Do not use in the dry – even though the glass on your windscreen appears to have a smooth, friction free surface, don’t be fooled. It’s actually covered in little bumps and grooves that will damage your car wiper blades if there's no additional lubrication. Using your blades without some water spray will emit a high pitched squeaky noise that’s indicative of the rubber wearing fast through friction.

Keep the windscreen clean – you’ll never be able to keep your windscreen free from dirt and debris, but covering it at night or going the whole distance and putting the car in the garage at night will keep the glass relatively free of particles. Again, this means that there’s no grit that could damage either the blades or the screen surface when you put the wipers into action.

Use sandpaper the blades – get that last bit of value by restoring the leading edge to the rubber wiper blades with a sheet of sandpaper. Pass the blade 8 to 12 times through a sheet of sandpaper and then test it out on the windscreen by putting a little water on them and checking they run smoothly over the surface. Don’t have fine sandpaper? You could try a matchbox or even a nail file.

Wipe down the windscreen – in the same way that it’s beneficial to keep the custom windshield wiper blades free from dirt, you might want to consider keeping the screen free from debris too as this can also affect the blade quality and scratch your window. Whilst you’ll get away with using the blades and washer fluid to remove minute particles, bigger stuff like pine needles, leaves, and bits of paper and grit will have to go manually.

Keep the fluid levels topped up – what happens if you get a big mud spray on your windscreen during a spring or autumn day and you hit the wipers, but no fluid comes out? You can imagine the damage all that earthy mess is going to inflict on your wiper blades – and that’s before you even have to consider the problems to your visibility. Having sufficient wiper fluid isn’t only about care for the blades. It’s a really important safety point that keeps you aware of other road users.

Wiper blades are really important. They might be a little part on the car, but they make a big difference when you need them most. If you have any questions about wiper blades, we would be happy to help you solve the problems. Thank you.