How to use the wiper correctly?

We can judge whether a windshield wiper works well by observing its daily working status. If obvious water marks remain on the windshield after wiping, strange rubbing noises come from the wiper arm, or the rubber strip bounces up and down irregularly while running, it indicates that the wiper is not functioning properly. When encountering these common faults, do not be in a hurry to replace the whole wiper assembly. It is more reasonable to first check the usage environment and surface condition of the glass, and then make a targeted judgment and solution.

In general, the average service life of automotive windshield wipers is two years. However, environmental factors play a decisive role in how long they can serve you. Long-term outdoor parking means the wiper rubber is continuously baked by direct sunlight, causing it to lose flexibility prematurely. Meanwhile, various impurities including dust, bird droppings and tree resin tend to accumulate on the glass surface. If you activate the wipers without removing these stains in advance, the rubber strips will suffer severe wear and tear. Apart from reducing the wiper’s durability, dirty glass will also result in unstable bouncing of the blades during wiping. In worst cases, hard debris will scrape and damage the windshield. You can easily fix this problem by thoroughly washing the glass with dedicated cleaning products.

Improper use will also damage the wiper.

Suppose there is no dust, grime or other foreign matter on both the glass and wiper rubber strips, but the blades still keep jumping up and down while working. You can then check the condition of the rain repellent on the front windshield. An uneven layer of this coating is a common culprit. Even if the surface appears perfectly clean visually, uneven coverage will affect the contact between the wiper and glass, leading to abnormal bouncing. The only way to fix this problem is to clean off the old coating and apply fresh rain repellent uniformly over the whole windshield.

Nevertheless, if the vehicle glass is kept clean, the rain repellent is properly reapplied, and the wipers still leave smudges and cannot achieve a clear wiping effect, your wiper blades have reached the end of their service life and need to be replaced immediately.