Windshield Wiper Reversal? How Come No One Seems to do it?

[Uber-fanatic]

A couple of years ago I purchased Waynes "101 projects" book and loved the idea of getting those wipers out of view...so I proceeded through all the steps, and am prepared to reconnect the battery and try it out...sans wipers for the trial run to save the paint! What baffles me is that while perusing the insane amounts of pictures posted on this forum of all of your modified 911's, I have rarely/never seen a picture of a car with the wipers reversed. Is this going to work, or not? I must admit, I have had difficulty understanding the theory behind the process, and I will be completely shocked if it works, but I am starting to question it if no one else has done it. It seemed like such a clever modification, and considering that I live in Los Angeles, windshield wiper use is a rare occurrence! Any thoughts?

[Rot 911]

A couple of people on here have. Just not that big a deal to most of us.

[livi]

I must say, the idea of reversing the wipers never occured to me. They never cramped my sight in any way - despite my being far from tall. All pros and cons considered, I canīt imagine the factory placed them where they are without thinking it threw.

But perhaps I am missing something ?

[arerrac]

Here you go! I really like it like this. When sitting low in the car, not having to look through them is nice.
-W

[Uber-fanatic]

Well Markus ~ I'm not sure why, but I laughed pretty hard at your response...

Now that it has been presented as a possibility, are you the kind of person that will do it just because

a. it can be done, and
b. it hasn't?

I fall (hard) into that category...

[Uber-fanatic]

arerrac ~ That's what I'm talking about!

[livi]

Originally Posted by Uber-fanatic

Well Markus ~ I'm not sure why, but I laughed pretty hard at your response...

As have many before you during the last years. I suspect it has to do with my durn for'nerīs way of expressing myself.

[spuggy]

There's a couple of threads here on how to do it, but it's never bothered me in the slightest.

Read a thread from someone driving long-distance who said that when the wipers are placed on the other side (he'd done it), that, even after it's finished raining, water blowing up the driver's side of the windscreen from the hood is an issue which the wipers being parked on the factory side would have prevented...

If it doesn't rain where you are, just take them off altogether

[silverc4s]

Originally Posted by spuggy

...
If it doesn't rain where you are, just take them off altogether

Actually did that in sunny California. Never carried my top OR wipers most of the time n my old 69 targa.

Can't quite pull that off in Texas, how some ever...

[ianc]

I've been thinking about this mod for awhile. I don't really get bothered by the view obstruction, but rather in the way the wipers work.

When the wipers move they first rotate to the right, wiping the screen, then move back to the left, and in doing so, they leave a spray of water on the windshield behind them. I most notice this when using the intermittent function; I have to wait for the next cycle to clear it, but then it happens all over again...

I plan on doing this at some point, but one of the requirements is that (at least one) of the the wiper arms must be bent to accomplish it, so I thought I'd procure a spare first to experiment on, and I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes,

ianc

[Uber-fanatic]

Originally Posted by spuggy

that, even after it's finished raining, water blowing up the driver's side of the windscreen from the hood is an issue which the wipers being parked on the factory side would have prevented...

If it doesn't rain where you are, just take them off altogether

...good point, well taken for those who are unfortunate enough to have to drive in the rain often...

which isn't me...

...that being said, It's probably not wise to remove them entirely...on the odd chance that I'll need them once or twice a year...

[Uber-fanatic]

Originally Posted by ianc

...but one of the requirements is that (at least one) of the the wiper arms must be bent to accomplish it...

ianc

I don't remember seeing that in Waynes' book...now I'm going to have to crack it open again....

[rdrr]

Originally Posted by spuggy

Read a thread from someone driving long-distance who said that when the wipers are placed on the other side (he'd done it), that, even after it's finished raining, water blowing up the driver's side of the windscreen from the hood is an issue which the wipers being parked on the factory side would have prevented...

I was thinking about doing it, but decided against it after watching what happens on the passenger side in the rain. Water that gets pushed across to the passenger side on the first part of the wiper cycle is what gets blown up the windscreen when the wipers return. It would drive me nuts, so I decided against reversing them.

Years ago a friend of mine had an old MG that he removed the wipers from and only used rain-x. Seemed to work for him and this was in Singapore where it rains a lot - and I mean a lot.

[nameisbauer]

I did it because my wipers seemed way high(and I wanted to do a project from the book I thought I could do). Wiper part went smoothly. The only ball up was one of my AC tubes basically vaporized when I moved it, and I can't find a replacement. And I live In LA, CA so I have only used them once since I did it. Hey, you can always move them back!

[arerrac]

Originally Posted by spuggy

There's a couple of threads here on how to do it, but it's never bothered me in the slightest.

Read a thread from someone driving long-distance who said that when the wipers are placed on the other side (he'd done it), that, even after it's finished raining, water blowing up the driver's side of the windscreen from the hood is an issue which the wipers being parked on the factory side would have prevented...

If it doesn't rain where you are, just take them off altogether

Correct! You do get some water blowing up once you turn them off. Never been a problem for me, but it does happen. I also use Rain-X so the overall effect isn't bad at all.

Also, no need to bend the wiper arm, it's that you need to take the bend OUT of the wiper arm.

[rs6er]

I just never saw the point. I guess at 5'10" (not particularly tall) I never had any problems seeing out the windshield. Also, I like things pretty original.

[Shawn 357]

I just have been to busy redoing the suspension, engine, shaving rain gutters, making the roll cage...

[JP911]

I thought about doing this when I bought my targa. Then, I started noticing the "bigger fish" that needed attention and this project quickly fell to the bottom of my list. Now, with my coupe, the wiper motor and/or switch are toast, so once again I have "bigger fish".

[mmastro]

I did it... at 5'8" it kinda bugged me.

[Uber-fanatic]

Originally Posted by nameisbauer

(and I wanted to do a project from the book I thought I could do)...

+1

also learned how to add more smilies today...