In Wilmington, DE, wiper blades should ideally be replaced before winter really kicks in. Otherwise, the old ones are likely to break down due to heavy sun, and the corrosive solvents in your windshield wiper fluid. Of course when they do break down, a driver’s ability to detect road hazards will be significantly reduced, thereby increasing his or her accident risk.

We’d suggest selecting a pair of blades designed for heavy winter. Wilmington Delware is predicted to have a bad winter for 2015 so get ready. When selecting a new pair of winter windshield wiper blades consider features like silicon rubber blades or blades that are infused with graphite. Rain-x makes a blade designed for winter called the “ Latitude “. It’s claim to fame is their graphite coated rubber and no exposed metal parts. Trico makes a blade called the “ Tricore Ice ” with teflon infused rubber. It makes the blades slide well in icing conditions. It’s these kind of features that will help prolong the life of conventional windshield wiper blades and make winter debris removal less stressful on the vehicle’s wiper motor. Plus, the high quality rubber is likely to help prevent the metal frames from inadvertently scratching up the windshield.

In our experience, beam and hybrid wiper blades are also great picks for vehicle owners living or driving through Wilmington, Delaware. They are rather new and differ from conventional blades in several key ways. For example, they typically don’t have superstructures or a lot of moving parts. So they are less likely to break under the weight of heavy ice or snow. In addition, a lot of beam and hybrid blades are manufactured with specially treated rubber. The treatments are typically meant to protect the rubber blades from things like airborne debris and ice.

TIP: If you park your car outside and you know a impending snow or ice storm is coming don’t forget to flip your windshield wiper blades up so that they are no longer resting on your windshield. Usually what happens is that you’ll wake up the next morning you’ll need to get to work and you won’t have time to deal with frozen windshield wiper blades. You end up having to beat on them to free them from the ice and snow. This is never good for the blades. Do the right thing and get those blades off the glass so you can scrape the glass without needing to deal with the wipers.

To find out more about the various windshield wiper blade options available in Wilmington, Delaware, and tips for keeping your car in overall good shape during the snowy days ahead, please contact us. We’ve been providing Northern Delaware residents with reliable, automotive advice, maintenance, repair and towing services for more than two decades.

If your planning on changing your windshield wiper blades you’re going to need a screwdriver. Also, when opening the wiper package don’t loose the extra plastic components. There’s a good chance you’ll need them for your type of car.

If the instructions found in the package are not clear, go inside, start your computer, and consider using YouTube for video instructions. Watching a video tutorial is a easy way to figure out how to change them.

For reference below are the most common types of wiper blade systems. Click the links for YouTube help.

They may help you when searching for tutorials online.