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2010 2011 BMW 5 Series Forum F10 BMW 5-Series (F10) Forums General 5-Series Sedan and Wagon (F10 / F11) Forum BMW done it again, useless rain sensors
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      10-23-2011, 04:13 PM   #1
martin mustang
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BMW done it again, useless rain sensors

With my old E60 2008 and my wife old 3 E90 – 2009 series, we both thought the auto wipers sensors simply did not match our old VW cars, the same crap sensors with my F10 and my wife to new X3 , the, in Ireland it is the most important function, it simply always rain rain rain.
Does anyone knows if the sensors can be made more sensitive via the dealer, the sensitiveness setup in the car is to max, and the wipers often decide to take a break before going back to the a good speed. Sometimes I need to switch the crap off and on again, like awake up call.
I find it annoying that VW are able to produce better sensors, I am talking about 2006 cars.
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      10-23-2011, 05:02 PM   #2
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I'm with you on this one - especially when it drizzles I have to switch on the wipers manually 90% of the time.
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      10-23-2011, 06:10 PM   #3
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Same here. I agree with the sensitivity being set to max the wipers are still a bit slow.
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      10-23-2011, 07:17 PM   #4
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Do you have rain-x or something similar or your windows? I've found the rainsensors in the BMW to be much better than that in my old R32.
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      10-23-2011, 11:38 PM   #5
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Sensitivity adjustment on the stalk...

Did you set the sensitivity knob on the stalk to the most sensitive setting? That my help...it works in my 2011 X5...
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      10-24-2011, 03:19 AM   #6
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No problems with auto wipe on my F10, but I have found that the sensitivity is reduced with a dirty screen. If you regularly clean the glass you should see a significant improvement.
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      10-24-2011, 05:04 AM   #7
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On my F10 I sometimes wish I had one additional more sensitive setting on the stalk, but apart from that I think the system is fine.

In my previous 650i it was almost unusable though, so I would say BMW made at least some improvements with the most recent models.
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      10-24-2011, 05:09 AM   #8
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BMW auto sensing wipers are fine, no different from VW system performance. They are NOT a defficient design. I've had both and use them in the same environment.

As said, keep the screen clean, don't skimp on screen wash and there is no defficiency IF they are working correctly.

I've had a VW Passat that was all over the place from new, dealer replaced the sensor and all was fine, no issues again.

All the BMWs I've used only require the sensitivity on level 1 or 2. I also have a very wet environment, the West Highlands of Scotland tests any feature that works in the wet. This is one feature I'd miss, as it is 'switch on' and forget.

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      10-24-2011, 01:55 PM   #9
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Don't feel bad...my last three cars have all had rain sensor wipers and *none* of them have worked well at all,IMO.The three cars in question were/are an Infiniti (the high end brand of Nissans sold here in the US),a BMW and my current Mercedes.Given that string of bad performers I'm strongly inclined to think that it's the technology that's at fault and not the manufacturers.
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      10-24-2011, 02:45 PM   #10
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I agree. They do not activate often enough. One mus always supplement with additional manual activation.

My previous 2002 330ci also had this problem.
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      10-24-2011, 06:15 PM   #11
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True they probably all use some bosh system or similar, but my wife now on her 2nd BMW made the same comments in comparison to our old VW's and when down to screen being on the clean side, I apply the same routine as before, hand washed and not other then the antifreeze added, and due to mild temperatures here in Ireland compare to my old corner Montreal, I tend to always go on weak mix with water.
I guess I will from now on clean the sensors area on a regular basis and see if that helps.
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      11-06-2011, 11:47 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by martin mustang View Post
...in Ireland it is the most important function, it simply always rain rain rain.
It is not a problem with the car. You need to move!
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      11-06-2011, 03:48 PM   #13
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My problem is that the wipers, even when manually set to the strongest wipe speed, is insufficient in a substantial downpour. Does anyone else did this to be the case and is there a fix for it?
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      11-07-2011, 09:33 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sbw View Post
It is not a problem with the car. You need to move!
Thanks sbw for this option, I am afraid a rather expensive one
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      11-08-2011, 03:38 PM   #15
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On my previous car I found that placing the toll pass sticker in the wrong place can obstruct the sensor.
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      11-08-2011, 07:51 PM   #16
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The rain sensor works well for me, it comes on when there's a right amount of rain on the windshield. We get our share of rain in the rainly season here but then again is nowhere near the amount of rain in the Isles. You can always switch it on manually if you want the wiper to go crazy.
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      11-11-2011, 10:56 AM   #17
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+1

The fast speed needs to be about 30% faster. Fortunately it does not rain like that all the time, but when it does, I just don't find that it does the job.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lolshorts View Post
My problem is that the wipers, even when manually set to the strongest wipe speed, is insufficient in a substantial downpour. Does anyone else did this to be the case and is there a fix for it?
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      12-21-2011, 02:39 AM   #18
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Unhappy

Hi,

Same here with a 2012 brand new 530d F11. The wipers never seems to reach their top speed in auto mode. Sometimes, they don't wipe when they should. Sometimes, it looks like the speed of the car is not (enough ?) taken into consideration.

That makes the automatic mode almost useless and rather dangerous. I'm going to ask my dealer if the sensors can be made more sensitive.

Also I don't get why BMW call this rain sensors / detectors when I have to activate the feature when it rains (and also each time I enter the car). That's is crazy... And it's the same with front PDC, auto beam assist, etc... I don't get why those "automatic" features could not be just "automatic and forget it" as they are in Lexus cars.

Does anyone know if our F10/F11 have onboard particular settings that can be tweaked at the dealer side ? (like Lexus has with 'Lexus Personal Settings')

V1.
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      12-21-2011, 02:55 AM   #19
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In my 2012 they work perfectly well
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      12-21-2011, 03:09 AM   #20
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Hi Kave,

So you never had as situation where your windshield is covered with rain for maybe like 1 or 2 seconds driving at about 110km/h (70mph) and you wonder when your wipers will finally enter into action ?
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      12-21-2011, 05:21 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VodkaOne View Post
Hi,

Same here with a 2012 brand new 530d F11. The wipers never seems to reach their top speed in auto mode. Sometimes, they don't wipe when they should. Sometimes, it looks like the speed of the car is not (enough ?) taken into consideration.

That makes the automatic mode almost useless and rather dangerous. I'm going to ask my dealer if the sensors can be made more sensitive.

Also I don't get why BMW call this rain sensors / detectors when I have to activate the feature when it rains (and also each time I enter the car). That's is crazy...
I don't understand why if the rain is heavy, the wipers don't go into continuous mode and into high speed mode in a downpour. My 3-series does, and sometimes I think they are far to eager to get to full speed, faster than I'd be choosing it manually.

Seems the sensitivity levels are quite varied across the cars and models.

As to being fully auto, you don't want a wiper to start if frozen to the screen do you? Where would the protection be? I've seen the mangled wipers on a Jaguar, due to not switching off, on shut down.

Auto function yes, but for me, I want to initiate auto functions like wipers. I know where I am and what is on the screen.

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      12-21-2011, 05:23 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VodkaOne View Post
So you never had as situation where your windshield is covered with rain for maybe like 1 or 2 seconds driving at about 110km/h (70mph) and you wonder when your wipers will finally enter into action ?
No, 0.5 second tops, I'd say for my wipers.

HighlandPete
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