Your windshield wiper fluid is one of the most important things you need when it comes to maintaining a good windshield especially because the wiper fluid is formulated to be safe and effective at cleaning your windshield. But there will be instances when you might want to refill the fluid but you only have a wiper fluid brand that is different from the one inside your car already. As such, can you mix different windshield wiper fluids?
It is perfectly okay for you to mix different windshield wiper fluid brands because there are no harmful chemicals that can end up mixing together to damage your windshield. Just take note that you won’t get the full effects of these wiper fluids if you do mix them together.
For those who don’t know, windshield wiper fluid is simply water mixed with a few cleaning ingredients that will allow it to clean the windshield while providing protection to it. That means that, because of how the fluid doesn’t come with any chemicals that can be harmful or any oil-like ingredients, it will be fine if you do mix different windshield wiper fluid brands. Just make sure that you know the small caveat when you intend to do so.
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Can you mix windshield wiper fluid?
One of the things that any car owner should know is that windshield wiper fluid is very important when it comes to making sure that your windshield is not only clean but is well-protected from any sort of damage or water stain that may happen as a result of different environmental conditions such as rain, snow, or heat. As such, making sure that your car has enough windshield wiper fluid should be one of the most important things you need to keep in mind when you want your car to be well-maintained.
In line with that, there are some cases when you might end up running out of wiper fluid in your car and you don’t have any of the same stuff that you put in your car. This can be quite common when you have different brands of windshield wiper fluids and the other one that you put in your car is already nearly running out but you still have enough of the other brand. So, in such a case, can you actually mix the two together so that you can have enough windshield wiper fluid in your car?
First off, what you need to know about windshield wiper fluid is that it is just a good mixture of water, soap, and some other cleaning ingredients. There will be some brands that might have additional ingredients that can cause water to bead up such as RainX while other brands such as Prestone and other similar names may be made for de-icing or preventing your windshield from freezing during the winter. However, the fact is that these ingredients are not harmful in any way. Moreover, wiper fluid is simply just water, soap, and other additives that make the fluid effective against rainwater or ice.
So, that said, because of how windshield wiper fluid is not made with any kind of chemicals that can be harmful, corrosive, or even flammable when mixed together, you should know that it is perfectly safe for you to mix them together without even wondering if your windshield could end up getting damaged as a result of the mixture. You don’t have to worry if you have half of a certain windshield wiper fluid in your car and you are mixing it with an entirely different brand because of how you are only mixing different kinds of soaps and other additional ingredients as well. That means that it really isn’t different from combining different brands of soapy water together to form one solution of soapy water.
With all that considered, don’t worry if you do have different types of windshield wiper fluid in your garage and you want to mix them together to form one solution in case one of each is no longer enough to fill your car. There is nothing wrong that will happen to your car because of how windshield wiper fluid is a harmless solution.
Can you mix winter and summer washer fluid?
You may know that there are different types of windshield washer fluids that are made for different conditions, as mentioned. Some are made for summer days when the sun is too hot while others are made for the winter to protect your windshield from freezing due to the extremely cold temperatures. So, in such cases, can you mix the two together if ever you come across a situation where you may want to mix them?
Yes, you can mix the two together without causing any damages to your tank and to your windshield. For example, winter fluid comes with a -40c freezing resistance while summer fluid comes with the resistance that protects your windshield from extremely hot temperatures. So, if you mix the two, you might end up with a fluid that has half of the freezing resistance of a normal winter windshield wiper fluid.
What is the downside to mixing windshield wiper fluid?
Now that you know that it is alright to mix windshield wiper fluids, you might be wondering if there is a downside to this. In that regard, yes, there is a downside but it won’t be the type of downside that will make anyone worry.
Remember that windshield wiper fluids are formulated for specific purposes such as rain or temperature protection. With that said, if you combine two or more types of windshield wiper fluids together, you are basically cutting the required formulation that your windshield needs to have protection from certain conditions.
For example, combining winter and summer fluids will cut the winter fluid’s protection from freezing temperatures to half because you are basically diluting it with another fluid. Likewise, the same could happen if you combined a wiper fluid meant for rain protection with one that is made for winter protection as you are now cutting down the concentration they require to stay protected against specific environmental conditions.
Nevertheless, if you are not expecting to experience such environmental conditions anytime soon such as when it isn’t too rainy or when the winter isn’t that cold in your region, you have nothing to worry about when you do combine different windshield wiper fluids.
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Sources:
https://everythingwhat.com/can-you-mix-two-different-windshield-washer-fluids
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/ok-mix-windshield-washer-fluid-types-680741/
https://www.quora.com/Can-blue-and-orange-windshield-washer-fluid-be-mixed
https://maxima.org/forums/general-maxima-discussion/207419-bad-mix-windshield-washer-fluid.html