August 22nd 2008
 
According to records kept, we've had the rainiest "summer" in many years and the foreboding is that all this moisture
will turn to snow again this year.

Which brings me to the subject of windshield wipers. An essential ingredient in secure safe driving.

I once drove a rally car all night in the pouring rain over gravel back roads without wipers, when the spare wheel came off  the roof rack
on a particularly bad hump and took the wipers with it. But for all intents and purposes, driving without wipers is nigh on impossible.

We seem to be repairing an unusual number of wiper mechanisms this year, probably because they're being used a lot more
and the difference in the quality and design is quite astounding. If you ever want to know what the phrase "you get what you pay for"
means, go look at the wiper linkage layouts on different types of car.

Back in the days of the famous Quebec ice storm we probably replaced fifty or sixty wiper systems. Some motors, some linkages
and some pivots complete with arms and blades. The worst arrangement I ever saw, was a Suzuki which had a wiper linkage
made out of 14 gauge steel bent at right angles. When it got frozen in, it just folded up right in the middle and the wipers did some
very strange sort of dance on the windshield.

The most basic problem we encounter is rusted and seized wiper pivots, which are the two stubs sticking out from in front of your
windshield after the wiper arms are removed. Left alone, they will eventually start to overload the wiper motor from shear resistance
and although the motor will stop and start when it overheats, it will eventually burn itself out.

The next biggest problem is the linkage itself and if you don't own a Toyota and you're lucky, the dealer will sell just the bit that
failed and NOT the whole assembly including pivots. This week  we repaired  two apparently similar wiper systems that had failed,
although we could still hear the motor running so we knew it was a linkage problem
(If the wipers run very slowly and then stop, that's almost always seized pivots).

In both cases, of course, the linkage assembly has to be removed. First, we repaired a VW Jetta. The linkage was made of
galvanised steel, beginning to rust and folded into a channel shape. A new, galvanized, folded steel unit was available from
the dealer so we installed it, reassembled the covers in front of the windshield and all was well. Next in was an Audi A4 with
slow wipers - the aforesaid seized pivot problem. Nevertheless, the whole thing has to come apart and we were expecting to
find a system similar to the Jetta.

Not at all.

The Audi system consisted of aluminum, corrosion proof, tubes that would never collapse under stress and the whole thing
came apart with incredible ease, once the battery was removed. The motor was a separate item and could be changed by
undoing four bolts. What a difference. A clearly thoughtful piece of design and a quality job.

Next time you ask yourself exactly what it is you're getting for your money, the difference is in the details.

If your wipers start to slow down, get them fixed right away, or risk having to cough up for a much more expensive wiper motor.

And when the snow and ice DO arrive, don't try to get your wipers to do what you should do yourself:
Scrape or brush ALL the windows before you leave your parking spot.