With the approach of winter, it’s time to winterize your car. You should have the charging system checked, the cooling system, change the oil, check your tires and make sure they have enough tread to propel you through the snow of another McHenry winter. But, one of the most overlooked things to do when winterizing your car is to check your wiper blades.

Winter is hard on a car. But, it’s also hard on driving.

Driving is more difficult in the winter because those McHenry roads are often slippery with water, ice and/or snow. Therefore, the aforementioned treadwear in your tires is a critical factor. You want tires that get a good grip on the road even in adverse conditions.

You need good tires to help your car get going on snowy and/or slippery roads. Even more important, you need tires that can grab the same roads when you need to stop. The problem is knowing when you can go, and when you need to stop when reaction times are extended by road conditions. And, knowing when to stop or go is a bigger problem in winter because vision is often impaired by the weather of the season.

Problems with vision while driving are greatly exacerbated when your vehicle is not fully prepared for the season. This means that you want headlights, taillights and turn signals that work, are clean and visible from an appropriate distance. But, what if your windshield isn’t clean.

• The first point to observe is to clean the windows before you drive; clear the snow off the car and scrape ice, snow and frost off all the windows.
• The next point to observe is to ensure you have effective wipers on your car.
• The third consideration is to make sure your washer fluid reservoir is full and that the spray is effective when you hit the spritzer.

Ineffective wiper blades will leave streaks on your windshield. They can also leave blanks where they don’t clear the windshield at all.

Windshield wipers blades are made of rubber. Over time, the oils in the rubber dry out and the rubber hardens. When hardened, the blades aren’t as pliable as they once were. They’re not forgiving of configurations in the surface they’re wiping. The crack easier and, when they bend, they don’t bend back as thoroughly.

You also want to consider the rest of the wipers – the mechanism that holds the wiper blades to the glass. These are generally designed to apply even pressure so the wiper blades will fit snuggly against the glass.

The lesson is to winterize your car before another McHenry winter sets in. But, don’t forget to check your wipers.