Want to save yourself a lot of money and even more aggravation? It only takes 30 seconds or less. It’s easy, follow these simple steps:
- Turn off your windshield wipers and allow them to return to the parked position before turning the ignition off
- If the temperature is below freezing, make sure the wiper blades aren’t frozen to the windshield by lifting each one up before starting the car
- Clear the windshield of snow & ice before turning on the windshield wipers
- If snow & ice build up on the windshield while driving; pull over in a safe place, clear the windshield and then continue on
How is this going to save me money? It’s simple, the cost to replace a wiper motor or wiper transmission ranges from $300 – $1000, sometimes more. Your wiper system consists of four basic parts
- The wiper motor, an electric motor that rotates when the switch is turned on
- The wiper transmission, sometimes called linkage, a series of pivots and rods that convert the rotating force of the motor into the back & forth motion seen on the windshield
- The wiper arm, this connects the wiper transmission to the wiper blade
- The wiper blade, this is the rubber & metal part that actually clears the windshield
It used to be these were mostly metal and even though not designed to, they would clear several inches of snow. Today things aren’t made as durable, that’s a whole seperate post. Now there are many plastic parts and the metal parts aren’t as strong. We see it every winter; people don’t clear the windshield or they start the car with wipers on & frozen to the windshield. Snap, pop, bang and the wipers stop. It takes a large amount of force to move your wiper blades. When the blades can’t move that force has to go somewhere and something breaks. These parts are vehicle specific and we have to order them through the dealer. A few times last winter the parts were back ordered and took 2 weeks to get. Two weeks without a car, that’s aggravation. And it could have been easily prevented.
