Road Dressing?

[paddyhasneeds]

What do they actually do?

I ask as they're doing a lot of this near me, and all they appear to do is pour a load of stones on the road, the actual road surface is still totally st only now you have stone chips as we..

[bassanclan]

Pour bitumen
Tip gravel
leave for 24hours then sweep up excess gravel
Wait 2years for the surface to break up...

...pour bitumen

[paddyhasneeds]

bassanclan said:

Pour bitumen
Tip gravel
leave for 24hours then sweep up excess gravel
Wait 2years for the surface to break up...

...pour bitumen

So, what's the actual point? I ask as it really doesn't seem to make the road surface noticeable better or different once all the excess stones get blasted off.

[arfur daley]

you get big stonechips all over your car, also if you fall over the stones get embedded in your hands. (found this out when i was 7)

[8400rpm]

I answered this point in another thread as someone was complaining about it.

It's essentially a really good value way of keeping a road in good shape.

A lot of roads are laid without a high PSV aggregate, so after a few years and the bitumen has worn off, it gets shiney and there isn't as much grip. Spray bitumen down and roll some new aggregate in, far better.

Also helps to waterproof and prevent any further damage, any minute spalling or cracking, fills it in to prevent water ingress which then freezes and breaks it all out, causing potholes. So it's preventative maintenance to stop everyones wheels getting buckled and ruined.

To a minor extent it also helps to prevent rutting.

If all councils/local authorities did it on a more regular basis, we'd have far less potholes than we do now.

[paddyhasneeds]

OK, I know this may sound a little "Oh my precious car" but any ideas why they seem to lay an inch of gravel then fk off and leave it?

That's a serious question by the way as I'm sure if I went and tipped a ton of gravel on the road outside my house I'd be committing some sort of offence.

[8400rpm]

I can't answer that, it's down to whichever chimps they hired to do the job on that road.

Probably had xx-tons of aggregate and just decided to hoss it all out instead of using just enough and then having to take it back or do something with it. Even though whoever ordered it would have ordered a bit extra just in case, wastage etc.

[Dracoro]

They laid all this aggregate stuff on loads of roads round here.

I assumed a few days later they laid some tar on it and then painted it - that's what I've seen done in the past.

It's been about 3/4 weeks and no sign of the tar.....

[maniac0796]

Done it to a lot of roads here.

The only plus side is it's sort of a rudimentry filler for the road, and fills in small imperfections.

Also, when fresh with that top layer of gravel, it's very easy to have fun in a car, if you don't mind the paintwork being a bit chipped.

[RedAlfa]

I hate road dressing. Stone chips galore, AND they don't even fill in the potholes ....

[Pigeon]

It's a total when you're on a motorbike.

[dan19evans]

Better road dressing rant here :

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t...

I agree though, complete waste of time and make the road st

[ShiggyBiggs]

For some reason around here, theyve 'fixed' all the long straight roads, that were fine, they are now bumpy and uneven. They left all the crap broken roads though.

[spiritof'76]

When driving on loose chippings.......... wind up window !!!

Was overtaken on freshly dressed road on thursday and bloody chipping came through window and if i hadn't blinked would have now been minus one eye

Impressed ? No, not especially