The magazines complained about it in long term tests. Folks complain about it regularly on mercedesshop.com. I have never seen a wiper system that is so prone to smearing. I drove 14 hours in the rain returning to Virginia from Indianapolis after the F1 race in 2002 and swore about the damn smearing the entire distance. My eyes were exhausted afterwards. I don't care why they changed, but good riddance.

pks485

I found the mono wiper system to be an item that was truly unique to Mercedes Benz. It is a great system, that is on my Mercedes too. It clears the front windsheild very nicely. Although, the car does shake a little bit, but for the clearness on the window, I really don't mind. Now, Mercedes is using the conventional system (maybe because of the Chrysler merger?), so the car is less unique. People who sat in my car were curious about the monowiper system.

By the way, I also miss the headlight wipers. However, now we have headlight washers.

sts15

The great thing about the single wiper blade is that in the morning after a good rain and I am in the car waiting for the kids to drive them to school, when they get to the side of the car, I hit the wiper swith and give them a shower...they squeel with delight every time...

velvet fog

Love the monowiper. People who have never seen one marvel at the action and how much of the windshield is cleared.

C43AMG

I love the mono-wiper also.I think its one of the coolest things put on a car since Lambo doors.I wish they would have put it on my 91 420SEL.It's wipers remind me of crab claws.

AsianML

I like the monowiper as well. But just seeing it work so hard just at slow speed kind of makes me not want to see what happens after a long time at high speed settings.

Anyone see the new FJ Cruiser with the three windshield wipers?

Air Marshall Eldritch

It's funny when a 3-year old thread pops up and the discussion continues as if it were seamless.

AsianML

Yes it is. Now let us discuss about the wipers.

Musikmann

Good OLD thread, I don't remember ever seeing this.

I like my single wiper too, for all of the above reasons, but I agree that at the highest speed the noise can be annoying. However, I have never felt (or noticed) the car shaking.

One poster mentioned the rain sensor system. I think mine is too sensitive, or wipes more often than necessary. In fact, I don't think my MB allows me enough versatility with the "intermittant" wiper setting either.

My 1994 Plymouth and 1991 Toyota both have 5-6 varying intermittant speeds whereas my MB only offers the 1 intermittant, and 1 steady slow and 1 fast. Am I unaware of some settings?

It was also implied that we can "use the rain sensor". I just bought this car, and don't see how I can opt out of this feature. I'd like to at times if it's possible(?)