Sand on winter roads....OUCH!

Ouch.

So we were out yesterday on a drive , and after seeing a little light snowfall the day before, we weren't surprised to see sand trucks out and about.

During the day, however, we were PELTED by rocks from other cars. How do you guys deal with this? The car (fortunately, a rental), received a large stone every few minutes, and, along with several stone chips on the windshield, a truck from the other side of the road kicked up a ROCK which left a 1.5" shatter point on the windshield.

Is there ANY way around this, short of buying a winter beater?

Originally Posted by Zippity

Ouch.

So we were out yesterday on a drive , and after seeing a little light snowfall the day before, we weren't surprised to see sand trucks out and about.

During the day, however, we were PELTED by rocks from other cars. How do you guys deal with this? The car (fortunately, a rental), received a large stone every few minutes, and, along with several stone chips on the windshield, a truck from the other side of the road kicked up a ROCK which left a 1.5" shatter point on the windshield.

Is there ANY way around this, short of buying a winter beater?

yes there is a away around it. leave your car at home. take public transportation.

Originally Posted by Zippity

Ouch.

So we were out yesterday on a drive , and after seeing a little light snowfall the day before, we weren't surprised to see sand trucks out and about.

During the day, however, we were PELTED by rocks from other cars. How do you guys deal with this? The car (fortunately, a rental), received a large stone every few minutes, and, along with several stone chips on the windshield, a truck from the other side of the road kicked up a ROCK which left a 1.5" shatter point on the windshield.

Is there ANY way around this, short of buying a winter beater?

Yeah--don't drive, LOL.

This is really what I hated about living in "Northern" Ontario. SSM and Sudbury did the same thing with their roads. Terrible for your car. Contrary to misguided beliefs sand/rocks are FAR worse for your car than salt (provided you wash your car regularly salt can't do much but sand pretty much sandblasts things).

The only thing is in areas that are more northern and have less traffic, salt is largely ineffective. (In Sudbury & SSM it'd be fine but they're too cheap In places like Alberta though they pretty much have to sand, and calcium chloride is expensive compared with salt or sand).

Welcome to Calgary... land of the cracked/chipped windshield!

There are a few of reasons they use crushed rock out that way. The first is environmental -- to my knowledge road salting is banned in National Parks. That carries over beyond the limits of the parks.

Second, salt loses its effectiveness at about -18C, and it is often much colder in Calgary (well, until the next day, when it's 15C) and northern Ontario.

Third, well, there's no shortage of rock in that area.

Effectively, the rock adds grip to ice and snow. I read a good article on snow clearing in our area recently (SW Ontario). The strategy is to get out early or just before an impending snowstorm, lay down salt and then come back and plow the snow accumulation -- the initial salting stops the snow from bonding to the road surface so the plow can more effectively remove it. This was the primary reason for salting, added traction, etc. was secondary and lower...

Originally Posted by Ride-On

Second, salt loses its effectiveness at about -18C, and it is often much colder in Calgary (well, until the next day, when it's 15C) and northern Ontario.

Actually salt (on it's own) loses it's effectiveness at only -4C. But due to changing temperatures of the road surface and traffic it's actually "effective" through a larger temperature range. Northern Ontario isn't anywhere near as cold as Calgary though--they're just too cheap. They also can't afford to plow the roads more than once or twice a week and they take their sweet time responding, lol. Not like Toronto where the plows are out 24/7 when it's snowing and they have like 10 minutes to start salting and 20mins to start plowing once snow starts falling. Really "Northern Ontario" areas like Sudbury, SSM, Thunder Bay are pretty much all further south than the southern-most part of provinces from Manitoba and west. The real northern section of Ontario is largely uninhabited. You've got Timmins and then perhaps a small town here and there around there but that's it.

But it is mainly too cold in places like Calgary. Calcium chloride would work at lower temperatures and you need less of it than salt to the same amount of ice, but it's still more expensive so it wouldn't be largely used. If you have to drive the best idea would be to get a winter beater, if you can afford it. Sand is just killer on cars.

If you really like your car: Use 3M painters tape (the blue type) and tape off the majority of your front end. Then buy a bra for your car to prevent stone chips.

You should also keep far back from other vehicles.

Originally Posted by Kenneth

If you really like your car: Use 3M painters tape (the blue type) and tape off the majority of your front end. Then buy a bra for your car to prevent stone chips.

You should also keep far back from other vehicles.

OR

get a car just for winter driving (winter beater) like some 300-1000 $$ car