You know, the cap (cover) on the rear wiper arm? It keeps you from lifting the arm? Why does it so that? I've never seen that on any car before. It seems to serve no purpose other than to annoy! and yes I know how to butcher it so it doesnt do that anymore, just wonder what the thinking was? Does the wind make it go flying? Fear of car washes? Just gotta know!
I'm not for sure why it is like that, unless its on there so the wiper doesn't flap into the "erect" position. More-so I think that the plastic piece is on there to give the wiper unit a finished look. I know that most Toyota/Lexus have them, my mothers RX330 and my 2006 4Runner both have the plastic clip. I usually remove them when I wash the cars.
I take it that has happened Doc? A lot of 04's take it on the chops I guess? I guess I wont cut mine then just in case it ends up at a car wash sometime. Bet the whip antennae isnt really car wash friendly either.:doh:
Stylized purposes is my guess. Note that the UK rear wiper is a regular flip-up wiper design (sorta like the front). The blade is a bit longer and it looks ugly imo. I prefer our more "solid" looking design.
So that thick-handed louts such as yourself will ask ***nicely*** for some help from some of us more delicately-boned people and we can refuse just for the hell of it.
Never heard of it happening, though there are probably only a handful of people who've ever taken the tab off to allow it to move up freely.
Well, it isn't the "only" car with a rear wiper that doesn't lift up. The RAV4 is the same as is the Subaru. Or at least the one I owned. I modified mine. I doubt it would be any more or less car wash friendly either way. Car wash manufacturers spend a lot of time making sure they cause little or no damage. It's bad for business. At any rate, I use the hand spray car washes, but in the winter only. The automatic ones scare me. They look too much like car crushers. Otherwise I hand wash at home. You can easily remove the antenna as it just unscrews.
I modified mine, because I prefer to wash the car myself and it's easier to clean the rear window when you can get it completely out of the way. When I was forced by water restrictions to take my car to a car wash, the rear wiper didn't suffer any damage.
I put on one of the aftermarket metal arms (from somewhere on this site, Sigma maotors I think) with a 20" wiper. Much better than stock!
