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Yes - but it does n't!
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Funnily enough, the bloke who lives across the road from me has just bought a Honda saloon (Accord ??). He is very pleased with it, except for the lack of rear wiper. To get around the problem he applies some stuff he got from Halfords that causes the water to bead up and drop off and claims it works very well. I'll try and get the name of it if you are intereted (or can anyone else remind me please ?)
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I'll try and get the name of it if you are intereted (or can anyone else remind me please ?)
Rain-x ??
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Gareth has it spot on.
If you think about it, the sloping rear window of a saloon has airflow rushing across it whilst the car is in motion - this should clear any droplets of water.
The near-vertical window of an estate or hatchback is generally shielded from airflow fairly well by the rest of the car, hence a wiper is necessary to clear droplets of water.
I used to have a Rover 214, which although it was a hatchback had a shallow-sloping rear window much like a saloon (it had a rear wiper). I noticed that when driving at speed while rain fell the wiper was unnecessary, but when stopped in traffic the water built up and the wiper became necessary.
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"The near-vertical window of an estate or hatchback"
Pardon?
Estate window near-vertical, I agree. For this you often get a wiper.
Hatchback window, near-horizontal. For this you often/always get a wiper.
Saloon window. Somewhere between the two. No wiper.
I think it's a look thing. I've seen saloons with wipers and they look a bit odd. I reckon that's all there is to it.
V
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"The near-vertical window of an estate or hatchback" Pardon?
I said "THE NEAR-VERTICAL WIN..." ;-)
It's down to the aerodynamics, most saloons don't need one when they're moving, most estates or hatchbacks do.
For those with very long memories, the tiny tail fins on the back of the Austin A40 Farina were supposed to add turbulance to clear the rear window instead of a rear wiper! I think they should have added a clockwork one to match the indicators though...
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Hatchback rear window, near-horizontal?!!!
So Golfs, Focuses (Focii?), A2s and Fiestas all have a near-horizontal rear window do they?
Hmmmmm
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Hatchback rear window, near-horizontal?!!!
Porsche 928? :-)
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"So Golfs, Focuses (Focii?), A2s and Fiestas all have a near-horizontal rear window do they?"
No, but Mondeos, Mazda 626s, Cavaliers, et al do, much nearer the horizontal than my Omega saloon. All of these are cars I've owned and all of them need a rear wiper as much as each other. Note my lack of sarcastic tone; makes discussions much nicer.
So, what we have are some hatchbacks with long, sloping rear windows with wipers, some hatchbacks and estates with vertical windows with wipers, and in between we have saloons which somehow have them omitted.
If instead of ridiculing, you gave some thought to what I was saying, you might agree that there's some inconsistency here. Either that or the suggestion is that somewhere between long sloping hatches and vertical windows is some odd area where wipers are no longer needed. Possible, but unlikely.
V
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