Living in Texas, we all know a lot about the heat. We know that our air conditioning raises electric bills, we know we and our plants need more water, we know that a sunny day can be a mixed blessing. However, what not everyone knows is that the heat of this time of year can cause some serious damage to our wind shield wipers. With the random rain storms that come with this time of year, we need to check on our wipers to ensure our safety, along with everyone we are sharing the road with.
There are a few things that cause our wiper blades to deteriorate.
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Heat. On a nice summer day the temperature on your windshield could reach over 145 degrees F. This slowly roasts the rubber of the wiper blade and causes them to crack. Cracks are what causes streaks and “chattering” to occur.
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Ozone. The ozone in the atmosphere, which is highly concentrated in high traffic areas, oxidizes the rubber and leads to cracking.
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Cold. Lest we forget, summer will come to an end and then we will be hit with cold temperatures. The cold air hardens the rubber and allows water to seep under it which causes smearing.
Windshield wipers were first patented in 1905 by Mary Anderson, since then there has been only one change. In the past 10 years, a new wiper has come out, the flat bladed wiper. These wipers are held down with uniform pressure compared to previous wipers which only had pressure points. These new blades are also more streamlined and smaller than their predecessors. And if your car didn’t come with these great new wiper blades, don’t worry! Most now have adapters to fit them on any car!
