Wiper Blades are a crucial safety component of your vehicle. You really ought to check their condition and performance regularly. It doesn’t matter whether you have traditional style Wiper Blades or the new Flatblade Wipers, with a few exceptions, the problems and their cures are the same.

The good news is that many of the checks are as easy as just watching and listening to your Wiper Blades as they work.

Many Wiper Blades, including the most famous and expensive makes, are made with a rubber blade. The rubber starts to break down as soon as you fit it, because it’s broken down by naturally occurring hazards such as Ozone, Ultra-Violet Light and environmental pollution. As well as that, lots of the products used by motorists every day also attack the rubber. These include strong household soaps and detergents, petrol, diesel and even the industrial alcohols which are added to stop the screenwash freezing in below zero temperatures. All these things cause rubber to degrade, and the degradation usually manifests itself in hardening of the rubber, which in turn leads to cracks and the following problems which you ought to regularly check for. The good news is that most of these problems can be at least reduced or delayed, and often completely avoided by fitting Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades. Regular cleaning of rubber Wiper Blades removes many of the contaminants which attack and harden the rubber. So, even rubber Wiper Blades can have a greatly enhanced life. Simply avoid using strong detergents or solvents when cleaning rubber Wiper Blades. If you’re lucky enough to have Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades you can use just about anything that won’t harm your paintwork.

Lines of water, frequently in an arc following the sweep of the Wiper Blades. This is caused by fine cracks in the surface of the rubber blades. These cracks leave a fine bead of water on the windscreen.
Solve this problem by replacing your Wiper Blades
Avoid this problem in future by fitting Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades.

Veiling – Caused by wear in the wiper arm, or on rubber Wiper Blades, lengthy periods left in strong sunlight can lead to a deformed wiperblade tip. This wipes the windscreen very erratically leaving a veil effect caused by uncleared water and dirt across the swept area of the windscreen. The glaring effect of the veil is at its worst in night traffic, as light from street lights and other vehicles hits the veil and causes a blinding glare.
The only cure for this problem is to replace your Wiper Blades. Fitting Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades will at the absolute minimum significantly reduce the risk of this problem occurring, and will, in all probability remove it completely.

Chattering – Rubber Wiper Blades often become deformed as the rubber degrades, so allowing the Wiper Blades to chatter or judder across the windscreen, leaving radial streaks in their path.
Once again, once the Wiper Blades have gone this far, the only option is to replace them. Fitting Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades will completely remove this problem.

Squeaking – This normally occurs in drizzle or on the final couple of wipes after using the screenwashers. On rubber Wiper Blades it’s a sign that they’ve gone hard, and have possibly stressed the Wiper Blades frame or the connector which holds the wiperblade to the wiper arm. Squeaking sometimes also occurs on new Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades until they’ve been used enough to polish the windscreen.

So, for the smoothest operation over the longest possible life, fit Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades. But, if you’ve already fitted rubber Car Wiper Blades, you can make them last longer and run quieter, just by frequently washing them gently with a soft cloth dampened with a little diluted screenwash liquid. If you have Flat Blade Wipers, be sure to wipe the whole blade, even though most of it never touches the windscreen.