The one who sits behind the wheels and drive the car through the different weather and road conditions, knows the importance of windshield wipers more than anybody else. It is these wipers that keep the front scenario cleanly visible and it is only then the driver can move ahead on the road. It is a mechanism that has been accompanying the automotive industry through ages but is not much talked about.
But it was a rainy day when we had to visit the Chevrolet dealer Hartselle, because all of a sudden the wipers stopped working properly, and the windshield glass was in a total mess. Until then it never crossed my mind, how do the windshield wipers work equally with water, snow, dust and any kind of debris, keeping the windshield glass clean. I was all set to find out how they slip,slosh and swipe away almost everything that might obscure our vision.
Working with Snow
Where the winter is cold and harsh, the role a set of windshield wipers increase, as that is the only tool that can secure the visibility while you are driving through snowfall. But how do these windshield wipers work in a temperature that has dropped below the point of freezing? The structure of the wipers show that it is the rubber compounds that stay flexible even when all other materials around are stiffening up from this extreme weather conditions. This flexibility is often achieved by the infusing the blade itself with certain materials like silica that keeps it still pliable.
Some other ways that have come up with the windshield wiper technology over these years are specially created heated spots placed at the windshield base where the wipers usually rest. These artificially heated spots can help the rubber keep warm, so that the ice either doesn’t form, or can also break through if it has formed while being in use.
This technique also helps in preventing the wiper blades from being torn or cracked and hence prolong their life span. Today some windshield wipers also use jets of heated washer fluid that can melt down the accumulated snow and sprays a clear solution onto the windshield glass to get the maximum cleaning effect.
Working with Dirt and Sand
If you are driving through a dusty patch of road and there is no alternative option available other than using the wipers as dirt and sand are obscuring your visibility, make sure you spray some copious amounts of washer fluid on the windshield glass before starting the wipers.
This will at first make the particles softer and reduce the chance of causing any damage to the windshield wiper blades as they are moving on a layer of solution and therefore not being in touch with the coarse dust and sand particles that can erode out the rubber of the wipers.
Windshield wipers can do much more than simply pushing the water off the windshield glass surface. But the thumb rule of maintaining a good health of these wipers as learned from the expert team of the Chevrolet Hartselle dealership is to keep your car visibility maintained is cleaning the wipers regularly and put them up in a standing position for some time to dry up.
