i drive in the rain all the time but basically never use the rear wiper. i just use some zaino z-6 every once in a while and dont have a problem with the water staying on the glass. my rear wiper will be off in a couple weeks when my car goes into the body shop to be fixed from stupid drivers.

 

Here is what I did. I bought a sink stopper from Lowes. It was chrome and has a large wing nut on it. I sanded it and painted it to match. I also placed a large rubber O-ring and rubber washer under it to prevent water from getting in. The car is dirty in the pics, forgive me.

 

Man you guys are thinking, and the results look pretty nice. I guess it's an easy way to shave 2 lbs.

 

Lebby, Is water getting in from your set up?

 

hi el guy

no water yet after 1 week, i think we're good

 

I like the look without the wiper back there, too. Looks much cleaner, IMO.

I used a low profile Chrysler headliner clip - painted and clear coated it. Then applied a thin layer of automotive grade silicone to seal out water. Let it dry and put it on. I used a very large metal washer on the underside and a wing nut to make it stay put. It's been many months and thousands of miles with no leaks or trouble.

 

Looks good and clean.

 

looks great man. did you black out the nissan burger on the back?

nice touch. i might try painting the burger body color instead of shaving it off in case i ever plan on trading the car in.

 

here's mine. once i'm home. i'll post pictures of the actual plug.

 

Wow that really looks clean. I know what I am doing after work tomorrow.

 

That looks awesome, I want to do it this weekend can you give me more installation instruction.

 

I agree that it looks pretty clean without the wiper --

but seriously, do you know how much Porsche guys have to pay to get a rear wiper PUT ON their cars?

I don't mind it without the wiper (it definitely looks clean), but personally I'd rather have something that people will look at and say "damn, my car doesn't have that..."

 

....and do you know how many people out there pay big bucks to take any weight off their car they can? This is practically free and loses like 3 pounds. (Might not sound like a lot, but once you get to the point that you are thinking about titanium screws....3 pounds is huge, specially at the price!)

Anyways..the people that look at your car and are just noticing that you have a rear wiper and are impressed by that.....those are some very cool peeps, I would value their opinion......... Come on, a minivan has a rear wiper, a Z should never have to worry about what's behind it...just who's infront so he knows what side to pass on.

 

Yeah, losing 3 pounds is going to do a lot.

If I needed to drop weight, it would never be driven with more than 1/8 tank gas, and I would use 15 or 16" racing wheels exclusively. I would drain the washer fluid, throw away the engine cover, remove all interior lining, get lightweight racing driver's seat (remove passenger seat) and do about 100 more things before removing the wiper blade to reduce weight.

Furthermore, if weight were an issue, I wouldn't even drive my car. I would pay a 4'10" jockey to drive it, force him to take laxatives and take a crap right before driving. The jockey would also be forced to drive naked and without shoes. Get real, no one drops the rear wiper for weight loss. It *might* help with aerodynamics to have it removed (at high speeds), but that's a stretch.

On the Porsche 911, it costs $360 extra for a rear wiper. I'm not saying that you have to love it, or even like it. But my old man used to own a 1999 911, and according to a bunch of his friends who have owned Maserati's, Bentleys, Ferarris... basically it is way cooler to have the rear wiper blade.

If you think it looks better without the wiper, that's great! I'm not knocking your style. I just happen to be in the crowd who thinks it's a cool thing to have. It definitely looks cleaner without it on the back end, but it still *is* functional... remember that.

 

By popular demand here are some better pics of my shaved rear hatch

 

Actually I took mine off for just that reason.
I have a V1 spoiler on which added a lot of weight to the hatch. Once opened, it would close by itself. Removing the hatch weight, rear wiper, and motor solved this problem, and now my hatch stays open.

But, I'm still also arguing the point that removing 3 pounds for free IS a huge bargain.

 

Thanks. Yeah, all emblems are blacked-out in the photos. I've since replaced the side emblems with a new unpainted set. Like with the wiper, I was going for a cleaner look and felt that the emblems were too distracting.

 

Thanks. I'll do my best to shoot some pics of the inside (underneath the trim) and post by tomorrow...maybe Saturday. It really is quite easy to to.

 

Is this for drag purposes?

 

Mine's not...it's so I can open the hatch without it falling on my head.

But if your going to go into the conversation about weight distribution, you can relocate the battery to the back.

Lightness is rightness my friend. There is a quote I saw somewhere..."add hp to your car and go fast in a straight line....lose weight and go fast everywhere. "

Over on my motorcycle boards everyone is into titanium screws...just because they shave off ounces...forget pounds. So when comparing a car's weight to a bike's weight I guess the performance benefit someone would get from buying titanium screws and putting them on a bike would be equivalent to someone removing the rear wiper on a car. The difference is the price per titanium screw is unbelievable expensive and removing the rear wiper is unbelievably cheap. That's all I'm getting at.