How to Prepare Wiper Blades for Winter

Video Transcript

"NATHAN MCCULLOUGH: Hi, my name is Nate McCullough on behalf of Expert Village. In these clips, we're going to talk about some of the tips and tricks in order to properly winterize your vehicle. In this clip, we're going to talk about your vehicle's wiper blades and the difference between a summertime blade and a winter blade. What I have here displayed on the hood is a typical summertime blade. And what I have right behind it is your typical wintertime blade. As you can see, the wintertime blade has a rubber sheath over all of the moving components inside of the wiper. These pieces that the sheath is covering are exampled here. These are springs built inside of it to actually hug the wiper blade tight to your windshield. If you notice on the wintertime, you're driving along and try and use your wiper blades, they won't touch all of the windshield itself. It'll actually leave streaks and portions of it that are uncleaned. What that is from is from ice, debris, snow, things of that nature getting inside of the springs and keeping them from contacting your windshield. I'm going to show you the spring action here, right there. What the rubber sheath does is keep those formed particles from affecting the way the mechanics of the wiper blade has been designed to operate. It's a good idea if you do a lot of driving in the wintertime or living in one of the Northern States to go ahead and change out your wiper blades. Now, your summer blade might not be worn out. It's a good idea to just disconnect your summertime blade, put it in the trunk or in your garage somewhere and save it for later on when the summer rolls around. Buy a set of these, buy a set of these. That is the way that you'll optimize the performance from your wiper blades and it'll keep you seeing good throughout the winter."