animal fat in road salt/grit. BEWARE
 

A warning to all scoobynet nutters .local councils are using animal fat in road salt/grit a i found out at great cost. was driving back home on thurs night in my sub giving it the usual hard time(within speed limits). was driving along this long straight approaching a sweeping 90 degree corner. slowed right down to 30 -40mph slightly cutting corner when suddenly lost steering an promptly mounted the kerb resulting in shattered nsf alloy and brake disc bent nsf wishbone ,bent wing .snapped nsr hub ,bent nsr alloy and bent osr alloy. i subsequently found out there was at least five other seperate accidents on same strech of road. i have now found out that local councils are adding animal fat to raod salt to stop roads from re-freezing. if you ask me it kinda defeats the purpose on gritting road in the first place. at least with an untreated road you know the roads are gonna be dodgy at night and early mornig to midday but with treated roads the conditions are perilous always. sorry for the long thread but had to get it off my chest.

Bugger! Not only does the grit chip my paint and rot the underneath, but it puts my cholesterol up as well!
JohnD

Sounds too ridiculous to be true. So it definately is :rolleyes: Grit alone makes roads bad enough without adding lard as well. To55ers :mad: Sorry about your car :(

to be honest i probably prefer to drive on ice now . at least you know its gonna be predictably slidy. car almost fixed . im a mechanic which has saved me hundreds. story confirmed to me by someone who works for council

Who agrees with that statement? I've never actually driven an Evo.

:rolleyes:

apologies got distracted from subject.it happens.

should start a petition to find an alternative way to treat roads

this affects everyone so why not act.

after all who has heard or said "oh the roads are really greasy just now"

well thats because the council bums decicded to turn our roads into frying pans
GET THE GREASE OUT THE GRIT OI OI OI!

Chaos anyone ;)

Jesus, what are vegetarian drivers going to do now ? Couldn't they use sunflower oil instead ??!!

I have noticed the roads being very slippy recently.

me too...weird it seems to coincide with this season every yearhttp://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/chin.gif

might as well just leave the ice an put the money saved in gritting costs into the community :)

ah ha some decent replies.well kinda.http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon14.gif

yeh who knows how many subby and other performance car owners have crashed/written car off on supposed "TREATED" roads. http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon4.gif

seeing the gritters out used to be a welcome site (apart from the fact the grit starts the nasty tin worm eating on your car) although were almost always late.

and also you bikers, it must be great fun getting around at this time of the year,not that you should be driving in winter really?http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon3.gif

Surely the salt in the grit is to stop the roads refreezing? Why would they add animal fat?

salt is only effective down to a certain temp and lard ,just like oil freezes at a much lower temp.not really sure exactly,just speculating . all i know is they put it inhttp://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon13.gif ,and id prefer not to drive in conditions close to the bottom of a frying pan.http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon8.gif

I think you'd have reasonable grounds to SUE THEIR PANTS OFF. get a few other drivers who got their cars wrecked and sue them together! Surely, the point of salt being to increase the roads coefficient of friction, by removing any ice on it's surface. You'd have a hard time even convincing a lawyer that fat is a positive contribution to the surface's frictional abilities! Oh my God. What will they think of next? Umbrellas made from mesh to keep them from blowing away?

Still not convinced about this. Salt is used in Canada and is effective down to -20. Our winter temps don't drop to anywhere near that level. Why would they add a greasing agent?

Quick work
 

= 27th January.

sustaining on 30th January I bet you don't work for a main dealer:lol:

Which area are we talking about? which local council is adding fat to the mix?

At least you have a good excuse for dangerous driving when the police pull you over...

"Sorry officer, i was aquaplaining on animal fat, seriously man, lumps of fat"

But area uses the fat????

I was looking for a phat set of rims - but a fat set would do instead.

I thought it was just americans that ate fried grits :confused:



- confused

On pistonheads.com there was a post a while back about tests in Essex. They were using something other than salt, i think they use it in the states! Cant remember the name but it doesnt damage the roads, grass verges or cars!

I also got speaking to a mate that lives in Switzerland, whilst skiing the other year. He said they didnt use salt over there as it wasnt friendly to the environment, and used something else!

Why, if there are alternatives, do the uk goverment continue to use them?

Is it because we dont complain as much as other countries, or is it because our government dont care/ listen?!?

Because its cheap, plain and simple - thats what this country is all about these days.

If there was animal fat in grit wouldn't it get on the windscreen and be impossible to remove with wipers? Imagine the smeary mess after one wipe.....

I have had 22 years of working within the winter maintenance industry and i have never heard of using fats as a de-icer, molasses a raw sugar by-product has been and still is been trialed as a de-icer mixed with salt.
We also use a brine using table salt and water and is very effective working better than just road salt.
As you know salt is very corrosive and bad for the environment in large doses so this is why other products are considered for use but products do have to be approved for use on our roads after trials that prove performance.
Road salt is a mixture of salt and grit and as a de-icer performance starts to drop off at about -7 0c and in colder countrys the grit part is what helps to provide grip in compacted snow.

lol @ the animal fat

dont belive it myself

It's absolute nonsense -I'm sure.

No sensible basis for it, and they'd never get permission to do it from an environmental basis.

Animal fat is not mixed with "salt" for "gritting" the roads. Fact.
The salt being referred to is in fact potash and I believe there are two type, one is brownish in colour and the other is off white.
There are two main sources of potash in the UK, used for highway maintainance, Boulby Potash on the North Yorkshire coast between Whitby and Teesside and another mine in Cheshire.
From these two locations, "salt" is trucked to Council and Highway Maintainance depots all over the UK. Shipping from Teesport also carries potash to numerous destinations around the world.

Thanks for the positive if some what amusing responses . http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon14.gif

Your actualy right i dont work for a main dealer. no need i have enough connections within motor trade to efficiently sort me out . which is fortunate as the bottom end let go at multipe revs 6 months ago . which was greathttp://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon9.gif

The area in question would be fife.
more precisly the kinross to crook of devon to kinross road. also i know that lard is in the mix because partners uncle works for council and confirmed . http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon13.gif


Are there any other drivers out there whom have had issues with kerbs under simalar circumstances . ie. turnig corner at fairly low speed and car does not.
couldnt explain it , wondered whether it was diesel etc.....


IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE TO GRIT http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/images/icons/icon4.gif

May i point you all to the state of this crisis :)

Check out my car after 800 miles on UK motorway


http://www.subaru-impreza.org/subaru...?p=31829#31829

think of all that salt covering your car as little nanites of corrosion chomping at your chassis as we speak !! wash it..................soon!

no offence intended.