While visiting family recently, I noticed that many people pull the wipers away from the windshield when parking. They said in the winter it is better and they last longer. I have never heard of this before. Is there a reason for this, or is it harmful?
This is done to prevent the wipers from freezing to the windshield if weather conditions are such where this could happen. Because if the wipers are frozen to the windshield and are turned on, the splines in the wiper arms can strip out making the wipers inoperable.
Tester
This past winter here in New England where there seemed to be a major storm every couple of days in January, I’d pull into the parking lot at work and see a line of cars with their wipers pulled away from the windshield (literally every car). Tester is exactly right about ruining the splines. I know someone years ago who had a wiper freeze to the windshield and ruined it. The other advantage of pulling the wipers out before a snowstorm is that it’s easier to clean (brush) the snow off.
Thanks for answering. I live in the Buffalo NY area and have never had a problem with wipers freezing. Usually by the time I am finished brushing the snow off,the car is warm. Guess I would be more afraid of them freezing and breaking the arms when they are pulled away.
Freezing rain followed by severe cold generally makes for a bigger problem than just snow.
I have never had a problem loosening along the blade with a scraper, then whacking them a few times on the wind shield to get rid of any ice build up. Do it if you wish, it is not a bad idea, but I don’t do it.
Not only snow, but ice on the windshield as well. You get a bunch of ice on your windshield, it’s nice to know you can scrape it all without having to worry about scraping the wipers too.
I cracked my windshield once doing that kind of whacking.
It’s also a good idea to do it in very hot weather; the rubber lasts longer if it is not “glued” to the windshield.