Retrofit heated wipers?

Back in the day 1908 Model T didn’t have power steering, power brakes, had a crank starter. Hell the windshield was optional from the factory. Well all did fine driving these around. Has society become this weak where we have to have windshields and heaters!? Real question.

See how that sounds? Just because modern cars have more creature comforts, doesn’t mean society is weak. Just makes driving more pleasurable.

 

I have heated wipers on my 2016. Thanks to the FL sun.

 

,,,,,,waiting for the anti-tech potato clock flip-phoners to chime in on 3rd gen tech.

 

How is that supposed to help when driving?

 

^Never had wipers ice up when driving any of my vehicles, since the demister is on.

 

Weather mustn't get real bad in District 6ix.

 

Some woman from the south in my neighborhood in Colorado thought it would be a good idea to put a towel on her windshield, it rained, then it turned to snow, so the damn thing froze to the windshield.

 

You'll be surprised how much heat comes out of the vents when you have the engine pinned at 7250 rpms, especially since the stock redline is 6000...

 

I don't care how hot the air coming out of the defrosters gets, the blades will still freeze in heavy wet snow because they don't get any of that heat.

 

Since some people aren’t aware: Even when wipers are completely clean before you leave and even with the defrost on full blast, wipers will still ice up in specific conditions. Short of heated glass or heated blades nothing will stop it when it’s going to happen.

There’s a couple things that I’ve picked up in the frigid north that help a little:
When you push the wiper control arm up for a single pass, let it go immediately after you feel resistance and the wipers start to move. If you are quick and can time it right, you can get the arms to stop above where they normally rest. This puts them up on the glass being warmed by the defroster. It’s a trick I learned in my 1st gen, and it was sooo much easier to hit the sweet spot in that truck than my 3rd gen. It won’t melt ice off anything but the tiny edge touching the glass but it’s something that helps a little and prolongs time between the inevitable blade cleanings.

You can remove the blade assemblies and bring them inside when you know it’s going to snow overnight or when there’s excessive ice built up on the rubber of the blades.
When ice forms in the little frills running the length of the blades it causes the undesirable performance and streaks. You can smack them or pull the ice out manually but thawing them inside or with water causes the least amount of wear and tear on the rubber and results in longer blade life.
On this same note, down to about 10F you can pull the assemblies and put them in the footwell of the truck when you get to your destination and they will thaw with the residual heat in the cab while you’re gone. Just remember to turn your wipers off or leave the arms up. Otherwise you’ll have metal arms rubbing on your windshield when you fire it back up. This is especially awful if you forget and then auto start your truck…

 

As a fellow Midwesterner I can confirm. The temp outside while moving is too cold for the defrost to keep up, especially higher up on the windshield.

 

I do this often in the winter too.

 

I feel you guys! This AM I was driving to work and it was a little misty and I had to use my wipers. It was a frosty 39 degrees!! I’m surprised they weren’t stuck solid.

 

Super cool

 

Which? Pull the blades or the goofy half stop thing? It’d be nice to know I’m not the only doofus fighting my wipers lol
It’s so frustrating trying to get them to stop where I want them and takes like 6 tries sometimes, when I had it down to an art in my ‘03.

 

You forgot to ask for heated door handles like this guy: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/heated-door-handles.793079/

 

I do the half stop.

 

Yeah cause we couldn’t figure out how to drive in snow and ice before this latest must have invention. Good luck kids.

 

Whole bunch of boomers in this thread that probably asked how big of a lift do they need to fit 33's not to long ago.

Heat wiper blades and mirrors would be awesome