Autos: washing windshield wiper blades?

Self-tutoring about auto maintenance: the tutor mentions a new habit.

The other day, getting the tires changed over to ones appropriate for winter, it was mentioned to me that the wipers are “streaky.”

I treated the windshield with rain-x back in September, so its visibility is very good. “Streaky” isn’t the word; rather, what the technician was observing was that one wiper would “skip” across the windshield as it moved from left to right. Interestingly, it seemed not to skip on the return stroke.

So, while the visibility through the window is good, the skipping is irritating and a bit embarrassing. When the technician mentioned it, I had to agree, and decided that I had to fix it somehow.

The immediate idea is new wiper blades, but I wasn’t sure about doing that immediately. I looked up the problem online, where someone recommended to either replace the blades or else clean them. “Clean windshield wiper blades?” I asked myself. Yet, the idea came up again and again: I was forced to consider it.

This morning, before my wife left for work, I mixed some warm water with some dish soap in a plastic tub and grabbed a scrubbing sponge. I soaked the sponge in the soapy water, then used its soft side to go back and forth over each wiper blade. Next, I dried each with a clean shop towel. Finally, I dipped an end of the shop towel in rubbing alcohol, then passed it along each wiper blade. I’ve heard that’s good to do afterwards.

A couple of minutes later, I tried the wipers, which seemed not to skip anymore: I guess washing windshield wiper blades really can work:)

Source:

detaildiy.com