Why do you put your wipers up before it snows?

[TiGeo]

I don't get it. I get in, turn on the car, turn on the defrost, start the de-snow/ice process on the exterior with my brush/scraper, when I'm done, I get in the car and my wipers should be free. I've never understood this and not doing it doesn't make me any slower to leave my driveway vs. my wiper-up neighbors and I've never damaged my wipers/had issues. I feel this is one of those things that folks do b/c others do it, not b/c they actually have thought through it. Every time I see it I think "Some teenager is going to come by and grab them/break them off."

I did this this morning. Went out/brushed off a few inches of snow, started the car, let it run with defrosters all on. Went back in. Came out a 10 mintues later, finished brushing off the snow/ice that was left, the wipers were free, left. Wasn't snowing so didn't need the wipers really anyway. If my wipers had been up, I wouldn't have left any sooner. If it would have been an emergency, I would have just spent more time scraping/not gone back in is really all so I could see out the front/back and just left.

What say you BITOG-Kollective?

 

[walterjay]

My cars are garaged except for my F-150. I take the wipers up because I use a broom to sweep away snow and it is easier that way.

 

[thunderfog]

I don't do it all the time, but I'll do it if it's snowing *after* I've been driving. So the windshield is wet, and it'll either refreeze or the snow will melt a little at first, become icy, then you can't get clean wipes. Defrost ain't gonna melt the ice stuck to the wipers when it's 16F outside. This makes it less likely to happen.

 

[TiGeo]

So far, a whole lot of wipers up folks here hahahah....

 

[edyvw]

In really cold weather, they will glue themselves to windshield. You just parked car, interior is warm, and it will create thin layer of ice that will glue to wipers. Just because your windshield gets warmed, doesn’t mean rubber dis, and they can get damaged. Also, it allows you to clean ice off of the windshield freely and be on your way. I kept Sequoia few days out and we had regular snow and blizzard two days ago, -7 one morning when blizzard hit. Wipers were up, Scraped ice, turned on the car, oil pressure is up, hit the road slowly. Engine will warm up far faster driving and not idling. No need to wait anything to melt if I clean windshield.

 

[TiGeo]

In really cold weather, they will glue themselves to windshield. You just parked car, interior is warm, and it will create thin layer of ice that will glue to wipers. Just because your windshield gets warmed, doesn’t mean rubber dis, and they can get damaged. Also, it allows you to clean ice off of the windshield freely and be on your way. I kept Sequoia few days out and we had regular snow and blizzard two days ago, -7 one morning when blizzard hit. Wipers were up, Scraped ice, turned on the car, oil pressure is up, hit the road slowly. Engine will warm up far faster driving and not idling. No need to wait anything to melt if I clean windshield.

I've had mine frozen to the windshield before, it was never an issue for me to leave the house after scraping and running the defrost. I've seen folks with the wipers up and they are coated in ice/sleet/freezing rain just the same, so what then? I've personally never been inconvenienced by this that I can recall...ever. I suppose I have lifted them off the glass before with some ice/snow coating and tapped them back to break that thin layer and get them flexible again. I've never had a wiper tear etc. and we typically get more of the ice/freezing slush crap than anything else here.

 

[edyvw]

I've had mine frozen to the windshield before, it was never an issue for me to leave the house after sraping and running the defrost. I've seen folks with the wipers up and they are coated in ice/sleet/freezing rain just the same, so what then? I've personally never been inconvenienced by this that I can recall...ever. I suppose I have lifted them off the glass before with some ice/snow coating and tapped them back to break that thin layer and get them flexible again. I've never had a wiper tear etc. and we typically get more of the ice/freezing slush crap than anything else here.

You do get rain that freezes but here, I have seen them completely glued to windshield. At those temperatures I don’t lift wipers too.
At -15 overnight with snow, yes I do.

 

[Al]

The OP makes a ritual of getting car on the road. Putting up wipers prevent them frozen to windshield and you get going in a few minutes in ONE sitting.

 

[DemoFly]

You just don't live somewhere that cold. Cars warm up very slow in subzero without a load and ice is not created equal. Ice can be 32 degrees or -50. It's easy to melt ice when you only need to raise it by a few degrees.

 

[BHopkins]

I have never had wiper blades freeze to the windshield. And I have never left the wiper blades up, during the winter. But, I have never been one to run the front defroster any more than necessary. (My father taught me that keeping the windshield cooler during a snowstorm, keeps all but the wettest snow from sticking to the windshield. It works. Try it.)

Like @TiGeo, I have always wondered if wiper arms, sticking up in the air like insect antenna, would be a temptation for vandalism.

 

[GON]

I don't get it. I get in, turn on the car, turn on the defrost, start the de-snow/ice process on the exterior with my brush/scraper, when I'm done, I get in the car and my wipers should be free. I've never understood this and not doing it doesn't make me any slower to leave my driveway vs. my wiper-up neighbors and I've never damaged my wipers/had issues. I feel this is one of those things that folks do b/c others do it, not b/c they actually have thought through it. Every time I see it I think "Some teenager is going to come by and grab them/break them off."

I did this this morning. Went out/brushed off a few inches of snow, started the car, let it run with defrosters all on. Went back in. Came out a 10 mintues later, finished brushing off the snow/ice that was left, the wipers were free, left. Wasn't snowing so didn't need the wipers really anyway. If my wipers had been up, I wouldn't have left any sooner. If it would have been an emergency, I would have just spent more time scraping/not gone back in is really all so I could see out the front/back and just left.

What say you BITOG-Kollective?

Not sure the winter weather of Northen Virginia is a match to ask this question. The quantity of precipitation, the temperature fluctuations, and the current temperature after the falling of precipitation are all factors. All factors that likely mean as little to the people of Northern Virginia as it does to the people of El Paso, TX. Both areas get freezing and below freezing temperatures, and both areas get snow. But the impact from both areas to windshield wipers frozen to the windshield because of a large quantity of precipitation, that ends up freezing, in a deep thick sheet, and then the temperature drops 5 below zero, is why people stand up their wipers.

When I lived in Alaska, the area I lived in was a rainforest. In the winter with very limited sunlight, large quantities of rain and freezing rain would fall. Followed by snow all night. In the morning, temperature might be ten degrees. Windshield wipers would be under easily a half inch of ice. That is a lot of ice. Maybe something not common in Northen Viginia, but a lot of the north has like environments. Maybe not rain forest like, but enough precipitation in quantity that freezes the windshield wipers to the glass.

 

[emmett442]

I do it

Makes for easier scraping in the morning. Blades aren't frozen to the windshield and no need to scrape around the blades.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Old school cars would automatically try to move the wipers when the ignition was turned on when the wiper switch was left on. Instant trashed wipers or blown fuse. Keeping them up prevented disaster and no wipers for the trip home.

 

[factorytuned2012]

lost the need for wipers ^ since moving to the south

 

[PontiacHO]

Repaired several wiper transmissions-linkages that were busted because wipers were frozen to the windshield and the driver either shut the car off previously with wipers on and started the engine the next morning or turned the wipers on to “clear” the windshield.

 

[Patman]

lost the need for wipers ^ since moving to the south

It never rains where you live?

 

[rijndael]

lost the need for wipers ^ since moving to the south

I've been watching all of the iced road videos from Oklahoma, TX, and GA....

 

[ATex7239]

Why yes in fact from 1970

It seems for quite a long time after WW2 Americans blew up or nuked anything they didn’t know what to do with.

 

[ATex7239]

My neighbor did it before the freeze this week. But to be fair Texans aren’t prepared for any weather other than hot and really hot.

 

[ripcord]

I once left my wipers on when shutting off the engine in the evening and it froze overnight. Then when I went to start the car in the morning, the blades where frozen to the glass and the wiper mechanism broke on the driver's side.