creg

I know that people complain about the stuff they put down on roads each winter, but can they really not make something that does not hurt a car/bikes paint job after this long? It seems like every year it gets worse, having to touchup marks on my car from the nasty salt mix they put down on the roads.

oldcanuck

Actually, I just read recently that in Switzerland, were they are having an unusually harsh winter, that they are running out of salt and in some places they are resorting to using sugar, apparently its not as harsh on the environment or vehicles as salt and is still effective at lower temperatures, where road salt looses its effectiveness below a certain temperature (sorry don't recall what it is), sounds interesting, maybe the Swiss are onto something for winter driving.
Maybe when the snow and ice melts it makes the road sticky and you get better traction, yeah right

Dodge

I hate salt. It eats my car and I find more and more rust spots every year. I am not sure what I feel about the sugar idea. Sugar is already expensive enough because of supply and demand. I can only imagine what it would be if they used it on the roads.

speedster

Here they mix salt and sand and then put it on the roads. I don't think sand really hurts the cars too much does it?
I also am sure to wash my car almost every week in the winter. I rinse the salt off of it.

ToyotaGrl

I've always lived near the shore; no need for road salt with the snow, but plenty of sea salt blowing through the air. Weekly car washes are a much if you don't want your car to rust...that's just my way of life.

Civic

What about buying a car with a fiber glass covering instead of iron and metal.

Seriously now, what we can do is to wash our cars after it had run through salt on the road. Although I know that it is cold washing the car while snowing.

The sugar might not be practical because as Dodge says, sugar is already getting expensive.