Curious Which Wipers Stand Up To Oklahoma’s Weather?
After a week and some change of rainy days, I guess it's only fitting that the topic of conversation around the Downtown Studios has turned to windshield wipers. More or less, we're all comparing notes on which ones are the best, and which ones you should avoid, and the consensus we've all agreed on here might be a little surprising to say the least.
Don't ask me how the conversation got started, I can't remember details like that because I normally don't pay attention to big group conversations, but I do remember what transpired in the conversation when it came down to the individual automotive preferences. I like motorsports stuff, so it tickled my fancy, and something as innate as a windshield wiper makes for good conversation.
The problem we have in Southwest Oklahoma is, we have to find a windshield wiper that works for our extremely cold and icy winters just as well as it survives our dry and desolate oven-like summers. Manufacturers and their marketing departments comes up with all sorts of fancy terms to call their rubbery wiper blades, and it's all aimed at one thing above the performance levels and safety aspects... It's all about getting that money out of your wallet.
Here's the surprising thing. It seems that our diverse group of coworkers and acquaintances have purchased and used wipers up and down the performance scale. From the extremely cheap two-for-$4 type wipers all the way up to the $24 apiece type premium wipers, and it always ends the same way. No matter who makes them, what they claim they're made out of, or what coating the marketing department has come up with, they all work about the same in our extreme environment. Performance is usually really good for the first couple of weeks, but as the sun beats down on them during the summer, they all tend to move towards needing replacement by the time fall finally sets in around Thanksgiving.
Moral of the story is, you'll have to keep buying them anyway, buy the cheapies as they'll last you just as long as the high dollar ones. Anyone who says anything different is either trying to sell you something or is just trying to protect their own ego having spent $50 on a set already.