Espace Wiper configuration

danielsydney

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I dont know if others have noticed the Strange wiper configuration on the New Espace in Paris. It has the wipers like the 307, and the A160 merc. What do people think of this setup?
Is it effective... tongue
 
I think its like that as its the easiest (only :confused: ) way to wipe a windscreen that large. I think the 307 has the largest windscreen in its class, and being so tall, regular wipers wouldn't be effective. Pug307 will be able to shed more light on this :)
 
With such a large windscreen, of 1.46m2 area, you can't use conventional wipers to wipe the entire area (certainly it's height.)

You could use convoluted solutions such as those on the 206 and Clio (why they use it on the Clio is beyond me, it's windscreen is hardly that big), but for simplicity the butterfly setup on the 307 works efficiently. For those unaware, the 206 & Clio use a mechanism on one of the wiper blades which pushes the blade out into the corner of the windscreen to wipe a larger area.

Are there any downsides? My chief quibble with this system is that the wipers are noisier than standard wipers in general, I feel that, because the wiper blades are so large, the arms can't press the entire wiper down effectively, so you have parts which just "skid" across the windscreen.

The wiper blades on the 307 are 700mm & 650mm long, so they're a good deal larger than your standard wiper blades.

I wouldn't say the system is strange, in fact it's normal on people movers. The bubble Tarago had them. If you have a large glassy area, it makes sense.

Cheers,

Justin
 
I could be wrong on this, but don't the windscreen wipers on the Clio park on the "wrong" side for traditional RHD?

If so, then maybe the mechanisim is a cheaper way to wipe the screen for both LHD & RHD cars without tooling up for seperate scuttle/wiperarm etc. components

Just a thought...
 
Europa you are right the clio's wipers are the wrong way round.
Like the 16 and 504 I think...
 
only right hand drive 206/clio have those funky wipers on the drivers side (and 5 series BMW). its basically a cheap way to get enough coverage in right hand drive without the expense of changing all the linkages to make them wipe the other way. They are conventional setups in left hand drive format.
 
I wonder why manufacturers don't adopt other wiper arrangements? (like the "butterfly" method)

Alpine used to use the "Clap-Hands" wipers, Citroen and Mercedes went for the big single wiper arrangement. Also there was the Peugeot 604 another unusual one.

Now almost everyone seems to be back to the standard system again... :confused:
 
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