I live at the end of a private drive about 200m long which to get out of you have to drive across a steep camber and then down a steep hill. Obviously no gritters get up that bit but I've been managing absolutely fine, even in about 3 inch of fresh snow this morning.

However, my neighbour who has a RWD Bimmer seems to think throwing sand everywhere is going to make a difference?? Now the place just looks like a builders yard and is just as slippy.

Will it ever make a difference or should I tell him to stop being a bell?

I wouldn't mind so much but I think his wife must have slipped backwards towards my house at some point so he's chucked a load of sand under the wheels which has now sprayed all over my door and kitchen window

would imagine it would increase friction a bit between the ice and tyre

No, the snow will sit on it, it will freeze and be washed away.

Not sure what hes trying to achieve by lobbing sand everywhere....

You know what tyres are like under loose ground anyway, so i dont see that this will make any difference to traction at all.

Guess he didn't do science at school, even a handful of kitchen salt will have more effect.

he must be thinking of something like this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(locomotive)

We live at the end of a close and we where stuck yesterday and the only stuff we had between us (ourselves and neighbours)was sand, we threw it down and it did melt the ice and we could all get out and go and get the Christmas shopping

Just need some rain now to wash the sand away!!!

Sand can be good on hard packed snow, it doesnt melt the snow, just gives more grip.
We've had about 10" of snow over 3 days, it's never got built up on the road to the extent we could'nt travel so long as you had good ground clearence (my VW T4 is fine but most cars would have struggled). We're not on a road that gets gritted but with plenty vehicles running on it it got to be that it was about 3-4" of hard packed snow & with a bit of care we've been getting about just fine. Today though the gritter came through & has melted some of the hard snow a bit so it's gone a bit slushy & it's re-froze in ruts which means it's a right bugger to drive on, you can't use any speed to get up the hills as the ruts throw you about & would put you off the road unless you keep the speed down. It's been fine to drive on all week & now it's horrible!

Sand is the only thing that works below-10C, if it is your own driveway try not to use salt as it's corrosive effects will eat your car.
I live in an area which uses sand (ground up granite on the roads) the major highways use salt and brine mix, vehicles using these routes rust out in 10 years.
The problems with sand are pitted windshields and bikes falling off the road every spring were the sand is left on the roads when the snow melts.

Urea used to the main treatment used on airfields it was very effective even down to low temperatures, problem was pollution in the run off water depleted local water resources of oxygen.

Recent incident with a Ryan Air 737 probably wouldn't have happened if Urea had been used.

Meh, p!ss on Ryan Air!

I'll get me coat...

Supposed to work on chilblains and also cracked skin on feet as well, but I wouldn't get caught pissing on the road. Besides that would take a lot. An old sack or piece of carpet under the driving wheels works to get you moving if stuck

Salt is overused. Most of the time, the snow and ice melts before it's all down anyways, and all the salt does is wreck everything metal in its path. RWD is a disaster on ice though, which is why many Beemers come off the road here in winter.

In case the next question has anything to do with how boring FWD cars are, they can be made to slide around as much as you want with proper technique.

Just seen it mentioned on the main BBC news that Scarborough council is using sand from the beaches to grit pavements.

does he not understand how salt melts ice? Basically by making it colder causing it to melt?

Sand will increases the friction on ice (as said Scarborough are dumping their beach on the pavements) but won't get rid of the snow/ice or do anything on snow alone.

[Edited on 7/1/10 by iank]