One aspect of the traditional British weather is that we’re generally guaranteed a fair amount of rain. As I am rarely a pedestrian theses days (except if forced to park my car 100 yards away), most of my experience of rain is from behind a windscreen and as with most modern conveniences, a quick flick of the wiper switch is all it takes to restore visibility. Even in the heaviest of rain this side of a monsoon, if I’m driving home from work on the already accident-prone A331,  there’ll always be an Audi driver overtaking me at 90mph, about 3 feet from the car in front whilst chatting on their phone. Thankfully, the wipers on a modern luxury car are so effective that visibility is almost normal at most speeds and with even fairly heavy rainfall.In 1917, Trico was the first company to commercially manufacture the ‘modern’ wiper system.  Early wiper systems didn’t use electric motors and relied on the vacuum produced in the engine to drive a small vacuum cylinder that swept the rubber blade across the screen. As cars of the 1920’s weren’t particularly fast, this system was probably perfectly acceptable as the main drawback is that the harder you press the accelerator pedal, the less vacuum the engine produces and so the wiperes get slower. This method of powering the wipers lasted until the early 1960’s, by which time most cars had electric wipers. I used to have a Ford Prefect many years ago (well, about 20) and my main memory is not of the puny sidevalve engine, 3 speed gearbox or lovely leathery smell inside. No, it was driving in a torrential downpour at night, whilst trying to overtake a lorry on a dual carriageway. As I cranked the little 1172cc ‘flathead’ up to somewhere between 45 and 60mph (yes, the speedo needle used to flick up and down a lot) with my foot buried in the floorboards, the wipers slowed to a virtual standstill and the torrential rain made visibility so poor I couldn’t even see the bonnet. My only hope was to abandon the overtaking manoeuvre and release the accelerator, the car slowing down instantly yet the wipers now flapping at lightning speed across the screen as if somehow mocking me and my pathetic attempt at overtaking.

Since these early days, the humble windscreen wiper has become a part of the car that’s taken completely for granted, just there to switch on and wipe away the rain whenever needed. On most modern cars, the system is amazingly reliable considering the amount of use it gets and how vital it is. If car manufacturers could make engine electronics as reliable as most wiper motors, we’d be out of a job by now. Fortunately, a few cars are noted for the ease with which their wiper motors, mechanisms or linkages fail. Fiat are on to a good thing selling replacement wiper units for the popular Punto range. They seem to last about 5 years, then it’s £200 for a new one. Volkswagen Golf Mk.4 wiper mechanisms sieze-up, becoming so stiff that the poor motor can barely force the blades across the screen. Much more reasonable at around £40 for a new one, in an hour or so, they’ll be as good as new again.

What never ceases to amaze me is the number of cars that pass through our workshop with wipers that are so poor that they barely clear the screen at all, yet the owner never mentions them. At least they get checked during an MOT test and although they have to be pretty poor to fail (thanks to VOSA and their ‘minimum’ standards), we can at least advise them so the owner knows. In many cases, the customer might say that ‘it’s only the wife’s car so don’t spend too much on it’. Surely,  a car carrying their loved ones would be a prime candidate to be able to see when it rains? It’s recommended that you replace your wiper blades every year but some people just seem to be happy to drive in the rain, effectively blind.

Here’s a few fascinating facts (well, if you’re reading my blog, you must be slightly interested) about wipers.

  • 24 percent of motorists don’t know how to change a windscreen wiper blade.
  • 903726 cars and light vehicles failed their MOT in the last year due to a faulty wiper.
  • The average British car owner only replaces their wiper blades once every 3.5 years.
  • The annual UK aftermarket for replacement wipers is estimated at 16 million units

So, if your wipers are knackered, you have a few options. Anyone with even a minuscule bit of mechanical knowledge can probably buy a pair of new blades from your local car accessory shop and fit them on, instantly restoring visibility to normal. You could possibly even take a trip to your local Halfords who will not only sell you a replacement wiper blade for your car at roughly twice the price that we sell them for, but for an additional £1.99, a disinterested teenage boy (that’s an employee) will come and fit them for you. They even have these special ‘gazebo’ things outside the store that you can park in to have them fitted! If you’re a real cheapskate, you can even still buy the actual rubber ‘refill’ part that you cut to size and secure to the frame with clips. These are usually terrible, and are no substitute for a decent quality blade from Bosch, Champion or one of the other leading manufacturers. One great feature of Halfords is their website that allows you to enter your car’s registration number and it tells you what wipers fit. That allows you to see how expensive they are and to go and buy the correct sized wipers from somewhere cheaper. Yes, I know they also sell wipers in ‘pound shops’ but believe me, you might as well attach a dirty tea towel to your wiper arm as it’ll do as good a job.

Since the late 1980’s, as cars get more aerodynamic the design of wipers start to play a part in fuel efficiency as well. Volkswagen started fitting these new ‘flat blades’ to some cars around 2003 and they do a fantastic job, but are over twice the price of conventional blades. A customer’s 2004 Peugeot 307 SW recently failed the MOT as it had no rubber left on the wipers at all! I sent him over to the Peugeot dealer across the road and he came back with a new set of blades and a £51 hole in his wallet! Nissan charge over £85 for a set of blades for its upmarket Murano and even something mundane like a Toyota Previa MPV has great big flappy wipers at over £45 a pair! Fortunately, if you drive ‘normal’ car like a 2002 Vectra or Mondeo, we can supply a pair of brand-new Bosch wiper blades for under £20 AND we offer free fitting! Admittedly, we don’t have an orange gazebo for you to park under, but with the £20 you’ll save, you can go to B & Q and buy your own!

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