Having recently sprayed my chrome grill surround black I cringe everytime I have to drive past a gritter lorry on the motorway (usually going into the hard shoulder to pass avoiding the majority of the grit).

About 10 years ago I remember driving behind a gritter lorry that was dropping what can only be described as white dust. I remember it was like a smoke screen. I dont think it was just the last of the grit/salt from a normal load. Anyone else seen this?

There must be an intelligent alternative to just salt/grit. Its OK when youre driving a company car but ive got enough chips on my black rat already.:thumbdwn:

Under road heating?

I would suggest sand instead of salt! No rust and better traction!

Salt prevents the formation of ice on the carriageway. Alternatives are brine or coated salt (normally molasses).

The dust would just be fine salt.

Sand wouldn't do anything.

Funny how they use sand/gravel in Norway, Denmark & Sweden along with chains and better driver training!

Im also worried about the Lamin-x headlight film ive just fitted so I'll be the one doing 50mph up the M5 until the gritter runs out of grit/salt/sand/dust!!

Funny how they use sand/gravel in Norway, Denmark & Sweden along with chains and better driver training!

There ya go

Make the driving test into a proper 'driving' test, including skid pans,night driving, motorway driving etc....

It would, in the long term albeit, save a fortune, and result in better and better prepared drivers.

Gritters on the motorway in the middle lane is probably the worst thing ever !

They've been testing a self heating surface on the service road at Toddington Services, Northbound, for sometime now.

Just near the HATO compound

I'm sure sand works great on snow, does nothing to prevent the formation of ice though.

The gritters do the job as cost effectively as possible, it's quite possible if any other method was used it would cost everyone a lot more in tax etc.

If safer roads this time of year are making are making a mess of your nice car can I suggest you buy a Bra or take a bus.

Apparently, the Germans use cow p1$$....... I have seen a lot of motorbikes from Germany, and they have a lot less rust than the same year UK bikes!

As said gravel works fine on compacted snow, compresses in the surface and provides grip, No good on ice as it does not sink in. Plus drive on tarmac in snow chains and see how well it lasts.

The nordic coutires would love to just salt the roads, unfortuantly their climate is too cold for the salt to work, hence less ideal options.

I believe alot of other countries use a liquid solution, but this is apparently rather expensive. But on this fine island we have an abundance of fairly cheap rock salt. As long as we have have cheap salt, council's ain't gonna invest in new systems.

I work in a builders merchant that sells the stuff, and also ride one of my two motorcycles everyday, and fighting a losing battle against the salt, how ironic!!!

You need to get a few good scratches on your car, then you won't be worried about a little bit o grit rash...

I found that walls and hedges did a good job.

HTH

I believe alot of other countries use a liquid solution...

Austria, for example. Have you seen what the cars look like after driven 10 years in Austria? These liquid solutions literally eat through the paint and primer to the bear metal. I have seen import BMWs e46 from '98-'99 rusted heavily underneath.

I would think the alternative to gritter lorries in the UK would be a lot of accidents.

I do wince when one goes past on the other side of the road though. Just wait for the hail sound as it covers your car in salt. :eek:

Salt prevents the formation of ice on the carriageway. Alternatives are brine or coated salt (normally molasses).

They have had problems with molasses as Sheep love it and climb through the hedges to lick it off the road (have you seen the damage that hitting a sheep does to your car:eek:) I think that they have tried it in some Scottish areas. Sugar makes it stick to the road better so not ending up in the hedge back, but it also sticks to your car better :thumbdwn::mad:

Simon

They have had problems with molasses as Sheep love it

Simon

In the US the bears stand in the middle of the road and eat it ..... :eek:

They have had problems with molasses as Sheep love it and climb through the hedges to lick it off the road (have you seen the damage that hitting a sheep does to your car:eek:) I think that they have tried it in some Scottish areas. Sugar makes it stick to the road better so not ending up in the hedge back, but it also sticks to your car better :thumbdwn::mad:

Simon

The sheep around here like to lick the grit and salt off the road too!

Been the cause of a fair few accidents :eek: and yes, they make one hell of a mess.

Apparently, the Germans use cow p1$$....... I have seen a lot of motorbikes from Germany, and they have a lot less rust than the same year UK bikes!

And the Germans plough and grit through the day too.

I remember being near Munich, and a heavy snow storm, and the road was shut because the 1/4 hourly gritters were all stuck on the road, one next to me. Chatted to the driver who was shocked that his cover was better than ours - and he claimed it'd been cut back!

I think that a lot could be done to make sure that the correct size of "grit" was not exceeded - that would cut down on the normal stone that gets thrown up now and again. Also as some gritters seem to be set up to only throw grit down in a controlled manner, then maybe some of the gritting teams could be given the correct tools and the training to set them up frequently, instead of just clocking up the miles to let their bosses prove that the contract is being delivered! There used to be a lot of dedicated local authority plough and gritter drivers, now it seems its mainly done by contract guys using anything that a gritting hopper and plough can be fitted to. I think up here at least, in Scotland, local land owners and farmers just got out cleared roads to support the local authority - now it seems that they do not get paid for this service - so mainly they just let the local authority and trunk roads "managers" get on with it and this tends to lead to a few ploughs stuck for days in the same location - handy - not!

Edited 10 January, 200917 yr by rum4mo

Lots of authorities use a 10mm graded salt. We've gone down to a 6mm salt and its much less damaging. Its a bit annoying as it can be hard to know if you are still spreading as we'd come to rely on the noise the 10mm makes as a reassurance its working.

Half the problem is that a lot of salt is stored outside, and it clumps up.

Lots of authorities use a 10mm graded salt. We've gone down to a 6mm salt and its much less damaging. Its a bit annoying as it can be hard to know if you are still spreading as we'd come to rely on the noise the 10mm makes as a reassurance its working.

Half the problem is that a lot of salt is stored outside, and it clumps up.

Yes I can see that the smaller size is "better" but more troublesome - maybe someone needs to impose some design benchmarks on how salting is carried out - so that the gritting machines are all doing the same (good) job. I remember back in 1970s as a student in Edinburgh, getting stung a few times walking down the Royal Mile - and it was sore even through jeans! While you mentioned "keeping the salt free - so not clumping", my wife bought some extra rock salt (pure white stuff!!) from a garden centre and it has vent holes in the plastic sack - but it seems to have kept free - BIG granule size though. There is nothing worse, when needing to use "road grit" to find that thegrit bin lid is open and its now "road rock" - that is progress though I suppose and even if the grit bins are closed, as they are light plastic, the wind blows them open - a bit of a rethink on the design required I think!

Only solution is to stay away from gritting trucks, you probably come up against one about once a year. I personally not encountered a truck this winter. I would think there are many more motoring problems than this one.