I thought that the days when I cared about what type of windshield wipers were on my car stopped when I was 18 years old... NO!

I'm tired of staring at funky old fashioned wipers instead of the beautiful hood on my 2000 XKR. Basic research led to the use of 'beam wipers' which don't have the traditional wiper bracketry. I can now see the shape of the hood without having to look out and over the wipers as I drive.

Even though I live in the desert, we do get occasional rain and I don't want to drive around without them since my car is my daily commuter vehicle.

Photos below that show views from the driver's seat were taken with the camera directly in front of my eyes in the driving position.

Original wiper showing how much visual blockage of the hood exists:
(due to bad photography/reflection green line shows wiper profile)




Comparison of new 'beam wiper' versus original:
(X denotes ugly washer fluid sprayers which will be removed, leaving open delivery hose)




Green line shows new wiper position and red line shows how much more hood is now visible from standard driving view:




Cleaner look:




Size and brand used:
($30 for the pair from AutoZone in the USA; other brands BOSCH, RAINX, etc.)

 

Nice one Jeff. I never paid any attention to the wipers, but that is really a significant improvement. Definitely worth it!

 

Hey Jeff, welcome back. I totally agree.
Now if you really like the new look try going without wipers at all!

About 3 months back I refinished my wipers new blades, sanded and re-painted Matte black and wrapped them in bubble wrap, then bought some rubber screw caps at Ace hardware covered the wiper motor posts and water sprayer jets on cowl. (black rubber)so nothing could clog the holes or damage the post threads, just added protection!

I then applied Aquapel water repellent (much better than Rain X)
and have been in 3 rain storms this summer and never came close to needing wiper blades, as long as car was moving the rain drops slid right off even @20 MPH, the faster the better though!.

Also Costco sells Goodyear blades beam style for 7.50 each, very nice, light weight, very stealthy wiper blade.

I know going without wipers is not for everyone, but 2 of the storms were quite heavy downpores (Monsoon or Haboob style as they like to refer to them here in Arizona) and still had no problem after windshield treated with Aquapel.

No wiper blades is the best look yet, it is amazing the difference the way your view is from inside looking out.

Happy Motoring...

 

I asked the forum about removing the wiper blades a couple of years ago, and some others had done it.

My question to you is whether or not it is legal in your state.

I thought about it bit, but could not really find an answer in my state, and did not want to get pulled over for such a simple offense, but, knowing how cops are, and how likely they are to look closely at one of our XKs, I just put it off.

I am pretty sure that you will have a hard time getting an inspection sticker in any state without windshield wipers, but, of course, you could put them on for the inspection.

 

Arizona does not have such a vehicle inspection, only emissions every other year. And yes, the wipers can be put back on within two minutes or so!

Happy Motoring...

 

That's interesting, in our state, along with emissions, they check that EVERY light works properly, every blinker, brake light, license plate light, backup lights and even the aiming of the headlights along with the horn and the wipers. The last inspection that I got, the guy told me about how a lot of people have a problem with what he called "the third light", which is the light that a lot of cars have on that deck in front of the rear windshield.

On my van, he tried to tell me that mine was not working, but it was not actually a place for a light, it was where the motor for the rear window wiper was housed.

Then, they check the wear on the tires and some of the stations even run the car up to about thirty mph and slam on the brakes. It used to be called a Brake Tag.

I'd say that they are very thorough.

 

I ordered one from AutoZone for $11.99 and it will be available to me tomorrow afternoon. That will allow me to remove, then rotate the wipers downward about 1 1/2" to the lowest point of contact on the windshield. That will be the new resting point for the wipers when they are turned off. It will open up even more hood viewing area. The sweep of the arms will still be effective and they will have less contact with air flowing over the car. I'll post a photo of before and after showing the result.

When I removed the nut/post covers at the base of the wiper arms, I noticed that they were slightly rusty from years of exposure to the elements. I applied a liberal amount of Liquid Wrench penetrating oil so that they will loosen more easily tomorrow.

 

I found out, years ago, that when you're pulled over for something else missing wiper blades just runs up the price of the ticket...

 

I know that this 'wiper thing' has nothing to do with performance, but my enjoyment factor is definitely up. I really like being able to see the hood while I drive... I feel like I'm sporting around more. The car is beautiful, so why not see it while you're inside? =)

I purchased a cheap windshield wiper removal tool from AutoZone that broke the instant that I used it. The plastic knob twisted off. For only a few dollars more, I bought a battery terminal / windshield wiper removal tool on eBay that worked very well. At the point where it seemed that the tool was about to warp, the windshield wiper arm made a loud POP! noise and was freed from the mounting shaft. It took quite a lot of force to free each wiper arm. I lowered each to the maximum low on the windshield. There is no problem with correct wiper sweep and I can now see a lot of the hood, rather than massive wiper arms, while driving. Aaaah...

This photo was taken from where my eyes are while driving. This is what I see:




This photo shows the type of tool used and the wiper arm location, as low as they can go:



By the way, having a K&N sticker on your car DOES make it go faster. It must have something to do with the aerodynamic effect of the turbulence created as the air hits the front and rear edges of the sticker... kind of like having a turbulator at the end of a wing. D'oh!

 

High Jeff in Tucson,
I used to enjoy looking over the hood and fenders (bonnet and wings) of my XK-120 while going down the road many years ago. I think the driving experience of my XK8 would be enhanced if more of the hood was visible. Please excuse my ignorance, but exactly what are "beam wipers" ? What about the washer fluid?

 

Standard type wiper blades typically use a metal or plastic trellis of sorts, using multiple arms and pivots to allow flexibility and keep the blade in contact with the glass under varied conditions. The blades Jeff is using are basically one strip of spring steel with the wiper edge incorporated into it. They attach in the traditional way to the stock arms. The arms have the washer nozzles attached, so no problem with washing the windscreen. The result is a simple, functional wiper. Many of the new high end cars come with these; most notably the German cars.

 

I put a set of"beam" wipers on my corvette and the grip on the glass was so hard it ruined the wiper motor. Caused the gear to strip. wipers $14.00, wiper motor $175.00 . I am not a big fan of beam wipers. I have heard others have had that problem as well. Seems they use plastic gears in wiper motors now and they aren't up to the challenge.

 

Link for the one that worked please? I guess I'm always the enemy of increased complexity but I can't imagine how this method of attachment is superior to splines & set screws. Would like to re-situate my wipers though. I never use them and they do take up valuable windscreen space.

 

This Google search reveals the kind of wiper arm puller that works (Lisle 54150) and shows many for sale: Google

 

Hello Jeff - Thanks for the post about the wipers - I have to replace mine before tomorrow's state inspection so I may try beam wipers.

I'm curious about the performance enhancements to your Jag. Could you tell me what these are and what kind of performance increase or improvement you are seeing?

Thanks -

Pete

 

Hi Jeff,
This past week I installed a pair of Bosah beam wipers. Resulting in a much better view of the bonnet and the road, and a much impoved driving experience. I also think I am getting better gas milage, faster acceleration, improved cornering and a smoother ride.
Thank you Jeff

Ron with a '97 Red Coupe

 

Didn't know Xk's have two wipers. So uncool, lol.

 

A little lube on the post splines will make next time's removal easier. A stainless nut would not hurt either.

For all the energy and work that went into the beautiful exterior design profile I have always thought the wiper set up looked like an afterthought. Back in the 1960's many manufacturers figured out how to hide the wipers within the profile. Jaguar, however, seems to have simply not cared. Perhaps the company was just being fatalistic about fussy legal requirements, much like the painted on 3 foot British license plate plackards that marred the otherwise fine finish in the day.

Certainly someone in the thousands of test miles noted that the aforementioned hood view was marred by the spring/clip/trellis/hose/sprayer thicket you had to look through to see it! Moreover, the wind tunnel and wind noise tests would certainly have uncovered the advantage of integrated wipers.

The final outcome could have been some intentional reflection of British motoring heritige but more likely the body styling and basic engineering was long set by the time the real world add-on's (door handles, mirrors, license plate brackets, antennae and wipers) came to the party. By then, reengineering the profile and/or firewall to accept a recessed wiper assembly was simply too expensive and time consuming.


Regardless, the wipers sit, essentially, on top of the body.

 

Just repositioned the wipers finally. Pretty bonnet.

I used the AZ wiper tool as well and needed to grind the tool's opening a little to get it around the post under the wiper arm. The force it took to remove the arms was ridiculous. I needed to use channel locs to turn the knob, and the pusher/plunger part of the tool kept wandering toward and over the edge of the bolt. The solution:

Leave the wiper arm nut on a little bit to keep the tool's plunger from wandering. Once the wiper arm "pops" (even just a little) it's loose.

I also have the beam blades, and if I didn't prefer a semi-reclined seating position, I'd have an even more wonderful view.

 

I read this thread when it started and thought it a lot of fuss for a minor issue. Then I drove in the rain for two weeks (vacation!) and saw how much better the view was with the wipers out of the way. Busy clearing the windscreen, in this case.

You guys are RIGHT. This is a gross design error. Then I went to the Jaguar Alive driving event last Sunday.

The E Type on display had three wipers, though they were small. The NEW Jags had the wipers a little lower than ours, but still in the line of sight.


I'm thinking two things : Jaguar designers don't envision the wipers ever being at rest, and, as Mike Miner said, "Everything was somebody's good idea at one time."