Help settle a debate. My wife insists that I turn off the wipers before turning off the car engine. For years and years I have turned off the ignition and allowed the wipers to rest wherever they do. My parents did it that way. I do it that way. My wife says, however, that it is hard on the wiper blade motor. I say this is picayune stuff. What say you?
Yes, it’s hard(er) on the wiper motor (requires the motor to park the wipers with a dry windshield the next time you start it), and yes, it’s picayune stuff. Aren’t most of these marital ‘debates’? I do as your wife does, to keep a dirt line from appearing in the middle of the windshield the next time I start…but not a big deal.
If you live somewhere cold, you want to make sure the wipers are off and parked before you turn the car off because in the morning they may be frozen to the windshield and if you turn the ignition on before you unstick them, the motor will try to move them and that can tweak the linkage and/or damage the motor.
The only time I purposely park them in the middle of the windshield by turning off the ignition is to hold my cardboard frost cover on.
I agree that if you live in the snow belt you should definnitely get in the habit of turning off the wipers before the car engine. If the wipers are stuck to the windshield when you turn the engine back on, you stand a very good chance of doing damage. I’ve seen it happen more than once.
Agreed