Top Dressing

Author
Discussion

Veryoldbear

Original Poster:

221 posts

106 months

Thursday 18th April
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Here in Occupied North Berkshire the top dressing season has started. It's interesting that many cars are now being very careful and pootling along at about 15 ph. Is this a reflection of the huge number of PCP and Lease cars about and people are terrified of stone chips?

It doesn't affect those of us who drive sheds ......

808 Estate

2,153 posts

93 months

Sunday 26th May
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It would be good if a week or so after doing top dressing treatments, they went back with a road sweeper and got rid of all the excess gravel.

Andy86GT

364 posts

67 months

Tuesday 28th May
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I find it's ok to trundle along in built-up areas, however if you try and stick to the 20 out of town you invariably get some f***wit overtake, pebble dashing your pride and joy.
I simply won't drive the '86 down theses roads until they are swept.
AFAIK surface dressing is a complete and utter waste of money.

Super Sonic

5,459 posts

56 months

Tuesday 28th May
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808 Estate said:
It would be good if a week or so after doing top dressing treatments, they went back with a road sweeper and got rid of all the excess gravel.
Won't that remove the 'good' stuff?

5s Alive

1,972 posts

36 months

Tuesday 28th May
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Top dressing is the work of the devil. Lacks grip, chips your car to bits, especially when machine gunned by white van man coming the other way at 60mph and also hurts when blasted in the face by it on your bike.

Some of the harder chips do an excellent job of sawing a groove in coil springs when trapped between the bottom of the spring and spring seat, creating a stress riser - snap!

I'm sure a roads engineer on here has explained why this done before but in my impotent rage, I've forgotten why. banghead

RSTurboPaul

10,703 posts

260 months

Tuesday 28th May
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Andy86GT said:
I find it's ok to trundle along in built-up areas, however if you try and stick to the 20 out of town you invariably get some f***wit overtake, pebble dashing your pride and joy.
I simply won't drive the '86 down theses roads until they are swept.
AFAIK surface dressing is a complete and utter waste of money.
I assume you have the citations for that last point wink

bobbo89

5,339 posts

147 months

Tuesday 28th May
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5s Alive said:
Top dressing is the work of the devil. Lacks grip, chips your car to bits, especially when machine gunned by white van man coming the other way at 60mph and also hurts when blasted in the face by it on your bike.

Some of the harder chips do an excellent job of sawing a groove in coil springs when trapped between the bottom of the spring and spring seat, creating a stress riser - snap!

I'm sure a roads engineer on here has explained why this done before but in my impotent rage, I've forgotten why. banghead
You can massively extend the lifespan of a carriageway by either surface dressing alone or patching then dressing.

Dressing alone is generally done where skid testing has proved the PSV (polish stone value) has fallen below what is acceptable and that something needs to be done to increase skid resistance. It's also pretty effective at preventing joint spalling, that's where sections of tarmac that have been laid at different times join and create a weak point, usually in the centre line.

Dressing following patching is done to re-seal all the joints in the patches along with also bringing back the PSV to an acceptable standard.

People get pissy about it and say it's a bodge but it's really not, there's no point ripping out structurally good tarmac just because the aggregate has polished up or hass fatted up (tar risen to the surface due to heat). It'd be like ripping all the plaster off your walls when they just needs a lick of paint.

As for sweeping, loose aggregate left for a period following treatment gets further run in by vehicle movement, it's a part of the process and we essentially use traffic to roll it in for a week or two after.

Edited by bobbo89 on Tuesday 28th May 19:00

5s Alive

1,972 posts

36 months

Tuesday 28th May
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bobbo89 said:
You can massively extend the lifespan of a carriageway by either surface dressing alone or patching then dressing.

Dressing alone is generally done where skid testing has proved the PSV (polish stone value) has fallen below what is acceptable and that something needs to be done to increase skid resistance. It's also pretty effective at preventing joint spalling, that's where sections of tarmac that have been laid at different times join and create a weak point, usually in the centre line.

Dressing following patching is done to re-seal all the joints in the patches along with also bringing back the PSV to an acceptable standard.

People get pissy about it and say it's a bodge but it's really not, there's no point ripping out structurally good tarmac just because the aggregate has polished up or hass fatted up (tar risen to the surface due to heat). It'd be like ripping all the plaster off your walls when they just needs a lick of paint.

As for sweeping, loose aggregate left for a period following treatment gets further run in by vehicle movement, it's a part of the process and we essentially use traffic to roll it in for a week or two after.

Edited by bobbo89 on Tuesday 28th May 19:00
Thanks for that. I'll try to remember it this time. smile

bobbo89

5,339 posts

147 months

Tuesday 28th May
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5s Alive said:
Thanks for that. I'll try to remember it this time. smile
No worries, I'll admit that it's st for drivers for a few weeks and I hate driving on dressed roads myself but it's short term pain for long term gain.

You quickly forget about that surface dressed road you had to drive on for a week or two but you'd be crying more in the future if you had to drive on that same road had it not been maintained that way.

MrBarry123

6,033 posts

123 months

Monday 3rd June
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Question on this…

A stretch of road I regularly ride along has been extensively resurfaced, leaving a road which is massively improved versus before. We received the dreaded letter about them “dressing” the road surface to “increase longevity” etc. and I was all prepared for them to ruin everything by chucking lots of tiny stones down. However, they instead sprayed the entire stretch with a chemical of some sort. Is this an alternative now being used?

jont-

92 posts

91 months

Monday 3rd June
quotequote all
bobbo89 said:
You can massively extend the lifespan of a carriageway by either surface dressing alone or patching then dressing.

Dressing alone is generally done where skid testing has proved the PSV (polish stone value) has fallen below what is acceptable and that something needs to be done to increase skid resistance. It's also pretty effective at preventing joint spalling, that's where sections of tarmac that have been laid at different times join and create a weak point, usually in the centre line.

Dressing following patching is done to re-seal all the joints in the patches along with also bringing back the PSV to an acceptable standard.

People get pissy about it and say it's a bodge but it's really not, there's no point ripping out structurally good tarmac just because the aggregate has polished up or hass fatted up (tar risen to the surface due to heat). It'd be like ripping all the plaster off your walls when they just needs a lick of paint.

As for sweeping, loose aggregate left for a period following treatment gets further run in by vehicle movement, it's a part of the process and we essentially use traffic to roll it in for a week or two after.

Edited by bobbo89 on Tuesday 28th May 19:00
How much does it rely on vehicles sticking to the 10/20mph advisory speed for it to bed properly? And if it's so great, why does it often seem to fail again so quickly after having been done?