Giveven that the cold weather is upon us and they're out salting the motorways, what is the most paint friendly method for passing a salt throwing lorry?

Assuming the lorry is going forwards while throwing stones behind, are the stones actually moving or are they just falling?

Would it be best to drive through fast to reduce the time you were exposed but potentially cause paint damage?

Or maybe go through slowly, longer in the spray but the stones wont hit the paint very hard.

I know this seems like a daft question but I'm sure you can appreciate the way it could affect us all.

i'd go for the fast option personally...

think about it... the truck is moving at something like 60mph so anything falling or being trown from the truck is going to be moving at a similar speed.

i think thats right... gcse physics dont let me down now !

But if it is throwing stones out at 60mph they are just going to fall to the ground. This assumes no wind resistance or aero effects caused by the truck.

I used protection method on Sunday but this will only work on a 4 lane motorway. I used the merc next to me as a shield I waited for him to come in between me and the gritter and basically paced him so he took the brunt. I only got hit by two objects.

Other than that you could drop way back and wait until it pulls off

In someone elses car.

Nowadays the grit and salt mix does not just fall out. It is ejected using a spinning thingy, thus throwing it across on to the other side of the road. The speed of this is adjustable depending upon the width of the road - the wider the road the faster (and hence further) it is ejected.

Don't know best way - but I work on the principle that the longer you are behind it the more damage will occur - so I tend to boot it to get round ASAP.

I went through the fall out of a few gritters on my journey home from Jabba on Monday night - tried creeping past and the noise was just awful and made me grit my teeth - In the end I opted for the 90mph method which although as noisy was much more brief.

No evidence of damage to car either - the sale "stones" they use seem very small indeed and just numerous.

But if it is throwing stones out at 60mph they are just going to fall to the ground. This assumes no wind resistance or aero effects caused by the truck.

but the grit will be moving at the same speed as the wagon its falling from, the ground is the only stationary object so once the grit hits the floor surely it will bouce and accelerate to something like its original speed of impact?

eitherway you dont want to be in its path for any longer than you need to be.

Yep I tend to hang well back until I have a clear run past it .... why do people overtaking it, always slow down to the same speed as the gritter so the front of their car is just being bombarded? :confused:

Chris

Last year, travelling coastbound on the M20 in what was then my brand new car, I caught up a gritter. Stayed behind at a distance and took the next exit at the top of Wrotham Hill near Brands. Then zoomed down the A20, onto the M26 and picked up the M20 again about half a mile ahead of the gritter.

Perhaps not to be recommended (other than for sparing the car of stone ships) as I wouldn't have known before I came off the motorway whether the A road had been gritted or not. But on this one occasion...

Otherwise it's the zoom past method or the "Protection" method mentioned above.

But if it is throwing stones out at 60mph they are just going to fall to the ground. This assumes no wind resistance or aero effects caused by the truck.

... and then you come along, going 60 mph faster than the 'static' stones, and hit them @ 60 mph.

I just engage the cars external forcefield :confused:

Nowadays the grit and salt mix does not just fall out. It is ejected using a spinning thingy' date=' thus throwing it across on to the other side of the road. The speed of this is adjustable depending upon the width of the road - the wider the road the faster (and hence further) it is ejected.

Don't know best way - but I work on the principle that the longer you are behind it the more damage will occur - so I tend to boot it to get round ASAP.[/quote']

It's just pure rock salt, no 'grit' in it, the brown clour is clay deposits in the salt.

I can honestly say, that in the hundreds of thousands of miles I have driven, none of the vehicles i have had has ever suffered paint damage from a gritter. :confused:

I tend to go for the 'hang back as long as poss and then blast past' approach - time exposed to danger and all that being reduced

And yes, whenever possible on a motorway, use another car (or even better, a van, bus or truck!) as protection....

Either way, you're still going to get the odd paint chip.....

My Peugeot 505 took a major hit below the front bumper from a large piece of salt ejected from a gritting lorry in a 30mph limit. I now treat gritters with great caution and hang well back.

I go for the close your eyes and hope for the best approach whilst going for the quick overtake (remembering of course to keep opening my eyes at regular quick intervals to make sure I dont actually drive into the back of anyone!!!!)

I pull over / off for 10 mins, they are gritting the road for a reason, many a time I've seen idiots passing them only to see the same idiots off the road further on.

I'm never in so much of a hurry that I feel the need to pass the gritters, as someone else pointed out, their gritting for a reason!! I just hang well back out of the spray area, If some tw*t in a company Mondeo/Vectra doesn't like it then I let them overtake me, giving me further protection against the salt spray and letting them take the hits!!

I personaly hate passing gritters in the opposing direction, I always move right over to the left and slow down.

As soon as the gritters come out you can just hear the cheers and

As soon as the gritters come out you can just hear the cheers and

There's something I'll never miss here - they don't grit the roads in NZ, at least not in the North Island.

I saw a 20 year -old Alfa yesterday with no rust!!!!

I saw a 20 year -old Alfa yesterday with no rust!!!!

:eek: I've had Alfas that have rusted in 20 days! let alone years!

In someone elses car.

I did this in my Directors 3.0l Jag :eek: He was in the back, I put my foot down and prayed...

Eyes closed, radio on 36 (is loud, trust me ), both hands on the steering wheel, pedal to the floor and hope you don't come accross a bend in the road...

My Octy picked up its first stone chip 3 days after I bought it overtaking a gritter on the M80 :(