Just a quick question. Washed the car for the first time and found that Back Windshield Wiper hardly moves much off the window, making it a bit, just a bit, difficult to wash around it. I assume this is "normal," but just wanted to check??
Normal yes. Pain in the butt, also yes. You can actually mod the cover so that the wiper will lift all the way up. The directions (very easy) are on evnut.com Here you go: Prius Wiper
The Prius has some brilliant design features, but then there's this (the rear wiper) and that inane reverse beep. Makes me think that a complete moron found his/her way onto the otherwise highly innovative Prius design team. Then there's the fact that the Prius will still run (and not even protest much) if you walk away with the key. That one's not just stupid, it's downright dangerous! Yeah, I know, the reverse-beep and key-less running have been discussed ad nauseum in previous threads. John and Pinan: Thanks for the wiper info...
For a while, I didn't want to do the mod since it requires the removal of the part. What I did instead was to simply remove the black cover whenever I wanted to list the wiper all the way up. I found that the need presented itself only a few times but in the end, I just went ahead and modified the part.
I think if you ever use a car wash it is best to leave the cover unmodified. I believe the reason it won't lift off the rear screen is to prevent it lifting in a automatic car was and being torn off by the brushes. I use a micro-fibre mitt to wash my car, I can just get my fingers under the wiper to wash that line away then I put the chamois around my fingers to dry the window under the wiper and it dries the wiper blade at the same time. PS. I never use an automatic car was but my wife may or I may if on a trip, so I leave the cover unmodified.
I wondered about the aerodynamics of it all. If you were going xxx speed and you met a xxx speed head-wind, could the wiper then be lifted and perhaps torn off. Still.....I modded mine.
I think if you ever use a car wash it is best to leave the cover unmodified. I believe the reason it won't lift off the rear screen is to prevent it lifting in a automatic car was and being torn off by the brushes. I did the snipping mod nearly four years ago with zero problems. the wiper arm stays put, no problems in the car wash or otherwise. Cut away that plastic.
I haven't bothered modifying the wiper cover on mine, since it only take a second or two to pop it off and on again when I want to clean the windows properly. Given how easy this is to do and how infrequently I need to lift the wiper, I don't feel the mod is worth the time. IMHO.
Darell's got a nice pic of the mod. Go to EVNUT.com then check the Prius pages, then the mod pages. Basically it's just a matter of snapping off a tab. here's his pic: Simple !
I found it easiest to just remove the rear wiper, greatly improving rear vision, ease of cleaning the back window and aerodynamics. I never used the wiper during the first two years I owned the prius.
We have 2 2007 Prii and have done the mod to th rear wipers on both cars. We have had many automatic car washes with no problem. The spring load keeps the wiper hard against the rear window. Just out of curiosity, has anyone had a car wash lift the rear wiper and wreck things?
While I haven't heard of any problem with the rear wiper, I HAVE heard of problems with the antenna going through car washes... So that would be probably one of the things I'd remove before I go in there.
