While I like the speed-sensitive wipers that came with my 2008 MCSC, I would be happier if they were variable speed-sensitive wipers. I want the speed of the wipers to vary based both on the speed of the car and on the density of the rain.

An alternative would be some sort of aftermarket rain-sensing wipers I suppose. Has anyone installed or had installed either of these?

Thanks in advance.

 

If this were a VW, you could replace the normal wiper relay with an electronic one, and get variable speed.

Anyone know if it is possible to use a BMW relay?

 

this is in the Wrong Area

 

I think MINI got rid of the speed-sensing intermittent wipers after the first few years. I know that the intermittent wipers in our two '06 cabrios work off of rain intensity, not vehicle speed.

The rain-sensing systems works great, too. It activates the wipers just often enough to keep the windshield clean without ever squeaking across a dry windshield.

But if your wipers are activating to fast or too slow, I think the rain-sensing is dealer-adjustable.

 

Sorry but these are user-adjustable on current production - via the set button on the end of the indicator stalk.

 

Original poster has a convertible, so it's a first-gen car (and not user-adjustable).

 

Eh? Didn't know there was such a thing as a 2008 MCSC convertible.

 

MCSC == MINI Cooper 'S' Cabrio

 

Thanks for (correctly) clarifying my acronym. I had assumed that MCSC was used fairly regularly, but perhaps I was mistaken.


Back to the wipers, if there are aftermarket rain-sensing wipers that would be fine, I believe. Unfortunately, the dealer said that the OEM rain-sensing wipers could not be added to the car after production. (Of course, I'm assuming that really means that its more trouble than it is worth).

Thanks again,

 

No worries about the acronym, and you're correct that MCSC (and MCSCa) have been in common use since the cabrio was introduced. I guess the Clubman folks will have to come up with something else.

I didn't realize that if you didn't order the rain-sensing option, that you got speed-sensing intermittent wipers by default. I thought that MINI had discontinued the speed-sensing entirely, and that you either got rain-sensing intermittent wipers or fixed-frequency intermittent wipers.

I don't know what would be involved with retrofitting rain-sensing wipers, but in addition to the sensor and any required programming, I believe it would also involve a windshield swap, so yes, it's probably more trouble than it's worth.

 

Where did you hear this? I'm in an 08 Cabrio without rain sensing wipers. Currently, my wipers do not have any speed sensing. I understood that this is a dealer setting. I had not heard that MINI discontiued this feature.

 

I may be completely jacked-up, so take this with a grain of salt, but here's how I *thought* it worked:

At one time, MINI did not have a rain-sensing intermittent wiper feature at all. All they had was a speed-sensing system, and some people didn't like it.

When MINI introduced the rain-sensing option, I thought they stopped offering a speed-sensitive system at all. This is where I may be mistaken. From some of the other posts in this thread, it sounds like if you don't order the rain-sensing wipers, you get a speed-sensing system. Both of our MINIs have the rain sensors, so I can't confirm one way or the other.

 

I just got off the phone with 866-ASK-MINI and according to them the speed sensing feature is standard on my car since it doesn't have rain sensing wipers. Therefore, in my case something is not working correctly which needs to be repaired.

Time for a happy dance

 

To me they shouldn't have either Rain or Speed sensing wipers. I'm more than capable of determining what speed my wipers should be. I don't understand why BMW saddled us with this worthless tech (kinda like the self leveling headlights).

My 83 Mercury Lynx had user adjustable intermittent wipers and it was wonderful. Why the heck don't MINIs have them…

 

+1
but without these useless tech advances, its harder for them to justify charging so much.

 

So if rain-sensing wipers aren't going to happen after production, does anyone know if variable intermittent wipers can be installed aftermarket?

 

I manually activate the wipers each and every stroke.

 

I'm usually not a big fan of unnecessary complications either, but I really like the rain-sensing wipers, just because they work so darn well. It's literally "turn them on and forget about them".

Out driving in the rain and going into a tunnel? No need to turn the wipers off when you're in the tunnel to avoid the "squeak squeak" from the wipers scraping across a dry windshield.

Driving around when the weather can't decide if it wants to rain, drizzle, mist or be dry? No worries, the rain sensor activates the wipers just often enough to keep the windshield clear, without ever wiping a dry windshield.

So, while I don't like examples of "technology for technology's sake", I find it hard to get upset about unobtrusive technology that "just works" the way it's supposed to.

 

+1 Scott - I thought the RSW was ridiculous - then I used it. Do I *need* it? No. Does it keep the windshield clear (a-without me doing the manual 'mist wipe', b-without wifey nagging me because she thinks the manual wipe should happen more often than I do)? Oh yeah.

 

Yep - there's a long list of things I don't *need* in a car, like fuel injection, electronic ignition, and synchomesh transmission, but that doesn't mean I want to go back to tuning/synching my carburetors several times a year as the seasons change, having to double-clutch *every single* downshift, or cleaning/gapping distributor points.

 

Sounds like my classic Vespa, although it has a fully synchroed transmission.

 

You hit that one on the nose.

You are allowed to like the wipers. I'm allowed not to. Sorry if that bothers you.

 

I miss having that feature especially for the rear wiper which since, if you are moving, the rear window doesn't get as wet and the wipers will screech more often

do a search in the 1st generation Electrical Forum....I started on thread on this subject a while back as I wished I could adapt my '04 MC, that has the speed-sensing wipers, to be variable intermittant.....got a few suggestions but the general consensus was that the electronics in the MINI might get screwed up.

I bought 2 variable intermittant control devices and installed them way back when in my 1978 Ford Fiesta for the front and rear wipers...worked great....so the technology goes way back as my wife's 1978 Dodge Omni, I believe, had that as a stock feature