LHD Wiper Mechanism Mystery
 

Whilst looking at a LHD D2 (Vera's - aka Djinny) at the annual meet, I noticed that the drivers side wiper mechanism had a second arm - a sort of pantograph arrangement. (See photo). The scuttle trim is mirror of the RHD and the latter even has the blanked hole positions for such an arrangement. So do all LHD models have this mechanism? and why? why not RHD? :Confused:

It looks nice.

A car needs the blade to rotate through at least 90° during sweep though, so the only advantage I can see in a two arm system like that is where the sweep length goes beyond a 90° radial and they want to keep the arm near parallel with the A pillar at the end of sweep.

It makes more sense on trucks and trains where the large arms are centrally mounted and the dual arm is used to keep the blade at a constant angle on the screen.

RHD cars have simpler system
As far as I remember for LHD cars there was an option to have one arm system, but I won't remember which cars had it. ETKA will know the answer.

Yes! Sergey is right, there are 2 options for LHD cars for drivers wiper arm, a single arm and a double 'pantograph' arm. As far as I can tell both arms will fit any LHD D2?
I got stung by this earlier in the year when my windscreen got chipped and then cracked all the way up and down.
I have the double wiper arm, which needs more room as it has a swivel joint for the second arm which sticks out further. This crazily requires the windscreen to have a cut-out to clear the joint of the second arm!
I was in a hurry to get it fixed so I ended up paying £615 for a windscreen from Germany that has this cut-out at the bottom, and that was with a 15% discount! Had I had more time I should have bought a used single arm from ebay and just got a UK windscreen (non-thermal) for around £200.
Oh well you live and learn. I think I'll be ordering that single wiper arm to have for next time I need a windscreen, I don't want to pay so much again.

I think you can see the cut-out in the glass below the crank in the main arm for the fixing point for the second, smaller arm. Bad luck about the screen replacement Goran!

I still dont see WHY this mod is needed. :Confused: The arrangement is the mirror of the RHD and the swept arc seems OK with the wiper sweeping up to the pillar and down to the scuttle with none of the requirements for an arc greater than 90deg as outlined by 27ltrs. I can see that it might get the blade to lay flatter along the scuttle below the line of the bonnet rear lip (which would be good if that is the case).

Yeah, I dont get it, why two versions for LHD, one single one double, when the windscreen is the same shape?
Well it looks like I need to buy the single driver's arm mounting frame too as its different from the double arm. Its worth it to avoid another £600 windscreen lol!

Silly question maybe, could you not have had the UK windscreen cut to fit?

I dont think so, as you cant cut tempered glass. You might be able to grind it but I would have thoughtthe risk of damage is high.

Agreed, plus I think windscreens are made of 2 panes, with some plasticky layer in the middle. I assume this sandwich is sealed around the edge in some way, if you cut it you would have to know how to re-seal the new edge.

I'm pretty sure that a windscreen is laminated glass, which can be cut hence the suggestion/question :Confused: