Auto Wipers are awful

[Keeper]

The 0 option isn't actually in the 1, 2, 3, 4 and auto area it's the wiper icon above, press that and your wipers will go off. then you can use individual wipe on the left stalk by pushing it inward (like the park on the gar stick side)
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Thank you so much for the excellent picture but unfortunately the car was having none of it at the time - fortunately it sorted itself out. I haven't used the car since so assume its cured but I should add that I have owned the car for over a year now and experienced all kinds of window wiper scenarios but have managed to be able to turn them off in all instances! The anomaly occurred with the first drive after the 2020.36.11 download.

 

[spooksman]

Just wanted to say that I left home this morning at 5:30am in the dark and drove through all sorts of weather. The auto main beam and the auto wipers worked flawlessly the whole 240 miles.

Also, the speed on Autopilot changed exactly as it should have.

To be balanced, there were a few phantom braking instances thrown in on the M42 as well for good measure...

 

[rincewind]

I posted a few days ago that in a 30 minute journey the wipers were apaling. Either too fast, so I switched to manual, or when I put them back on Auto they refused to work at all even though it was torrential and there was a lorry in front kicking up spray too. Couple that with blades making a squeaking noise (on second set in 10 months), I am not impressed.

 

[LongRanger]

Mine were ace today on 2x 30 miles round trips, weather rough here today.

 

[ElRey]

The first time I used the wipers they were on auto and I had to switch to manual.

Gave it another try two days ago and yesterday and they were brilliant.

 

[Neilio]

Out of quarantine and straight back into the car. The wipers were flawless today on the M3, on the M3 (the road and the car) If a too quick. Despite the terrible weather they coped well. I think its when there's less rain they struggle

 

[Doudeau]

Out of quarantine and straight back into the car. The wipers were flawless today on the M3, on the M3 (the road and the car) If a too quick. Despite the terrible weather they coped well. I think its when there's less rain they struggle

Agreed.
I coincidentally drove down the M3 on Friday evening and back up again this morning and the rain varied significantly over those trips. The auto wiper setting was pretty much perfect the whole time - a couple of times I was about to hit the lever but the car just beat me too it. I had to keep playing with the autopilot but could leave wipers to do their thing and didn’t intervene once.

 

[Pagemakers]

Out of quarantine and straight back into the car. The wipers were flawless today on the M3, on the M3 (the road and the car) If a too quick. Despite the terrible weather they coped well. I think its when there's less rain they struggle

Yea is light rain where they are woeful.

 

[colinn]

I've had my Model 3 for nearly two weeks and have covered 1100 miles, a lot of it in the rain - including 200 miles yesterday of all rain. Having come from an Audi, I don't think the auto wipers in the Model 3 are significantly worse - I've not had to interfere with them more than once or twice, they just work for me.

 

[Lx2m3]

It would be good if they worked when you set off with a wet screen, but they don’t.
I know it’s only a push of a button, but on auto I expect them to go.

 

[Neilio]

It would be good if they worked when you set off with a wet screen, but they don’t.
I know it’s only a push of a button, but on auto I expect them to go.

To be fair, not a single auto wiper I've ever had hasn't wiped an already wet screen. Whether infrared sensor or neural net

 

[darkNstormy]

Sometimes a screen wash can fix errant wiper behaviour. Or maybe that was also a placebo effect!

 

[akenham]

Sometimes a screen wash can fix errant wiper behaviour. Or maybe that was also a placebo effect!

It's not placebo I agree it's definitely a thing - when the screen is covered with water (or light rain / mist) neither Tesla, nor other autowipe systems I've had can perceive that it needs wiping: I guess all of them look for differences. One initial flick of the wipers with a tap of the button fixes (wash not required usually).

Further to the discussion above:
I think with all these systems you have to pick your poison - my old Mercedes system was "better" in light rain but this required it having two levels of sensitivity (manually set) and it was much, much more prone to "phantom wiping" - no rain but continuously wiping a dry screen, requiring you to turn autowipe off (and later wonder why it wasn't wiping even after a flick of the wipers).

FWIW so far I don't feel Tesla's system isn't bad per se - like other systems, it struggles with edge cases like continuous fine spray / light rain, and sometimes it doesn't react as much as I'd like to a deluge (e.g. from a puddle) and I have to help it with a manual wipe. If I end up doing that too much and it's annoying me (e.g. fine spray on dual carriageway / motorways) I set a manual speed.

 

[webbah]

I used to have issues, but with a combination of recent updates and also my endless search for invisible and protected glass I've finally had excellent results. for the most part I've been ok without any problems. For me the solution was:

1) Thoroughly clean the windscreen with Carpro CeriGlass Polish, Gyeon Glass cleaner, Gyeon prep IPA
2) Treated with Kamikaze Intenso Ceramic coating
3) Changed to BMW OEM wiper fluid (similar to Tesla OEM) and added 303 Windscreen washer tablet, premixed before putting in reservoir
4) Changed wiper blades to Bosch Aerotwin 102 S (direct fit for Model 3) [Moderator - not so direct for rhd cars to avoid them fitting upside down]
5) Treated inside with Carpro Fog Fight (no more fogging when entering tunnels or underground car parks with quick changes in humidity)

The Kamikaze Intenso works so well that I turn off the Auto wipers unless it is really dumping hard and I am not up to speed for the wind to remove the beading water.

Hope it helps!

 

[Jason71]

FWIW so far I don't feel Tesla's system isn't bad per se - like other systems, it struggles with edge cases like continuous fine spray / light rain, and sometimes it doesn't react as much as I'd like to a deluge (e.g. from a puddle) and I have to help it with a manual wipe. If I end up doing that too much and it's annoying me (e.g. fine spray on dual carriageway / motorways) I set a manual speed.

I see you only recently got your M3. Have you done much driving at night in the rain yet?
We are heading into a British winter where driving in the dark in the rain are likely to be a much more common for many of us than they have been for the last 6 months. Lets see if you feel the same way in 6 months?

 

[Jason71]

I used to have issues, but with a combination of recent updates and also my endless search for invisible and protected glass I've finally had excellent results. for the most part I've been ok without any problems. For me the solution was:

1) Thoroughly clean the windscreen with Carpro CeriGlass Polish, Gyeon Glass cleaner, Gyeon prep IPA
2) Treated with Kamikaze Intenso Ceramic coating
3) Changed to BMW OEM wiper fluid (similar to Tesla OEM) and added 303 Windscreen washer tablet, premixed before putting in reservoir
4) Changed wiper blades to Bosch Aerotwin 102 S (direct fit for Model 3) [Moderator - not so direct for rhd cars to avoid them fitting upside down]
5) Treated inside with Carpro Fog Fight (no more fogging when entering tunnels or underground car parks with quick changes in humidity)

The Kamikaze Intenso works so well that I turn off the Auto wipers unless it is really dumping hard and I am not up to speed for the wind to remove the beading water.

Hope it helps!

Not sure I want to put anything on my windscreen called "Kamikaze"
Also tunnels not such a bit issue around here than they perhaps are for you in Switzerland. Our thing is more drizzle

 

[MarkNW]

If you have trouble with the wiper settings you can push the command button and say things like "wipers faster" or to go back you can say "wipers automatic". For me living north on NYC the wipers are the worst part of an otherwise awesome car.

 

[Jason71]

If you have trouble with the wiper settings you can push the command button and say things like "wipers faster" or to go back you can say "wipers automatic". For me living north on NYC the wipers are the worst part of an otherwise awesome car.

For those not familiar with the colonies I think he is referring to New York City in the United States of America

 

[Alistairuk]

I’ve found the auto wipers to be generally alright - no real issues except that when it’s very light rain as in drizzle they take ages to start - however pressing the button on the stick to wipe the window causes them to kick in and they then continue quite happily clearing the window on auto.

Heavy rain or even normal rain they start pretty much whenever I would of started them if they were manual.

Each to their own of course, what one person finds fine others won’t but for me they’re fine.

 

[Gwyn H]

For me, moving from my BMW 5 to the Tesla 3 has been an improvement in my experience of auto wipers.