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We have had a very dry first quarter of the year, therefore, car owners aren’t using their windscreen wipers. That means they don’t notice the fact that, unless they are using silicone wiper blades, their windscreen wipers are degrading constantly. Rubber windscreen wipers are attacked by the naturally occurring ozone and ultra violet light in our normal environment. On top of that, if you have been using a winter screen wash, the additives which stop the screen-wash from freezing could well additionally cause your rubber windscreen wipers to degrade. Other pollutants also attack natural rubber windscreen wipers, further accelerating their degradation, even when they aren’t being used!

All this means that, when the wet weather finally gets here, you could wellfind that those new windscreen wipers you bought last year will already be useless, even though you’ve hardly used them. That can not only give you a nasty shock when you finally come to use your windscreen wipers, but it can additionally be especially annoying, especially if you have paid a high price for any of the famous wiper blade brands.

However, Silicone Wiper Blades offer 2 useful advantages over rubber windscreen wipers when it comes to life expectancy:-

1) Silicone Wiper Blades won’t degrade when they aren’t in use, because they are resistant to attack by ozone, ultra violet light, the chemicals used in screen-wash and environmental pollution. Have you never noticed how your rubber windscreen wipers have become stuck to the windscreen after being left in the sun?

2) A 100% silicone wiper blade is much more durable in use than a rubber one. The normal life expectancy of a silicone wiper blade is in the region of 1.5 million cycles. That’s around three times the life of even the most expensiveleading rubber windscreen wipers.

Lastly, Silicone Wiper Blades enjoy useful performance benefits in comparison with rubber ones. They are able to cope with extreme temperatures, both hot and cold. The silicone blade stays pliable right down to -60°C, and can easily cope with the scorching sunshine at the equator. So, they won’t go stiff or crack in even the worst UK winter, or on your winter ski holiday. Additionally, they don’t melt or stick to your windshield, even if you leave your vehicle in scorching sunshine for a few of weeks.

You can now even find Silicone Flat Wiper Blades in addition to the traditional metal framed ones. And the extra great news is that the best ones not only have a warranty, but they are priced about the same as a pair of quality rubber windscreen wipers from one of the global manufacturers.

Owners of classic motorcars typically do not use their motorcars every day. Most of the time these classic motorcars are kept in the garage or under covers, this is because these motorcars are more than just machines to get you from A to B, they are seen as treasured things. These classic motorcars are so treasured they only usually get used on those hot summer days, but with the English weather these are few and far between and often interrupted by sudden rain storms. This is when the owners of the classic motorcars find out their wiper blades are in a poor condition and not clearing the rain from the wind screen, this is typically not due to wear as performance wiper blades will normally last a million cycles.

What normally causes the wiper blades on these classic motorcars to be damaged is their exposure to the cold, UV radiation, ozone and chemicals that are normally used in windshield wash. This causes damage and blades can continue to deteriorate even when the automobile is in storage during the winter months. However, the main cause of the damage to the wiper blades is not the UV radiation, ozone, or the chemicals which slowly damage the rubber used in many replacement wiper blades when the motorcar is in storage, as these tend to cause most damage in the summer months when the automobile is being used. This only leaves the cold to damage the wiper blades, as the cold causes the rubber used in the majority of performance wiper blades to stiffen and this causes cracking and fracturing, which in turn can cause the windscreen wiper motor performance to be severely compromised and even cause the wiper blade to break when being used. Unless you are extremely rich and can afford a heated vehicle house, the only option open to you is to use replacement wiper blades that are made of a material other than rubber. They also need to be not damaged by the cold and also ozone, UV radiation and chemicals used in windshield wash.

Rubber wiper blades are not really an economic option for classic motorcars, as they are getting damaged when the motorcar is in storage and therefore having to be replaced once a year, even though they have only been used for a couple days at most. What material that is resistant to the cold, UV radiation, ozone and chemicals can be moulded into wiper blades and will perform as well or better than rubber at clearing rain and dirt from wind screen? There is a material that can be moulded into replacement wiper blades and works better than rubber at clearing rain and dirt from wind shields, as well as being resistant to the cold, UV radiation and chemicals, this material is extruded silicone. With extruded silicone able to work in temperatures as low as -60° C and up to 250° C they can work happily in even the coldest of our British winters. They also have other advantages over rubber performance wiper blades as normally silicone wiper blades will last 3 to 5 times longer. They also offer smoother and quieter operation, which means squeak free wind screenwipe time and time again. Silicone performance wiper blades are normally a little more costly than traditional rubber wiper blades, but with their advantages in smooth and quiet operation over their longer life, any extra moneywill soon be made back without even yet considering the advantages of them being resistant to the cold, UV radiation, ozone and chemicals like salt and windshield wash.

I think by now at some point in your time as an veteran driver you will have had to ignore the annoyance of noisey wiper blades. If this is the case there are some bits you can do to virtually absolve the issue before it becomes a distraction to your safe driving. Sometimes they can get so grueling that you can even start to turn them on and off just to avert the noise and this can be hazardous. The noise a wiper blades makes is often a manifestation of a larger systemic problem involving the character of the rubber from which the wiper blades is assembled. During the regular cycle of use comprising hot summers and cold winters the rubber on the wiper blades soon starts to decay. In fact rubber is intrinsically quite a fragile material and has been known to react quite rapidly too many of the substances which it will find in day to day use. Things like liquid and ozone which are always in the atmosphere in small quantities are likely to corrode the rubber, even direct sunlight or ultra violet light will break rubber which is a natural fibre just like it attacks the skin on our own bodies. In the summer when the sun is hot the wiper blades tend to go bendy and stick to the wind screen, then in winter the wiper blade will stiffen and become rigid, over time this cycle comprises the integrity of the rubber and cracks and crack start to form.

It is these little holes which cause the replacement wiper blade to fit abjectly to the wind screen and are the source of the shaking. The replacement wiper blade are not the only thing vulnerable to the elements, event the replacement wiper blade are can become distorted over time and this will only exacerbate the issue. The only real long term answer to the short comings of rubber is too get a new set of windscreen wipers made from a better material, this observer suggests silicone for a variety of reasons. For one thing silicone is extremely tough and will not melt in summer nor freeze in winter, it is this ability to defeat extreme temperatures which makes silicone ideal for other items such as pots and pans and even the space shuttle. Another good tip on avoiding replacement wiper blade noise is to wash your windscreen on a frequent basis using some soap and water.

If your wipers ever shake or judder when you’re driving this is an sign that the wipers has become distorted and is starting to produce lift away from the wind screen as opposed to pressing down upon the glass. Another short term answer is bending the wipers arm until the wipers leading edge presses the glass at an appropriate angle, you will have to experiment to find this out. The best and only real long term answer is to replace your wipers frequently, some people recommend once every six months although if you have a silicone wipers this will mean changing them much less often as they are much better than regular wipers.

The wiper blades are the single most important component of your car, now this may sound difficult to believe but the wiper blades is one of the bits most able to save your life and sidestep having an accident in your car. Most incidents on the road are caused not by reckless driving but by having poor visibility through the wind screen, this issue although quite common is very reasonable to remedy. All you have to do is get some new wiper blades and possibly clean your wind screen once in a while. The easy part is in manufacturing the choice to purchase some new wiper blades the hard part is in actually finding out which ones you need for your unique driving requirements and make of motor. The good news is that this article will help you in that regard, in fact by the end you will surely be an expert on the issue. Now the secret to making sensible choices when buying wiper blades is not to go straight for the cheapest. The quality of wiper blades is determined by many things and these all need to be weighed carefully before making your final decision.

The first ones under the microscope are the basic rubber variety; the cheapest of these are the worst value, the have a very short life span and will wear out in a very short space of time. The next step are the branded rubber wipers, these are much better but still below par when constrasted with what we have in store for you. You see rubber as a wipers material has some large short comings, as a substance it is very unstable and will react to things like ozone, ultra violet and pollution. Now all these things are discovered in great quantities out on the open road so it is only natural that rubber wipers decompose rather rapidly. Another of their varied short comings is that the rubber will respond to both heat and cold, in the summer the wipers will melt to the wind screen and in the winter they will freeze to the wind screen.

Now in of itself this is not such a big issue but when the windscreen wipers are turned on they can be ripped away from their arms and even cause considerable internal damage to the electric motors found under the bonnet. In order to avoid this disaster it is my simple opinion that everyone should buy windscreen wipers manufactured from silicone; these things will solve all your worries. No more ill fitting rubber wipers blades which have become switched by the weather and no more streaky wind screens or noisy windscreen wipers which don’t even shape to the wind screen any more. The best thing about silicone is that it will last for ages and will not rot in the contact of other chemicals or ultra violet light, in fact if you work out how much it costs per one hundred thousand strokes, silicone windscreen wipers are by far the number one value. The number of iterations can be found on the side of the parcel and give and indication of how long the wiper blade will last for.

Noisy wiper blades are not only aggravating they can be down right hazardous as they take the person’s attention away from the Autobahn like talking on a mobile and could result in a crash. In fact it is such a ordinary complaint that I suspect every one has undergone it at some time or another but what’s really alarming is how easily it can be over come. The primary defence against the horror of squeaky wiper blades is to get outside and wipe your wind screen with a tub of hot soapy water. You see any dirt or stuff on the wind screen can cause the wiper blades to skip or leap across the wind screen severely comprising its performance and causing that bad squeaky noise. When you get out there make sure you do a ok job lift the wiper blades up and away from the wind screen and cleanse under them with a scouring pad. If there is any dirt left at all the motion of the wiper blades will dispersed it evenly over the wind screen the next time it rains and the particles become dissolved in solution. Another facet of this issue is that any sharp particles left under the fragile rubber wiper blades will do like sand paper and will eventually wear the wiper blades to such an acreage that the wiper blades will need to be replaced.

As the wiper blade gets more bent the wind screen will become bad and the wiper blade will squeak even noisier than before. You see rubber as a thing is by its very intrinsic nature a flexible and pliable material, it is this very quality which makes it so good at building wiper blade, however this is some what of a double edged sword, a gift and a curse. You see rubber is also very vulnerable to attack from external elements such as ultra violet, ozone, chemicals and even water and as such will wear down rather soon in the presence of these elements. Temperature also poses a serious risk both in the summer and in the winter, the heat will result the rubber to become too soft and melt this will culminate in the deformation of the wiper blade natural shape causing further problems when in use. Small cracks and fissures can also form in its surface which compound the problem. Later in the winter the temperature will decrease and the wiper blade will then become too hard and rigid, the cracks and fissures will take on water which will then freeze and thaw in ceaeless cycles attacking the capacity of the wiper blade internal structure.

The windscreen wipers can also become frozen to the wind screen and when they are turned on they can be ripped away from the metal action arm causing bad damage to both the windscreen wipers insert and the metal arm internal structure. The only thing to this perennial cycle of destruction is too utilise a regular wash cycle of the wind screen or to buy replacement windscreen wipers on a frequent cycle. The best solution is to pick up some windscreen wipers made from silicone as these will not succumb to the things cited above quite so quickly.