MacSid

Down is less sensitive and up is more sensitive. It does make a difference, but I have noticed that the difference is more marked in heavier rain. In the misty rains that we get here in the Netherlands, I find the sensitivity adjuster useless - I either get the wipers going too often or not often enough, and end up just using them manually. Sucks.

gorban

I'm not very pleased with the performance of the rain sensors on my two bimmers. Not only does the setting of the dial make much difference, the actual wiping doesn't happen when I want it to happen if it's only raining a little.

A friend with an older E61 (-04) got his software updated and the performance of the wiper improved.

big_ipaq

I second these two opinions. Mine works flawlessly exactly I would expect it to work. Sensitivity also works well, and I am not getting german drops.

Rudy

Mine works generally well but I have to say that my E39 sensor worked much better. It was perfectly accurate and clearly adjustable.

Sometimes on the E60, especially in light rain or mist, the wiper control has to be pressed down for one single wipe to clear the windscreen. It's as if the sensor can't see that the glass is covered with water once in a while...

s4iscool

i think satisfaction with this system comes down to two different people:

you see some people driving down the street with their wipers going back and forth like mad, and they prefer a constantly cleared windshield.

others like for the wiper to swipe only when needed and prefer conservative intervals.

The auto sensing system favors people that dont mind the wiper swiping at a frequent rate. bmw cant satisfy all tastes, so thats why I wish that adjustment dial would have a bigger impact.

Rudy

I'm one of those people who don't like the wipers to wipe unnecessarily. On my E39, the system worked perfectly and was adjustable to suit the preferences of people like me or people who prefer a more frequent wiping.

On the E60, it seems as if it wipes with less precision. In other words, I may have it set to a low sensitivity so that it only wipes when actually necessary but all of a sudden, it won't wipe when it should. If I bump up the sensitivity, it'll wipe too often. I still love the feature but I wish it was more like the E39...

nickster

I don't notice much difference in the settings but I only drove in the rain once. My thought on this is that it seems like an overly complicated system. Why not just have manually adjustable intermittent wipers. That system allows for all users.

Rudy

It's really not that complicated of a system to use. Under most circumstances, I much prefer the sensor over the regular intermittent type. I hate when the wipers wipe a dry windshield -- it can actually cause scratches, etc. and can cause accelerated wear on the blades...

kscarrol

True, the system is not complicated. In fact I like the sensor system overall, my only gripe is the sensitivity dial. I really can't see any difference that it makes. I have easily fallen into the habit of hitting the stalk if I need a quick swipe of the wipers when the sensor seems to be lacking, but that is fairly rare.

nickster

I guess I was not clear. It is a very simple system to use. What I meant was that why have a rain sensing device in the windshield? Having a device that senses how much rain is on my windshield is more complicated then it needs to be. The advantage of manual intermittent is that I control how often the wipers move.