Well I have completed my experiment with great results! Other than taking the wipers off I think I have obtained the best visibility. I went looking for the smallest/lowest profile beam wiper blades I could find in order to reduce the amount of wiper in my line of sight. My goal was to be able to see the passenger side fender of our beautiful cat! I went through all the Trico blades and the smallest still wasnt great, I then found Anco beam blades that were the smallest in the area of the attachment point. I also changed the passenger side size down to 19"(technically 3/4 off each side, no big deal) to allow for the removal and repositioning of the passenger wiper arm one notch down to move it closer to the cowl so when in the resting position so as to be further out of the line of sight. I then also straightened the bend in the wiper arms(by hand difficult but doable). The bend was assumingely there to allow for space for the washer head(there is room with the Anco blades) and also to add to the attack angle to help wiper pressure(which the beam blades dont need any help) The result (along with a small bump up of the drivers seat base) is that I can now see out over that sexy hood Wipers
Before and after below , they arent that clear cause shes in the garage due to weather, ill get a better shot out of the garage soon and if you remind me. After all that , I might just take them off!

 

Nice and promising! This has been disturbing me as well, but never thought of a remedy for it

 

This appears to be a solution in search of a problem.

Impaired visibility from the wiper blades ? I just don’t see it ( pun intended ). Perhaps the post date of April 1 is the clue.....


Z

 

I wouldnt say impaired but what I did sure did improve the problem , which there are many threads about , if you search. Many take their wipers off, which is a little hazzardous in the case you driving on a clear day and windsheild is splasjed from a car in front going though standing water on a roadway. Id say its an issue

 

sorry If my April Fools remark offended anyone. The wipers are not a visual obstruction for me, so I’ll just leave it at that. I’ll keep my observations to myself when the issue being discussed doesn’t impact my enjoyment of the car.


Best of luck to those who are having an issue with the wiper blade location being a problem.


Z

 

Very interesting mod. Now can we get you to work on the dam visor? Sometimes when I'm killing time at a long light, I swing the visor to the side - really opens up field of view for me :-).
John

 

Being 6-foot-7 what constantly blocks my vision is the rearview mirror. At intersections I have to bob and weave my torso to be able to see all three pertinent directions clearly. Not sure about the legality of removing the rearview mirror but if this was my car instead of my wife's, I would certainly consider doing so....

 

Awesome mod with the wipers and I do the same thing with the visor!

The constrained forward view due to the combination of the high wiper arms and the too fat visors is one of my biggest peeves with X100s.

I want to see that long beautiful curvy Jaguar bonnet stretching out in front of me.
Instead all I see is that ugly black wiper mechanism that they could have easily buried in the cowl like most other manufacturers.

And that over-thicc visor hanging down into the forward viewfield, ugh. I've considered removing it entirely, but that's not safe. My plan is to replace it with something much thinner that conforms to the OEM fit/finish while not being a danger in a crash.

I'm definitely making this mod.

 

When I joined the forum in 2012, someone wrote about removing the wipers, not unreasonable as he lived in Arizona. Then I took that three week trip through the New England rain (just ahead of Super Storm Sandy). All that time with the wipers in motion dramatically increased my appreciation of the unobstructed view of the bonnet. Oooohhhh! Gives me shivers.

I think it was somewhere in New York that I realized what a travesty it was that the wipers were positioned in line of sight. sad.

I like the change here. Looks like a significant improvement. Thanks for sharing your process. Good work. (and I'm on my phone, and can't scroll up to see who posted this solution - sorry for not naming you)

 

Yes the rear view is a block on many cars. i figured something out a long time ago. Most rear views have two moveable ball joints. If you grab the mirror and force it up as far as it will go while holding the mirror in the current position you can get the mirror to sit as far up as it will go and then adjust the angle. In some cars I have had it touching the headliner. In tow others I have the mount repositioned higher after windshield replacement. So yea another pet peeve. And the mirror on these are could be about 25% smaller for the size of car but the square inch requirements which I am sure exist would prohibit the manufacturer from taking that liberty but we sure can hot rod if we like.

 

Thanks for the kind words, I am over $100 in wipers but its worth it if there is an improvement, Its how we got anti lock brakes and went to the moon. Hot Rodding...improvement... the lunar module was a solution in search of a problem too....
Heres a road photo of the new set up.
I think I might remove the passenger wiper and use a 2 inch longer drivers wiper, which would add a short inch on either end of the blade and wont hit the window trim or cowl