We seem to have hit that marvelous time of year when windshield wipers all over start to stand at attention. They don’t do this on their own. Their people do it for them because otherwise they could freeze to the windshield due to the type of precipitation we tend to get. Something wet that freezes on to pretty much any surface.
Apparently there are reasons for standing your wipers up, and also reasons for leaving them down.
If you stand them up, it’s easier to scrape the ice and snow off the windshield. You are also far less likely to jump in the car, hit the wiper switch and burn the wiper motor out because motor is trying to move wiper blades that are frozen solid to the glass. And you don’t damage the blades by having t chisel them off the glass on a regular basis.
On the down side, there are those who seem to find blades standing at attention a bit too tempting and will try to break them off, so leaving them down is not an invitation to vandalism. And there are those who say it can damage the spring inside the wiper arm.
That last one isn’t much of an issue, really. People who should know say the springs are built to take that amount of extension, so it’s not going to hurt them. And the blades will still press down with the same amount of force and properly clear your windshield.
And if you give your vehicle a chance to warm up, the wipers will come loose from the window if you do choose to leave them down.
It’s one of those things for which there really is no correct answer. They’re your wipers. You can do what you want.
Although if you put them up, you really should remember to put them back down before starting to drive. I’ve discovered they work much better when they actually touch the windshield and they’re not just waving at people as you go by.
