How To Check And Clean Your Windscreen Wipers For Top Performance & Longest Life
Windscreen Wipers are a vital safety component of your car. You really must check their condition and performance regularly. It doesn’t matter whether you have traditional style Windscreen Wipers or the new Flatblade Wipers, with a few exceptions, the problems and their cures are the same.
The good news is that many of the checks are as easy as just watching and listening to your Windscreen Wipers as they work.
Most Windscreen Wipers, including the most famous and expensive brands, are made with a rubber blade. The rubber starts to break down as soon as you instal it, because it’s attacked by naturally occurring hazards such as Ozone, Ultra-Violet Light and atmospheric pollution. On top of that, most of the products used by drivers every day also attack the rubber. These include strong household soaps and detergents, petrol, diesel and even the industrial alcohols which are added to stop the screenwash freezing in below freezing temperatures. All these things cause rubber to break down, and the degradation usually manifests itself in hardening of the rubber, which in turn leads to cracks and the following problems which you need to constantly check for. The good news is that most of these problems can be at least reduced or delayed, and often completely avoided by fitting Silicone Wiper Blades. Regular cleaning of rubber Windscreen Wipers removes many of the contaminants which attack and harden the rubber. So, even rubber Windscreen Wipers can have a greatly enhanced life. Simply avoid applying strong detergents or solvents when cleaning rubber Windscreen Wipers. If you’re fortunate enough to have Silicone Wiper Blades you can use just about anything that won’t harm your paintwork.
Lines of water, normally in an arc following the movement of the Windscreen Wipers. This is caused by fine cracks in the surface of the rubber blades. These cracks leave a fine bead of water on the windscreen.
Overcome this problem by replacing your Windscreen Wipers
Avoid this problem in future by fitting Silicone Wiper Blades.
Veiling – Caused by wear in the wiper arm, or on rubber Windscreen Wipers, prolonged periods parked in strong sunlight can lead to a deformed wiperblade tip. This wipes the windscreen very erratically leaving a veil effect caused by uncleared water and dirt across the swept area of the windscreen. The glaring effect of the veil is at its worst in night traffic, as light from street lights and other vehicles strikes the veil and causes a blinding glare.
The only cure for this problem is replacing your Windscreen Wipers. Fitting Silicone Wiper Blades will at the very least drastically reduce the risk of this hazard occurring, and will, in all probability remove it completely.
Chattering - Rubber Windscreen Wipers can become deformed as the rubber deteriorates, so causing the Windscreen Wipers to chatter or judder over the windscreen, leaving radial streaks in their path.
Once again, once the Windscreen Wipers have gone this far, the only option is to replace them. Fitting Silicone Wiper Blades will completely remove this problem.
Squeaking - This normally occurs in light rain or on the final couple of wipes after using the screenwashers. On rubber Windscreen Wipers it’s a sign that they’ve become hard, and have doubtless stressed the Windscreen Wipers frame or the connector which holds the wiperblade to the wiper arm. Squeaking sometimes also occurs on new Silicone Wiper Blades until they’ve been used enough to polish the windscreen.
So, for the smoothest operation over the longest possible life, fit Silicone Wiper Blades. But, if you’ve already bought rubber Windscreen Wiper Blades, you can make them last longer and run quieter, simply by regularly washing them gently with a soft cloth dampened with a little diluted screenwash liquid. If you have Flat Blade Wipers, be sure to wipe the whole blade, even though most of it never touches the windscreen.
Filed under Automotive