Everyday Blog

There’s nothing worse than squeaky Windscreen Wiper Blades. How many times have you found yourself just continually flicking the 1 wipe switch, and that only when your visibility gets really bad? That’s really annoying and potentially dangerous, but thankfully, you can take some simple actions to overcome the problem.

First of all, keep your whole windscreen clean. When you wash your car; don’t forget to lift the wiperblades off the windscreen and wash and rinse the area beneath them, even though this isn’t the bit you look through.
It’s important to keep the whole windscreen clean, because, when the windscreen is wet, the dirt particles become highly mobile, and can get beneath the edge of the blade. This has several effects:-

Firstly, the particles between the screen and the blade cause uneven contact|friction between screen and blade. This causes the blade to vibrate, generating noise. This problem is made worse if you have rubber Car Wiper Blades, because they loose their flexibility with age and exposure to Ultra Violet Light, Ozone, many Screen Wash ingredients, and pollution. As the blade becomes stiffer it’s far more likely to jump and judder as it moves from clean to dirty glass.

Secondly, the dirt & grit particles abrade and cut the surface of the wiper blade right at the critical working edge. On rubber Windscreen Wiper Blades this also increases the area for UV, Pollution, Ozone and solvents to attack the rubber, so accelerating the hardening process, which in turn makes the noise worse.

Thirdly, the dirt and grit particles settle on the non-working surfaces of the wiper blade. These particles harbour road grease & pollutants, which attack the rubber from the sides, causing more hardening and therefore more susceptibility to juddering and noise.
When the blade looses its flexibility and then is subjected to juddering, it tears at the mounting. As a result the rubber wears or tears at the critical mounting points, and the mounting points themselves become deformed and loose. This in turn leads to more judder, and so the cycle speeds accelerates.

Flatblade Wipers are much more resistant to this last problem, because they have a much broader anchor point between the blade and the Parts which hold it in place.

As usual, prevention is much better, easier and cheaper than a cure. A stitch in time really can save 9.

Careful cleaning of your Windscreen Wiper Blades will markedly reduce the tendency to judder and make noise, and if you’re not lucky enough to have Silicone Windscreen Wipers, it will also markedly slow down the unavoidable aging process of the rubber.

So, to sum up
To reduce and avoid the problem on existing Windscreen Wiper Blades, keep them clean, and be prepared to replace them as soon as the rubber shows signs of hardening, porosity, cracking or ripping.

When you replace your Windscreen Wiper Blades consider using Retrofit Flatblade Wipers, because they hold the blade much more securely, so reducing the opportunity for vibration in the first place, and ripping in the second.

Better still, buy Silicone Wiper Blades. The silicone resin stays constantly flexible throughout life, and gives smooth quiet operation for at least 3 times the life of even the best rubber Windscreen Wiper Blades.

Best of all buy Silicone Flatblade Wipers. They combine all the advantages of Silicone Windscreen Wipers with the looks & performance of Flatblade Wipers.