Road Pretreatment: Liquid Magnesium Chloride SUCKS

[Naz24]

Anyone in the Northeast or a cold climate knows what i'm talking about. Those lines of salt looking stuff on the roads. Does it even work, or is it a way for truck drivers to make more money?. I feel like any pre treatment (salt, MG Chloride, etc) doesnt do crap besides get all over my car.

[M_Six]

My long gone 740iL had a huge hole in the front spoiler caused by a big chunk of the salt they used to spread here before they went to liquid. The windshield also took some hits. I'll take the liquid pre-treatment over rock salt and just hit the car wash more often.

[nyalpine90]

i think i saw that on the highway, dont remember where. I think it was on Southern state pkway. Its useless.

[smoosh]

protest it

"We Want Lines of Coke; Not Lines of Salt"

[Aatish]

We use a cabbage juice mix in Chicago.

Salt is still my preferred, even tho it fucks the car.

[KingOfJericho]

They pre-treat all bridges in the area with that in CT as well. I've also never seen as many dead trees and shrubs on the side of the road as I have in the last five years. We also had to replace a bridge going to the complex of a rental property we have because the corrosion accelerated so much in the last couple of years. Whatever they're using is VERY bad.

[Biorin]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

They pre-treat all bridges in the area with that in CT as well. I've also never seen as many dead trees and shrubs on the side of the road as I have in the last five years. We also had to replace a bridge going to the complex of a rental property we have because the corrosion accelerated so much in the last couple of years. Whatever they're using is VERY bad.

Interesting it's only the bridges - any idea why?

[Naz24]

Does anyone here actually have concrete research behind the effectiveness. I searched but cannot find. It seems like a total scam and waste of money

Think of it this way, they can pre treat roads really anytime. If the snow season is slow, this is a way for the union truckers to get their salary targets.

I would presume there are union lobbyists that put together some biased research that explains this to be effective.

[Thisisdudewhoru]

Originally Posted by Biorin

Interesting it's only the bridges - any idea why?

Bridges ice over faster than the road. And usually at higher temperatures as well since the actual road is warmer usually than a bridge.

[Biorin]

Originally Posted by Thisisdudewhoru

Bridges ice over faster than the road.

Ah, thank you. Still relatively new to this whole "winter" thing.

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by Thisisdudewhoru

Bridges ice over faster than the road. And usually at higher temperatures as well since the actual road is warmer usually than a bridge.

Bingo. Roads are warmer because they are cooled from the top only. Bridges are cooled from both sides, making them much more susceptible to icing (no residual warmth from the ground).

[BKV122]

Originally Posted by Naz24

Think of it this way, they can pre treat roads really anytime. If the snow season is slow, this is a way for the union truckers to get their salary targets.

I would presume there are union lobbyists that put together some biased research that explains this to be effective.

Roads are maintained by municipalities with their own work force, yes the work force is unionized by a Civil Service association. But the state/county/town/city call the shots on when to go out and pre-treat the roads. The only party who would profit from the use of the "Brine" is the company/sales man who sell the product (usually politically connected companies)

Yes it does work. They usually apply it straight to the bridges here on LI, as mentioned above, or they have a salt/brine mix which sprays the salt as its spread from the truck. Supposedly it has an corrosive inhibitor in it, more environmentally friendly, cost effective, etc. They still use massive amounts of salt tho and public safety is a higher priority than the looks of your car.

[Dabozo]

Use it up here in southern Ontario on the major highways often. It seems to work. But the rock salt always comes out during major snow falls.

[Haywood]

Originally Posted by Biorin

Ah, thank you. Still relatively new to this whole "winter" thing.

...

[Biorin]

Originally Posted by Haywood

...

It's truly appalling how little brainpower I've spent on certain subjects.

[Naz24]

Originally Posted by BKV122

Roads are maintained by municipalities with their own work force, yes the work force is unionized by a Civil Service association. But the state/county/town/city call the shots on when to go out and pre-treat the roads. The only party who would profit from the use of the "Brine" is the company/sales man who sell the product (usually politically connected companies)

Yes it does work. They usually apply it straight to the bridges here on LI, as mentioned above, or they have a salt/brine mix which sprays the salt as its spread from the truck. Supposedly it has an corrosive inhibitor in it, more environmentally friendly, cost effective, etc. They still use massive amounts of salt tho and public safety is a higher priority than the looks of your car.

All i've heard from everyone is "yes it works". Is there any concrete research to back this up? It just feels like they will put the treatment down 3 days prior to a snowstorm, at which point, most of the product has been worn off the road

I understand public safety, but i'm also for doing things efficiently, this doesnt seem to be efficient. Thats all

[Axius]

Originally Posted by Biorin

Ah, thank you. Still relatively new to this whole "winter" thing.

Having open space above and below the bridge allows a passway for the cold air molecules to travel around a less dense surface area. Roads may be wet with slush, bridge could be a skating rink, so slow on bridges is usually a good idea. Seent lots of semi's off the side of bridges during road trips.


On the take of brine on the roads pre-snow. We used salt or sand depending on locale in MI, just saw brine being used when came to NC, to this day appears to be pointless. The few times it snows, it's always a shit show in regards to both roads and drivers. Waste of money.

[Biorin]

Originally Posted by Axius

Having open space above and below the bridge allows a passway for the cold air molecules to travel around a less dense surface area. Roads may be wet with slush, bridge could be a skating rink, so slow on bridges is usually a good idea.


On the take of brine on the roads pre-snow. We used salt or sand depending on locale in MI, just saw brine being used when came to NC, to this day appears to be pointless. The few times it snows, it's always a shit show in regards to both roads and drivers. Waste of money.

Yeah, I got the science part of it, I just initially didn't put the thought in as to why you'd use something stronger on a bridge. If you don't spend a quarter century thinking about it, you don't always connect the dots right away

[Axius]

Originally Posted by Biorin

Yeah, I got the science part of it, I just initially didn't put the thought in as to why you'd use something stronger on a bridge. If you don't spend a quarter century thinking about it, you don't always connect the dots right away

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh touche, touche. We should just make the bridges heated with energy generated from windmills, solar panels, and nuclear facilities. Spent many years in the shower coming up with this solution to freezing bridges.


Now if they'd just start laser tattooing all produce instead of those nasty tasting stickers everyone would finally get along.

[David70]

Originally Posted by BKV122

Roads are maintained by municipalities with their own work force, yes the work force is unionized by a Civil Service association. But the state/county/town/city call the shots on when to go out and pre-treat the roads. The only party who would profit from the use of the "Brine" is the company/sales man who sell the product (usually politically connected companies)

Yes it does work. They usually apply it straight to the bridges here on LI, as mentioned above, or they have a salt/brine mix which sprays the salt as its spread from the truck. Supposedly it has an corrosive inhibitor in it, more environmentally friendly, cost effective, etc. They still use massive amounts of salt tho and public safety is a higher priority than the looks of your car.

Agree on the first part, not like the truck driver made any decisions on what or when to use it.

It is very corrosive whether salt (sodium chloride) and magnesium chloride both have the corrosive "chloride" which will corrode steel, stainless steel and many other metals. I know of nothing you will add to chlorides to make it less corrosive unless you remove the chloride from the mix and then end up with an ineffective mix. One of the problems with the liquid mix is it starts out as liquid and goes everywhere but it does stick to the roadway. Pretreat with dry salt on a dry road and much of it will be gone before the snow falls.

Both regular salt and magnesium chloride are bad for plants.

[Our03z4]

Thought I'd use my first post to chime in on this. As a snow contractor I can tell you pre-treatment does work in most situations. We regularly use halite on lots before a storm hits...think of it like using Pam before you cook. Doing this keeps the snow from becoming one with the road which allows for easier removal and a quicker melt. Liquid is key with snow removal, lose that and you make it much harder on yourself. Brine is actually quite cheap to make so no evil salesman involved. Only time a brine treatment is a bad idea is if you receive rain before a switch over. Trust me, it's worth it.

[Naz24]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

Thought I'd use my first post to chime in on this. As a snow contractor I can tell you pre-treatment does work in most situations. We regularly use halite on lots before a storm hits...think of it like using Pam before you cook. Doing this keeps the snow from becoming one with the road which allows for easier removal and a quicker melt. Liquid is key with snow removal, lose that and you make it much harder on yourself. Brine is actually quite cheap to make so no evil salesman involved. Only time a brine treatment is a bad idea is if you receive rain before a switch over. Trust me, it's worth it.

Interesting. Is there a certain optimal time to use the brine? Like can it be days before, or should it be within 24 hours?