Is Salt Really Necessary ?

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You guys that live in the rust belt, I don't know what keeps you people from being flaming mad. I see a lot of cars on YouTube while watching mechanic videos and what's underneath those cars is disturbing. Layers upon layers of thick rust. When I lived on the USS Tripoli, there was a lot of rust and the tax payers paid me to run a pneumatic needle gun all day, but it was an iron boat on a saltwater ocean! I'd flip out if my car looked like that. You people really should get together and complain to your state big-wigs. Why don't they put salt on the runways ? What's keeping the airports from icing up and letting the planes slide off the runway ?
 
I wouldn't be able to handle it either. My Jeep wouldn't see sunlight for all winter if I lived in the salt belt.

Luckily I'd be prepared though, and the Camry would be a perfect winter-beater.
 
It's called a car wash and undercarriage wash. You take it there a couple times after a snow storm. No salt means ice on the road. That's worse. Hit black ice once coming up to a stop sign. Car didn't stop, ABS was on all the way, went through the stop sign and turned right. Good thing no one was coming the other way and that the car had ABS, would have gone straight if the tires were locked and probably hit a parked car.
 
I agree however and unfortunately for most of us, we are used to it. This is all we know and it only bothers real car guys/gals...like me!

This doesn't mean that I am going to move to other parts of the country that do not use road salt. Every part of the country/world has/have had their issues.

We pray for those in Houston and Florida. And in the past, Louisiana and other states(and the world) where natural disasters have occurred. And in California where there are wildfires, mud slides and earthquakes. IDK if I could get used to that however, my car did not float away and possibly not covered by insurance as many are not covered by natural disasters. And I am not making fun of these issues. It is sad to say the least.

I hate road salt and what it does to my vehicles, driveway(asphalt or concrete), the salt that we bring into our homes by foot and the brutal cold. The cold hurts my bones and I have grown to an age where I hate driving in it. It cost us more for vehicles(purchase more often), extra tires, exhaust systems, brakes(especially rotors) and other premature repairs that are not experienced in other parts of the country.

Yes, I wish it were different!
 
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In typical Seattle reasoning, the city stopped the use of salt on roads including the steep hills everywhere in the city. The reason? They were worried about the salt getting washed into the Puget Sound.
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Of course, vehicular accidents skyrocketed in the winter months.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
It's called a car wash and undercarriage wash. You take it there a couple times after a snow storm. No salt means ice on the road. That's worse. Hit black ice once coming up to a stop sign. Car didn't stop, ABS was on all the way, went through the stop sign and turned right. Good thing no one was coming the other way and that the car had ABS, would have gone straight if the tires were locked and probably hit a parked car.


Wolf, you must live in an area that gets above freezing because washing a car in most of the upper Midwest is going to only result in layers of ice on the car and undercarriage. Thick ice.

I will choose black ice every time over corrosive PDPs such as Sodium Chloride, or the even worse Magnesium Chloride and Calcium Chloride if I can have studded tires.
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Plus I drive nice and slow.

I drive in regions of the northern US where no attempt is made to clear the hard packed snow (which become layers of ice) from the road until it has melted in the spring but the practice in much of the rust belt is to get down to bare pavement so commerce can carry on at a faster pace. Salt is necessary to accomplish this but at a high cost to vehicles and the environment as run-off.

It's interesting to see how various regions of the US mitigate the dangers of snowy roadways. States wit much sunshine such as CO vs states with gray skies like the Great Lakes vs states with no sun like AK.

As for runways and aircraft:

https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Aircraft_Ground_De/Anti_Icing
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
I agree however and unfortunately for most of us, we are used to it. This is all we know and it only bothers real car guys/gals...like me!

This doesn't mean that I am going to move to other parts of the country that do not use road salt. Every part of the country/world has/have had their issues.

We pray for those in Houston and Florida. And in the past, Louisiana and other states(and the world) where natural disasters have occurred. And in California where there are wildfires, mud slides and earthquakes. IDK if I could get used to that however, my car did not float away and possibly not covered by insurance as many are not covered by natural disasters. And I am not making fun of these issues. It is sad to say the least.

I hate road salt and what it does to my vehicles, driveway(asphalt or concrete), the salt that we bring into our homes by foot and the brutal cold. The cold hurts my bones and I have grown to an age where I hate driving in it. It cost us more for vehicles(purchase more often), extra tires, exhaust systems, brakes(especially rotors) and other premature repairs that are not experienced in other parts of the country.

Yes, I wish it were different!


You nailed it on all counts.
 
Thank you! I may have missed some points but, this is also where most of my family/friends live(here in the salt belt) and this is most likely where I will stay regardless of our higher taxes & gas prices compared to many other parts of the country.
 
it's not just that it's salt but the way they use it. Around here, it's not unusual to encounter so much excess rock salt in an intersection that it's like driving over a small gravel spill.

But they also spray liquid product based on beet juice and some stuff that is not bad.
 
I have personally witnessed a couple of cars I brought from California begin to rust in front of my very eyes very quickly around here.
The reason nobody has 90s or 80s cars around here anymore is because they all rusted out!
 
I wonder if all the damage salt brings to cars and our infrastructure is worth the extra commerce it allows? It may be cheaper to just shut down the city for the days the roads are iced up. Good luck getting our local employers to participate in this program with their "must get to work at any cost" attitude, regardless of how much sense this makes.

I deal with it by having a winter beater (2001 Sable). My summer car (1995 Mercedes cabriolet) looks like it came from California. I can't afford to drag such an expensive car through the salt and deal with the problems.
 
When I first moved to New England, the company I worked for was on a road for which salt was banned due to a nearby aquifer. By February, most cars drove about 10mph on that road and it was dicey even at that speed.

Yes, salt or SOMETHING to clear the ice is needed in the snow belt. The environmental impact is of more concern to me than my car rusting, if my cars start to show rust it is usually when I am getting sick of them, anyway...of course, there is yet more of a hit to the environment from replacing a car before it is truly dead.
I have lived out of the snow zone a few times and much prefer being in it, I like having a real winter and it is so much fun to be able to ski a short drive from my house.
 
No, salt is not necessary. I have a friend that works for the Department of Highways....there are other substances that can be used, but our governments don't use them because they're more expensive than salt. He said:

Salt has a cost of 1. The other stuff has a cost of 3.5-5 for the same amount, so more expensive, right?

Actually according to a study done by his state, when you factor in the damage to vehicles and infrastructure (bridges and road signs rust because of salt also) as well as environmental factors, the cost of using salt is actually more than 1.5x the cost of using the more expensive stuff...but since they can't budget for those items they use salt.
 
Colorado was using magnesium chloride when I lived there, most recently 2014-2106, and the MgCL was chosen because of lower environmental impact, so I'm not certain where your friend is getting their information...

And yes, it's absolutely needed.
 
I live in Western Massachusetts one of the worst areas in the country for salt damage to cars and trucks. Only three states use the brine mixture that MA uses MA, NH, NY. This brine mix is 12 times more corrosive to autos then rock salt! I was at a local car dealership the other day and there was a three year old full size Chevy truck and the underneath was a total rusted mess!
 
Guess I will chime in, as I live in the municipality with the highest salt use of any region of the world.

Yes, salt is required, yes it will destroy the car. If you want to drive it year round, should get a German car. BMW, MB, Audi, VW etc all have 12 year corrosion warranties, and are the only cars that actually last body wise. Most people with nice cars will also buy a winter beater they don't care about.

You can not use only Magnesium/Calcium salt. It does not work well if you just apply it on top of snow, it can only be used as a pretreatment. Once there is snow on the ground, you have to switch to good ole regular salt.

Sucks being a tech here, everything is seized. We do rear shocks on 1 year old MDX and the lower shock bolts are already seized.
 
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