Salt Sucks

[RyanbabZ71]

Saturday after work i stopped off and powerwashed all the salt off my truck.  It didnt look great (waterspots) but my truck was blue   It looks cleaner than it is in the pictures.  We got some frost last night and my truck is one big ice block which is hiding some of the salt.

 

Snowed yesterday and no one plowed they just threw salt down  

 

 

[General Lee 01]

Snowed yesterday and no one plowed they just threw salt down  

 

 

That's even worse, it makes the salt wet and more likely to stick to your vehicle.

[k1500chevy97]

Lucky that they don't use salt here .

They just use that messy red clay  

[Pancho]

Has anyone heard of the new stuff they spray on the streets  instead of road salt. I think it is some kind of acid solution. We have several intersections where small spray heads are installed to disperse it close to the surface. It seems to be working really well but what effect does it have on vehicles compared to salt?

[General Lee 01]

Has anyone heard of the new stuff they spray on the streets  instead of road salt. I think it is some kind of acid solution. We have several intersections where small spray heads are installed to disperse it close to the surface. It seems to be working really well but what effect does it have on vehicles compared to salt?

It's called Magnesium chloride.

 

V-dot "experimented" with it on bridges only back on our first snow of this  season.  I hear it was a success.

 

 

I'm not sure what it does to vehicles though.

[k1500chevy97]

They put it on bridges and over passes here whenever snow or freezing rain is predicted .

 

They carry it in a huge tank on one of their flat bed trucks and only spray it in those areas cause it costs a pretty penny

[CMNTMXR81]

This is friggin insane!  I've never seen them salt like this for such little snow.  For those of you who don't live up north, imagine taking the white stripes and white painted crosswalk lanes and color every street that shade of complete white!  That's what it's like here!  For a dusting of f*cking snow none the less.  Driving down any expressways/tollways is like driving in a blizzard from all the salt flying.  It's literally a dusty haze.

 

You should see my truck Ryan, it's as white as my Grand Prix is when it's clean, and the Grand Prix is as dark as my truck is when it's clean.  No point in washing it until it stays above 32 degrees either.  As long as the body stays dry I'll let the salt sit.

[BlueRado]

Yep, it seems worse here in the Detroit area this year than usual too - I personally think they use WAY too much.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think there are places where it's necessary and useful, but not just a monochromatic coating all over every sq. inch of pavement, especially w/ 1/2" of snow!  

[Zane]

You guys think that is bad?? HA! Let me take a picture of my white truck.  

[antig24]

They've been dumping a ton of salt around here, there's way to much for the small amount of snow we've had.

[RyanbabZ71]

Few more from tonight

 

 

[99silveradoz71]

Ha.  Ryan, your second set are starting to get into my league.  And yes, they're doing the same thing here too, salt like crazy for 1/2" of snow.  We got "real" snow the other night...7"

[Firetiger(MN)]

I hear ya cluckin'.  MN is known for putting more salt on its roads than McDonalds puts on its fries.  My previously black truck is now white.  Salt and pepper..hmm.  A new GM color I guess.

 

We got a dusting of snow last night so they were out in force coating the streets this morning.  We haven't had much snow this year, so they must be living by the motto "salt it if you got it".  Cripes.  It'll be May before it's worth spending the effort to wash the thing!    

[Larry]

Hehe…I sure don’t miss living in Detroit anymore.  I was actually in Detroit the week of Jan 20th  for business and the roads were totally white with crushed salt that had never even seen moisture.  It looked like the roads were more in-salted than usual.  What’s up with that?  MDOT must have some salt igloos to empty by spring, eh??

 

First thing I did when I moved back out west and out of the salt belt was to trade both of our rusty Michigan vehicles in on new ones.  Our 97 Grand Spam already had rust growing on the trunk lid and on the lower side of the doors.  My old 98 Z71 had bubbles growing under the hood and rear ext cab rocker panels.  At home in Southern CO, when people piss and moan about dirt brown grime to wash off and chipped windshields due to our sand…all I can think of is it could be much worse as it is in the Midwest.  The east coast isn’t as bad as their salt is calcium based rather than sodium based.    Calcium is still pretty bad but sodium is much worse.  

 

Colorado is playing with a Magnesium Chloride/IceBan blend only on highways that the state claims is not corrosive.  Magnesium Chloride is corrosive but when mixed with IceBan it said to work as a corrosive inhibitor and no damage done….so we’ll see!  All I can say is the Mag/IceBan blend leaves a greasy clear film on your vehicles that is very hard to wash off especially when it is caked with sand debris.  It looks like person sprayed tire foam all over the car then drove down a dirt road.

[timk49]

Calcium Chloride or Magnesium chloride. Whats the difference they both ate salts.

 

I feel your pain Ryan.