Do you live at the coast? It's a wonderful place to spend time if you're a human, but your car likely doesn't share that view. Coastal environments are tough on cars, from an increased risk of rust to humidity wreaking havoc on belts and hoses. Your windshield isn't immune either, and those times you drive around town admiring the view of the ocean add to the problem.

Flying Sand

One of the major problems your car's windshield faces at the coast is flying sand and grit. Wind can pick up grains, and as your car speeds along the road, the windshield hits any of those grains that are still in the air. These are tiny, tiny bits of sand, so you never see them. But they leave little pockmarks on your windshield that, when the sun hits the windshield, form a distracting mass that increases the glare you see and reduces visibility. If you get too many of these things, then it becomes nearly impossible to see well out of the windshield because the pockmarks fill the view.

There's really no way to completely prevent these marks; driving slowly, keeping back from the person in front of you, and not driving when it's very windy can help, but chances are you'll still end up with some marks. If they get too bad, though, you may have to replace the windshield.

Make up Your Mind, Weather

While weather at the coast is often more moderate and less prone to wild swings, it can have its own moments of seeming indecision. Foggy, damp mornings followed by hot and dry afternoons can wreck your windshield wipers, causing the rubber to deteriorate as it dries out and re-expands as the weather changes daily. When you use the wipers, they can leave streaks of water behind, obscuring your vision. If the blades are really far gone, they can leave light but annoying streaks of rubber that you have to clean off.

Hot Summer Days

Even if the wind is perfectly calm and you've got new wiper blades, you're still not out of the woods. The heat from the sun can make the glass of the windshield expand, and as the glass cools at night and contracts, it can become weaker and weaker. If parts of the windshield heat up while other parts don't (for example, being parked half in hot sunlight and half in shade), that can eventually lead to cracks.

Windshield repair and replacement do not have to take a lot of your time. If you think your car's windshield is about to go, get to a shop as quickly as possible. For additional information, check out websites like http://www.autoglassrepairandreplace.com/.