On Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:18:53 -0800, Smitty Two
wrote:

In article ,
(David Combs) wrote:

My lifelong problem with windshield-wipers is that, being 6'3",
while driving a car, my eyes's sightline to the road has always
gone through the windwhield *precisely halfway between* those two
supports that push the rubber "blade" against the windshield.


So, where *I* most comfortably look through the winshield is
where the wiper is guaranteed
to push lightly (if at all!) against the glass -- the
rain/snow/ice/dirt/roadScum-hit glass.

Thus leaving a 3-inch band ("annulus") the windshield has any (if any)
effect on.

So, my first question:

Is there a windshield-wiper manufacturer who make ones that have not
two, but three, supports directly pushing the actual blade against
the glass?

Maybe. HOw long are your wipers. Can you use wipers that are an inch
or two longer? (I had blades of different length, and I think there
are cars that use that. But last spring, I looked it up in there
book, and I'd been using a blade an inch or two shorter than
recommended. I wonder if I messed it up or the previous owner!

And my second: how about ones made for really difficult weather,
eg northern canada or alaska, with lots of ice, freezing-rain, etc?

I think I've seen those. I didn't take them seriously, or maybe I
just didnt' care because I live in Baltimore.

More below.

----- just for fun:

What about these huge semi-trucks -- drive all night in that kind of
weather, what kind of wipers do they have.

Or airplanes?

Or navy destroyers?




Thanks!

David

It doesn't matter how tall you are. If your wipers are leaving streaks,
you need new wipers, that's all there is to it.

Yeah, not just the blades but the arms. The ones I know have four
places where they attach to the blade, but the blades are stiff enough
that if they're in good condition, they should clean the whole area.

I've never had your problem, except when the blade was really old. I
normally replace only the blades and not the arms, but in this case
I'd do the arms too.

Does this happen more on the highway? Maybe not lately but I've seen
wipers with wings, airfoils, bent pieces of metal that are designed to
keep the wipers on the window at high speeds..

Also, consider Rain-X. I think it counteracts water tension and the
water remains clear, so that you can see through it while it is
running off the window, to a certain extent even without using the
wipers. I know from my own experience that that is true, but I don't
know to what degree. But it wears off and I think gets washed off. I
don't know how often it needs to be put on again, because I realized I
couldn't keep up the practice, so I stopped early. But it did work
well for a while.