Ensuring that your car’s windshield is clean and well looked after is essential to your safety on the road.
Now, while some windshield problems (such as stress cracks) can be prevented, others are simply unavoidable and must be dealt with promptly (such as deciding what to do if your windshield breaks when you are driving)
In this article, I’m going to discuss windshield care. What can you do to keep your windshild clean and safe for as long as possible?
And, the rule number one is…
Keep the windshield clean at all times
This goes without saying, but a dusty, dirty windshield can impact your visibility quite a bit, which in turn makes driving unsafe. Here are some tips for looking after your car’s windshield:
- Do not wash/clean auto glass when it’s hot. Heat can put a lot of stress on a car’s windshield, making it prone to stress cracks and similar damage. This is even more serious when water is applied to the glass as it introduces strong temperature fluctuations that can lead to cracks.
- Use high quality car window cleaners. These are specially formulated to remove dirt in just a few wipes without streaks.
- Don’t forget to clean your windshield wipers on a regular basis! Dirty and squeaky wipers can easily lead to small scratches which later develop into serious cracks. There are many specialized products for this and the entire process takes just a minute. If you do not clean your wipers regularly, you may have to replace them more often.
- Make sure that your windshield washer fluid (here is how to make your own washr fluid) levels are normal at all times. You never know when you might need to use it. Keeping windshield washer fluid reservoir full also is the best thing you can do to keep your windshield washer pump from breaking.
- Remove stickers from your windshiled properly – you do not want any residue that starts collecting dirt and insects
Read this article on more tips of keeping your windshield clean. Yes, you need to clean it inside too!
Protecting a cracked windshield
Let’s say that you notice a fresh scratch or a crack on your car’s windshield, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, you just can’t take your vehicle to a technician right away. In a situation like that, you must take preventative measures to make sure that the damage doesn’t spread.
Here’s how:
- If your windshield is cracked or has a deep scratch, do not wash it to avoid forcing water and dirt into the damaged area.
- Place see-through tape on the crack to prevent dust from getting in. Only do this if the tape won’t obstruct your view.
- Avoid extreme temperature fluctuations as much as possible. This means not using hot/cold water on the windshield, keeping it out of direct sunlight, etc. Only use the air conditioner on low/medium settings.
- Extreme air pressure created by strong winds can cause windshield cracks to spread quickly.
- Road bumps and other direct damage (such as slamming the car doors) can also cause existing windshield cracks to spread.
Windshield repair and replacement is expensive. Here are a few tips to help you keep your windshield in one piece and your money in your wallet.
