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Eric, do you have any evidence of total effective swept area with the wipers set the factory way compared to your way ?  I can see the want to have the wipers out of your sight when stowed but I can't see on mine at least, that the total swept is as good as the original setup. 

I have good coverage in front of the driver's line of sight, decent overlap in the center and good coverage on the right. 

Last edited by David Stroud IM Roadster D
Eric Marshall Green posted:

David, I did answer your question, but my typing was poor.  SAME CLEARANCE.

I guess you are equating my words "total effective swept area" with "same clearance". 

Your pic of the front of your Roadster at the beginning of this thread got my attention as it looks like a whole lot of windshield is not getting wiped in the 7 to 10 o'clock area as viewed by the driver. 

Just for fun I'll check my car out in more detail when I get it home. 

"Es machts nichts fur mich!" * On the second day driving my brand new shiny Vintage Speedster 430 miles from Hawaiian Gardens to its new home, I ran into a major winter rain storm. I immediately discovered why the speedster top was relegated to "Emergency Use Only."  I damn near drowned and it took several days to dry out the car's interior. I swore a solemn oath to NEVER again allow Speedy out even with dark clouds on the horizon...let alone in any friggin' rain!  That was December of 2008 and I've been faithful to that oath ever since. That's why "es machts nichts fur mich" what side the wipers are on, and...if it wasn't "probable cause" to be pulled over by CA CHP, I wouldn't even have wipers affixed!

*"It doesn't matter to me" im Deutsch

"I swore a solemn oath to NEVER again allow Speedy out even with dark clouds on the horizon...let alone in any friggin' rain! "

That's easier to do in CA than in other parts of the country.  Here in coastal SC we have pop-up showers pretty much any time during the warmer months.  The heat and humidity are such that all it takes is the right wind to squeeze the air a bit and a thunderhead forms out of nowhere.  You have to be prepared, and you have to accept that at some point you WILL get rained on.

Florida Panhandle from about June into August we have the daily drenching from about 2:30 pm until 3:15 pm. The rest of the day it's just hot and humid.

Then comes hurricane season. But, you now when those are coming.

January and February, it can get pretty cool, this morning 36 degrees and when it rains it can last for a couple days.

So I pay very close attention to the weather report.

 

Lane Anderson posted:

"I swore a solemn oath to NEVER again allow Speedy out even with dark clouds on the horizon...let alone in any friggin' rain! "

That's easier to do in CA than in other parts of the country.  Here in coastal SC we have pop-up showers pretty much any time during the warmer months.  The heat and humidity are such that all it takes is the right wind to squeeze the air a bit and a thunderhead forms out of nowhere.  You have to be prepared, and you have to accept that at some point you WILL get rained on.

The "usual" weather and accurate forecasts (thank you, satellites) are a couple of the FEW - and as time goes by, make that VERY FEW - reasons to live and stay in CA. For decades, all our weather was "blamed" on if we were having an El Nino or a La Nina year. Now, the "progressives" (Jeez, I hate that stupid term - they're "regressive," if anything) are claiming the weather is based upon "global warming" and we're doomed. Duh! What the hell was the earth's weather based upon when it came out of the freaking Ice Age?   Global Warming, that's what! ...and that was 11,552 years ago - June, I think.  I'm sorry...I digress. 

Up here in Oregon we've entered the time of year when you never leave the house without your sunglasses and a rain coat. You occasionally even need them at the same time!  Hence why a Pre-A coupe for me, plus I really-really like coupes.

I noticed that on the split window P-cars and the Pre-A cars through '54 the wipers are parked pointed to the outside on both sides, away from the V in the center of the windshield.  Then when they brought in the '55 Continental all the pictures I can find show both wipers parked to the drivers side with the passenger side wiper parked across the V in the windshield. That seems so dopey that I suspect an obscure DOT rule was responsible. Or maybe Max Hoffman got involved for reasons we'll never know.  But to paraphrase the President of Stanistan, build yours how you like it! No fussy little guy in a straw boater and a clipboard is gonna be climbing under it anyway.

 

Tonyvan posted:
 

...RHD 356s have the wipers parked in front of the driver - ie the opposite of what LHD cars had. Presumably they thought it through...

 

Yeah, if they consciously moved the ignition switch to the left of the driver to save a tenth of a second in a Lemans start and if they prescribe the correct way to align the P logo on a wheel's hubcap, you can bet they calculated the perfect place to park the wiper blades.

I'm guessing if you're buzzing down the autobahn and the Mercedes you're overtaking splashes through a puddle, suddenly obscuring your windscreen, you want the first stroke of the wipers to clear the schmutz, 274 milliseconds sooner than the second half of that stroke would.

I have no doubt that somewhere in Zuffenhausen, engineers with stopwatches and slide rules spent weeks on those calculations and will insist that there is no other proper way to mount wiper blades.

 

Last edited by Sacto Mitch

 

David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:

Mitch, wakey, wakey.... We're not talking of speed here but rather the most effective / useful total area of swept rain from the windshield be it with the left or right set of the wiper blades from the driver's view.

 

 

OK, sorry David. I can understand how cabin fever might be getting to you about now:

 

CanadaWeather2

But the question seems to be why the gnomes of Zuffenhausen placed the wipers where they did and I'm wondering if it wasn't something other than swept area.

I don't know the answer. This is one of those unknowable answers. Like, "What is the sound of one wiper flapping?"

At any rate, sorry about the thread drift.

Oh damn, shouldn't have said 'drift', I guess.

 

 

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Sacto Mitch posted:

 

OK, forgot you're still in FL, David. Not cabin fever, then.

But I still can't see how total swept area would change if you flip the wipers. Maybe you mean the asymmetrical swept area clears more of the windscreen closer to the driver when the wipers are on the driver's side?

 

Aye. Well said. Closer and in an area more beneficial to the driver. Thanks.

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