Salty Truck

[RyanbabZ71]

Well heres a few pics i snapped this morning before i wash my truck (its like 16 degrees out).  Covered in salt

 

 

 

[DigUout]

Figured you'd already be out washing it by now!  Isn't it like 9:30am in Ill.?  I see the salt but where's the snow?

[Shaners]

Let's see...  I can barely see the tips of the grass under the 2" of snow we got this week.  The roads here were never really slippery, but the Borough managed to put down enough salt to absolutly make a mess out of everything.

[Jpshostr]

Hell that ain't bad at all.  You would not now what to think of everyone's vehicles around here, they make yours look nice and shiny.

[chevy4x4trucks]

Washing it, what are you mad???  It'll just get salty in another day anyways and it's under 20 degrees out there.  Unless the weather gets about 40  there's no way I'm even going to attempt to wash my truck.  And if I do I'll go to work in the heated garage.

[RyanbabZ71]

BRRRRR

 

i attempted to wash it.  After i got the pipe unfroze.  Sprayed a little water on the front fender and it was instant ice.  I said screw it.  TOok hot water and soap to the lower portion of the truck.  Left if all soapy

 

So i broke down and went to a car wash by my house.  Sprayed it down with soap and rinsed.  

 

Now it is a block of ice with icicles all over it.  At least its salt free.  

 

No more washing it till like jn said its about 40.

 

Oh yea anyone wanna go ice skating you can do it on my driveway i have about a 2" thick sheet haha

 

 

Also snow?  We have like .25".  But yet they salt like mad.

[Roofer]

That's barely dirty. I drove to my GF's parents house for Xmas which is about 30 miles away and my truck turned from black to almost all white. It's a real pain washing in the winter. Hopefully I'll get my shed heated some day. I'm still deciding on what materials to use to finish it off, before I get a heater or stove.

[RyanbabZ71]

barely dirty?

 

That was the good side

[Kansas Kid]

Hell that ain't bad at all.

Yep, thats not bad at all.  My truck looks worse then that and it hasn't even really snowed here yet.  I don't bother to wash my truck during the winter until it is almost completely white.  And that takes alot because it is such a light blue color.  Once it gets completely covered in the typical winter road junk I wait until its about 40F out to wash it.  No reason to get out in the cold and wash the thing, being dirty doesn't bother me that much.

[CMNTMXR81]

That's clean compared to mine, but I can't wash it just yet.  It was 6 degrees with a 10 below wind chill this morning when I woke up.  

[raventai]

just washed/waxed my truck last week in almost 80* weather ;)

 

here in GA we get wierd weather hot one day and freezing cold the next sometimes within 24 Hrs of eachother

[Jpshostr]

just washed/waxed my truck last week in almost 80* weather ;)

 

here in GA we get wierd weather hot one day and freezing cold the next sometimes within 24 Hrs of eachother

It takes you a minimum of 24 hours to have that happen?  You wouldn't like the Midwest where it only takes half an afternoon to do something of that nature.

[pacodiablo]

ukkk!  my truck has never seen salt and never will!  the burb is nasty tho, i got sand all in the carpet and it hasn't been washed in weeks

[Larry]

Before you even read my post I will apologize ahead of time for the length of this post as road salt and winter deicers have been one of my largest pet peeves as well as a study of interest for me.

 

Funny thing about calcium chloride (road salt) though…it only works right at or above 32 degrees.  Any temperature below 32 degrees the salt relies on heat generated by passing cars to turn the calcium solids into the dreaded corrosive salt brine.  If a salt ridden road happens to be a low traffic zone, less than 3 vehicles in 10 minutes was the last rule I heard, it has been proven that sand is more effective for safe passing.  (I participated in a little study in college on this subject and an ABS brake module recall on GM B-body cars operated in “corrosive states” back in the mid 90’s).  During my studies it showed that each state uses whatever natural resource is most available to them (DUH!) which makes dollar and cents since and since most of the Midwest and northeast are rich in salt.  However, some Canadian providences as well as some UK countries that are rich in salt minerals as well learned that in the long run literally millions of dollars could be saved on bridge maintenance, road surface reconstruction, and replacement cycles of city and state owned fleet vehicles by spending a little more money to purchase, manufacture or import non-corrosive liquid deicers and/or solids such as sand rather than using the local supply of salt.  It is probably safe to say that the local Canadians and UK folks were glad they didn’t have to by a car every 6 years after the study was performed and results were implemented.   6 years happened to be the average age of vehicles in the corrosive states when I played around with this subject a few years back.  The average age of vehicles in non-corrosive states 12 to 15 years.  Been to CA, CO, NM, AZ, TX,  or any of the southern states lately to see what is on the road?…lots of good old stuff.  For the most part, the only new cars in these areas are a result of want rather than need or a result of emission regulations such as the case in CA.

 

Another interesting fact was that most United States municipalities and DOT’s have never performed a cost/benefit analysis to verify that calcium chloride (salt) is actually the right deicer for their region and most have not changed deicers or even researched the subject since road maintenance became a responsibly of the state/municipality as the motor vehicle population grew throughout the last century therefore they could be spending million on road and bridge maintenance not to mention damage to your vehicles for absolutely nothing.  In other words, they think what they have always used is what they will always use without even considering an alternative so they are basically stuck in a mindset.  Road salt might actually be the answer for Metro Chicago, Detroit, and New York but is it right for South Bend, Elkhart, Harrisburg, PA, St. Louis, Kansas City and many other cities and counties around the country…probably not.  

 

Ryan’s pictures of the salty truck just make me that much more happier I don’t live in the rust belt anymore.   From my experience, it seems Indiana, Michigan and the rest salt throwing states start salting the roads any time a gray cloud passes overhead.  My personal opinion is it also has something to do with paying DOT drivers overtime and how shallow minded your DOT really is!   While living in MI, I notice they really started unloaded the salt on the roads in the spring to prevent excessive stock during the warm months. Salt doesn’t have as much of shelf life when stored in crude environments as the DOT stores it.  Municipality budgeting has a lot to do how much salt is distributed each servicing. It seems politics or their lack of have a lot to do with road salt period!

 

Here in CO the DOT uses 96% sand and 4% salt. The purpose of the salt is to prevent the sand from clumping during application by the spreader.  Our vehicles turn totally brown during storms but on the other hand, we suffer from broke windshields and chipped paint although that is a small price to pay compared to damage inflicted to wiring harnesses, starters, alternators, and any other electric motors (are you push button 4x4’s owners listening?) as well as rotted out sheet metal by calcium chloride.   Rotted sheet metal is actually the slightest damage salt does to a vehicle…what salt does to the electrical system and braking system over a life time of a vehicle is much worse and could pose more of a safety hazard than ice on the roadway it self.

 

Sometime around 1996 the state of CO as well as ID, NM, AZ, WY and several other states started using a liquid brine deicer to be applied before a storm by spraying devices mounted on the back of the DOT trucks. The brine is made up of a corn-biased product, which the supplier claims is no more corrosive than distilled water.  Time will tell as far as I am concerned!

 

Again, I apologize for the long post but road deicing and corrosion studies has turning into one of my pastimes…hope you found this post informative!

:angry:

[RyanbabZ71]

Larry nice post.  Lately i have also been thinking of possible alternatives to salt or sand (they dont use sand here).

 

I am even thinking how i could incorporate this into a senior project. Salt pisses me off so much