Good Question: Should you prop your windshield wipers up in the winter?
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Walk through any local parking lot after a snowfall and you’ll probably see cars with their windshield wipers sticking up. It’s a pretty common sight in the wintertime in Rochester. But does propping your windshield wipers up do more harm than good?
Paul Coonelly, owner of Scotty’s Automotive in Brighton, explains why it’s not a great idea to prop up your windshield wipers in the winter.
News10NBC’s Emily Putnam: “Paul, tell me, is it a good idea to prop your windshield wipers up in the wintertime?”
Paul Coonelly: “Most of the time it’s not a great idea for a couple of reasons. It stresses the spring that’s in there. The tension spring that keeps it on the window. If you get a strong wind it can be bent, it can be blown down, it can come down and crack the window.”
Coonelly says the spring that holds the wipers to the car can be damaged if it becomes encrusted in ice.
Paul Coonelly: “If the ice forms around the wiper in the up position it could actually be worse than it forming in the down position. It’s easier to clean. It doesn’t get into the, you know, the parts of the motor that are integral to making it work.”
So what can you do to protect your wipers? Leave them down and let your defroster do the work.
Paul Coonelly: “Clean the window, defrost it, cleaning the car is actually the best thing to do. Putting them up can actually do more harm than good.”
Two main takeaways from my conversation with Paul – don’t prop up your wipers and always turn your wipers off when you’re done using them. He says if you leave them on, then the next time you go to start your car, if it’s frozen, it can put too much stress on that connecting joint and break it.
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