I have always wondered why the wiper blade on the passenger side of my car has the airfoil on it. I reasoned that if it was to keep the blade on the screen for safety then the driver should be the one seeing any danger ahead rather than getting the news second hand from the passenger who could see it coming.

Searching the Forum I saw that some had the airfoil on the driver’s side, others had it on the passenger’s side, others had one on each side and others did not have one at all, no help there.

Switching wiper arms would not work as they are different and switching blades would put the 20” blade on to my driver’s side. My guess is that what went on was the part that came out of that particular wiper bin during the assembly of my car. The manual has a diagram (pg 8R-33) which shows an airfoil on the drivers side, go figure.

There was another subject that had differing opinions; some said the 22” wiper was to go onto the passenger side. This compounds the airfoil problem as some of those who said they had it on a particular side could have the wrong length blade in that position.

The manual says that the 22” (600mm) blade is for the driver side and that the 20” (550mm) blade goes onto the passenger side. This works fine for me. The cheapest way to replace the wiper is to just replace the element (rubber portion) it may be harder to find but on the Forum it is mentioned that BMW sells these and you cut it to length to suit you application, $10 for two approximately.

A lot of reading and it all appears to come down to the luck of the draw from the parts bin.

Keep you screen clean.

Edit Studying the parts list available on this Forum I see that the drivers side wiper blade is listed as being 20" long and the passenger side is listed as being 22" long. This is the opposite of what is stated in the shop manual. I shall switch mine and see if it makes any difference.
( Note to self; get a life)

 

I haven't been able to figure out why wind deflectors are on some cars and not others. I suspect the OEM's were replaced with blades without them.

The OEM part numbers for MB Made in Germany wipers are as follows:

1-05189812AA A 193 820 03 45
1-05099055AB A 170 820 01 45

When I purchased these, they both came with the wind deflector.

While these are more expensive than Mopar blades, they are better made and have better rubber.

 

I bought these:

http://www.amazon.com/PIAA-93355-Bla...8283576&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/PIAA-93350-Bla...8283576&sr=1-8

and am very happy with them.

Use the PIAA part number and do a Froogle search (or your choice of search engines) and find the best price.

 

my 04 has airfoils on both sides i just replace the inserts when needed

 

If it bothers you that much buy these...

 

I purchased my 04 Crossfire brand new and it only had the airfoil on the passenger side. As for any of the German rubber products on my Crossfire, I have been less than impressed.
My gas cap "teather" dry rotted years ago, and my wiper blades split last year, without even being used a total of 6 hours in the last 4 years.
My car is always garaged, and never see's winter weather either.

 

AMX, do you have any electric motors in your garage? Refrigerator? Air compressor? I may be hard to believe, but they produce ozone in quantities high enough to degrade rubber at incredible rates.

Believe it or not!

 

As maxcichon says above ozone is a savage agent leading to the breakdown of rubbers. Ultra violet light and pollution in general is a culprit as well. They lasted five years so I would say you got twice the average life.

Coming from Akron though I guess you know rubber.

 

I just noticed that my gas cap tether is on its last legs, it is cracked over half way through in many places, mine is not used in the winter so being flexed when frozen is not the issue.
I have tried the short blade on the driver side and it is not so good as the longer blade. The short blade does not wipe the water left by the long blade in front of the driver at the top of the screen and this tends to run down when going slow or stationary.
I cannot see why two long blades could not be used as there is some clearance when they are parked.