Maintaining your car wipers

Two pieces of rubber on some ingeniously designed moving arms are all that keeps the windscreen on a car clean when the weather turns nasty. They swipe off dust (if used with liberal amounts of water/washing fluid from the windscreen washer), they wipe off any water that might accumulate on the screen, and so it is imperative that they are maintained well.

The wipers are always subjected to a lot of situations which can damage them. The sun’s UV rays affect the rubber, the imperfections on the glass affect the shape of the rubber, sand and dirt carried by the wind along with oil can get deposited on the blades, all reducing their effectiveness. This critical equipment is also the easiest to maintain thankfully. Wiping the wiper blades with a damp piece of cloth soaked in soap water and then drying them is enough to prepare them for use. Apart from degreasing, the wiper blade surface it would be a good idea to also get rid of the sludge on the windscreen glass by wiping with light soap solution (Never add more than 1 teaspoonfull of liquid soap in the windscreen washer container).

There are two types of wiper blades in the market today. One design has been in use since 1903, which has a single metallic arm connected to a pressure inducing mechanism which is joined to a rubber blade which in turn wipes the screen. A new design was introduced in early 2000, called the beam blade which, while being costlier than the conventional blade, is more effective. These blades are more durable, do the work better while being less noisy than the conventional ones. It would be advisable to switch to the beam blades if you do not mind the price.