Rear Wiper Delete (Removal) Whats Your Thoughts?

[Lenny]

Hi all,

What's your thoughts on removing the rear wiper arm and motor

Then fitting a blank cap in place to cover the hole

Resulting in a smooth window surface.

The job itself is very cheap and only involves the purchase of a cap for £6.90 inc. P&P

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231011831105?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

But does smoothing the rear wiper go along with de-badging the rear of the car?

Also in foggy rain conditions I'd miss the rear wiper to clear the road spray from the window,

What's your thoughts?

[DanGersFord]

Personally like you I'd miss it. Its a functioning part of the car even with my rear Windows blacked out I still use mine :) it does look quite good though

[jacksargent93]

I think it looks pretty sweet! Its something I think I would do, I don't think I would miss it that much....

[Stoney871]

I'd miss mine for sure.

Definitely down to personal choice.

[B13]

I had a saloon variant Focus for nearly ten years - and believe me, I REALLY missed having a rear wiper/washer combo. (Saloons don't have them)

So much so, I nearly had one fitted!!

I must have spent a small fortune on water-repelling goop over those ten years...

:D

[Preee]

I would miss mine for sure , back of the car looks naked with out it

[FOCA]

I removed mine years ago - the wiper scratched the glass and the dirt/ water tended to stick to the swept part of the glass, leaving the rest clearer!

I found i needed to use a lot of screen wash to keep it clean in winter (the more you spray it/ the more it needs sprayed) and if it was just left alone (without spraying it all the time) it was fine (my dad does this to his windscreen - he uses/ wastes "gallons" of screenwash cleaning his windscreen & scratches his screen to blazes - if he just let a little bit of rain/ dirt on the screen without using the washer/ wipers all the time he would not need to use the fluid/ wipers so much)

There is not a lot of weight in the motor wiper (about 1kg) but its just more stuff to go wrong (wiper needs to be changed ocasionally/ i developed a leak in the pipe) that you don't really need

i found the tailgate felt lighter and stayed up better, though

When i fit the perspex (will save 20kgs altogether) i wont be able to use wipers on that anyway

Cosmetically it (deleting the wiper) gives the rear a, much cleaner look and would suit your car. IMO, Lenny

[FOCA]

I did a quick photoshop to give an idea of how it would look -

(edit)

[Lenny]

I did a quick photoshop to give an idea of how it would look -

(edit)

lennys wiper delete-finished- 2.jpg

Nice one foca,

Looks good with the wiper gone makes the car seem wider,

Suppose I could remove it for the summer months,

From reading other members opinions though they used a lot of water repellant fluid when they didn't have a wiper fitted,

I know they meant it in a "glad I now have a wiper" way

But for me using water repelling fluid on a de-wiperd rear window sounds like a good plan,

I'll give it a week or two consideration before purchase though.

Thanks for all the feedback people

[SeanW]

If possible, run with the water repellent gloop and just don't use the wiper for a while - see how effective it is.

Worst case: you keep the wiper and have gloop over your rear screen

[FOCA]

Forgot to say - i redirected the rear windscreen washer to work as an intercooler waterspray - the waterspray cools the intercooler (especially in hot weather) and because im using the existing pump/ resovoir im mot adding any more weight and the water stays cool because the resovior is in the wing and not in the engine bay - its still worked off the same switch but i plan to change that when i get roundtoit

I don't miss miss the rear wiper (im trying to remember how long it has been off - at least 3 years) the back window stays clear in most weather (its the Mondeo, not the Focus, though) - i had to (try to) polish out the scratches the wiper had made - i never used water-repellant fluid

[B13]

I found that the time I missed the rear wiper most was when reverse or parallel parking in the rain: I couldn't see where I was bloomin' well going!!

With a hatchback, where the bottom of the rear screen meets the metal is where the car ends. Simple. But in a saloon (with no parking assist) there was an extra (non-visible) just-under-two-foot of boot space to consider.

I think I only hit a wall ONCE before my spacial awareness kicked in!!

:D

But yeah, you MIGHT miss the rear wiper when reversing in the rain...

[jeebowhite]

to be honest mate, if you can remove it, you could easily reinstall it if necessary.

As silly as it sounds, for now, just remove the wiper, leave the motor, and give the car a week - see if the appearance (from the inside) grows on you. you may look a little stumpy, but if you do decide to have it back on, its a 2 minute replace, rather than a few hours job...

[Aldoo]

Thread dig!! (sorry!)

I missed this thread when it was active

But for nearly as soon as I got my focus I took the fuse out of the rear wiper. It infuriated me when it would turn on when you put it in reverse, even though you'd maybe had the front wipers on just once for a 2 hour journey!! I messed the screen up too

After all this time I've decided to take it off totally and just came across this on google when having a search for what size pug I needed - thanks Lenny for the link!!

I'll let people know how it goes!!

[Lenny]

Thread dig!! (sorry!)

I missed this thread when it was active

But for nearly as soon as I got my focus I took the fuse out of the rear wiper. It infuriated me when it would turn on when you put it in reverse, even though you'd maybe had the front wipers on just once for a 2 hour journey!! I messed the screen up too

After all this time I've decided to take it off totally and just came across this on google when having a search for what size pug I needed - thanks Lenny for the link!!

I'll let people know how it goes!!

You can disable the rear auto wipe feature using the modified elm327 and software

[georgen]

Its there for a reason, in the summer you wont miss it much but when the rainy season comes lol, you will wish you had it.

[mixmasterlooney]

Forget those water repellant stuff, it doesn't work so well with slush from winter and the build up will create a rough surface causing more dirt to build up on the screen. I did this mod on my polo but with a glass cap. It was awesome and i didn't even miss the wiper at all, on the focus the rear windscreen is far more curved and catches water much more than my polo did, i noticed this straight away.

Sadly for a focus i don't think it's a good mod sorry lenny buddy, the focus rear windscreen is too heavily curved in my opinion. Good mod but not for a focus i don't think.

In all honesty it comes down to what you like, if you did it i would like it anyways because it's different and still looks good but i would not recommend it for a focus

[Lenny]

Sadly for a focus i don't think it's a good mod sorry lenny buddy, the focus rear windscreen is too heavily curved in my opinion. Good mod but not for a focus i don't think.

Screw you kurt !

:lol

Only joking mate,

I totally agree, I've spent 3 weeks trying not to use my rear wiper to see if I could survive without it but no I couldn't

So I'm keep in it as is

[jeebowhite]

it would have looked alright, but I think until your bullied into not using the wiper (i.e. you remove the arm and leave the rest) then you are not really going to see the physical appearance look any better than the requirement to use it!

[Aldoo]

I'm buying the plug tonight

I know people say that I wont miss it till its gone, but its been totally disabled for a year now - and if the winter is worse than last year then the rear window will be the least of my worries!

[Aldoo]

Done this today - looks good from a distance, need to redo it though

(I tried to do it up tight to make sure it doesn't leak, but ended up making it go a bit concave and can be seen to go in a bit in certain light ..feel daft because I used shower sealant to make it super safe anyway!!)

couple pics here, can do I guide if anyone is interested - but its easy enough

Actually, I will give one tip!

On the sealant plunger tube where it says to discard after 3 months ...its not worth the hassle of still using it!! I ended up hacking into the middle and putting it on with my finger with gloves on!!

Let me know what you think guys!!

I'll get it sorted properly when I can :)

Tom

[Aldoo]

PS - check out the blue sky! who'd have thought that was late summer in northeast England!!! :D

[Lenny]

Looks nice and tidy mate,

I'd have used bathroom silicone too,

[Aldoo]

Thanks mate!

and sealant seemed the best option really, cant risk water coming in as its got the number plate lights right under it!

and I definitely over tightened it - it looks like a button now!! but when I did it the sun didn't catch it like that so I didn't notice

[b4zz]

im liking that it makes the back end look cleaner but I have noticed as said that the focus back window does get a lot of spary on it so think I would defo miss it in the winter