I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW: A LOOK AT HOW WEATHER AFFECTS YOUR WIPERS

You depend on your windshield wipers during winter to help you navigate through snow, ice and slush. Then the seasons change, winter turns to spring and your wipers have to get you through rain and thunderstorms. While April showers may be good for flowers, they can be tough on windshield wipers.

HELP YOUR WIPERS PERFORM EVEN IN FAST-CHANGING AND ROUGH WEATHER

Good visibility is essential to safe driving, and solid wiper performance is key to good visibility. That’s why it is recommend that these five easy steps be followed to help carry you and your wipers through the winter/spring driving months:

1. Before you hit the road, defrost your vehicle or scrape any ice or snow from the windshield. To work efficiently, wiper blades should glide easily. Removing the ice and snow gives your wipers a smoother surface to work on and makes it easier for your winter windshield wipers to swipe away excess moisture while you’re driving. Keep an ice scraper in your vehicle at all times. Ice can form very fast in cold weather and not just overnight. You can return to your vehicle after work, dinner, or shopping to find ice on your windshield.

2. Remember, the scraper is for your windshield, not your winter wipers! Chiseling or scraping ice from wiper blades can cause damage. If you find ice on the wipers themselves, dampen a soft cloth with windshield wiper fluid and gently wipe the ice away.

3. Be sure to keep your windshield wiper reservoir full — and with a quality washer fluid, not tap water. Water simply won’t clean your windshield as well as washer fluid can, and in frigid temperatures, water can freeze.

4. When your vehicle is parked outside, fold the wiper arms up away from the windshield. This helps prevent the wipers from freezing to the windshield.

5. Clean your windshield every time you fill your gas tank. You’ll not only make it easier to see the road ahead, you may also lengthen the life of your wiper blades. Repeated and prolonged exposure to dirt, oil and salt can wear away at windshield wipers.

WIPER BLADES ARE PRIMARILY MADE OF DURABLE RUBBER

While manufacturers design them to stand up to all weather conditions, even the best windshield wipers won’t last forever. Repeatedly moving back and forth across your windshield and exposure to the sun’s UV rays can cause the blades’ materials to break down. That’s why you should manually remove any ice or salt. Prolonged exposure to ice, salt, and the sun’s damaging UV rays can damage your wipers, creating cracks and rough edges that can leave your windshield with streaks and blurry spots that interfere with your visibility. If you find that you’re consistently having to use your wipers to remove streaks, it’s time to consider replacing your wiper blades.

DON'T HAVE A REGULAR MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE FOR YOUR BLADES? YOU'RE NOT ALONE

Manufacturers don’t typically have a universally agreed-upon rule of thumb (like “check every 6 months/6,000 miles”) when it comes to this safe driving essential. That’s because the biggest factor in determining the lifespan of your wipers is wear and tear, and that can’t be reliably measured or predicted by time or miles driven.

SO HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHEN TO MAKE A CHANGE?

Wipe away any doubts and be on the lookout for:

• Chattering. This loud noise is more than just annoying. It could be your wipers letting you know they’re old, worn or dirty.

• Streaking, which can happen when anything from salty spray to organic contaminants stick to the blade.

• Skipping, or allowing water droplets to cling to your windshield.

JIFFY LUBE WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE

Wiper blades are available in a variety of sizes and types and at different price points. How do you know what’s right for your vehicle? While it’s true that your vehicle owner’s manual may tell you which wiper blade to install, and some manuals even include step-by-step replacement instructions, you may wish to let a trained Jiffy Lube® technician handle this important service.

First, your Jiffy Lube technician will both visually and manually inspect your wiper blades, checking for wear and the presence of cracks or irregular spots on the wiper blades, which indicates it’s time for replacement. If the wiper arms are bent, or not performing as they should, this will become apparent. Then the wipers will be tested for proper operation. This is when the technician will confirm the wiper motor is in proper working order.

Jiffy Lube has access to your vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations and will use wiper blades that meet or exceed these recommendations . Then there’s expertise. You can count on a Jiffy Lube technician to carefully replace the old blade per manufacturer’s procedures.

By having your worn blades professionally replaced with new wiper blades that meet OEM specifications, you can look forward to greater longevity and, more importantly, a clearer view of the road ahead.