It’s like oatmeal! Don’t do it. My father owns a cabinet shop, if I spill saw dust on the driveway, it turns to greasy mush. He loves that part.
"If you are depending on snow tires for safety, you’re driving too fast. "
Robt,Robt,Robt…please tell me you’re not intentionally milking every post with responses designed to elicit the ire of we here; and laughing like heck when we take you seriously. 
“If you are depending on snow tires for safety, you’re driving too fast.”
Robt,Robt,Robt…please tell me you’re not intentionally milking every post with responses designed to elicit the ire of we here; and laughing like heck when we take you seriously.
Laugh all you wish.
I am responding to questions/comments unrelated to the sawdust question.
I never trust tire “grip” or “traction”. Road surface may compromise it when one is counting on it.
Means: I go around curves conservatively, especially if I cannot see what is ahead to adjust for it. (Especially important in the mountains where miles of dry pavement suddenly becomes wet ice in mountain shadows.)
I once had an issue at work. I thought I should do one thing–five of my coworkers thought I should do another. All had more experience than I, and a couple of them were experts in the subject matter of the issue. I finally decided to heed their advice. Mr. Gift, I hope you can get the point of this story.
Scrabbler
So many issues, so little space—Do you have soft ice in your neighborhood??? The poster who said that snow on top of ice would give better traction than sawdust is correct according to my experience. In the snow you describe, you couldn’t haul enough sawdust in the Expedition to do anything more than waste time. As you should be aware (according to your profile) even the automatic chains on real emergency vehicles are ineffective in more than 6 inches of snow.
If you live where your profile says you do, just put your Expedition in 4 wheel low first gear throttle down and don’t let off. You don’t get the sort of snow they have in other parts of the country. If you are having this kind of trouble with the piddly amount of snow you have to deal with, get to the Bridgestone winter driving school.
Daily I check tire appearance (walkaround before departing) and measure pressure about once a week while refueling.
REALLY?? Bet not–read your sidewall sometime. Tire pressure is taken when the tire is cold, not after being driven to the gas station.
Before I drive my vehicle, I am required daily to document a full pretrip, including making sure (by measuring) 4/32 tread on the steering axle and 2/32 on all others. I have to check air pressure in all tires, including the inner duals. I also have to check all lights on the power unit and the towed unit, fluids and belts. I am required by state and federal law to get a physical every 2 years and pee in a cup on a whim. I have to get an annual inspection on my vehicle and my vehicle can be pulled over and inspected at any time. I am required to keep maintenance records and produce them if there is ever an issue. An tickets I get stay on my record for up to 75 years. And I get to share the road with you–happy, happy, joy, joy!
BTW–For those wondering if you are blowing smoke up their skirts, the speeds you mention require Z rated tires for safety over sustained amounts of time to prevent blowouts due to heat buildup and if you don’t like the price of snow tires, you certainly won’t spring for Z rated which really suck on snow. Additionally, your state only allows real emergency vehicles to exceed the speed limit by 15 miles per hour. 90 may feel like 120 in an Expedition, I’ll give you that.
If not at a gas station with air, I have no way of correcting tire pressure. That is when I fill the 44 psi max tires to 42 psi.
(105 mph is within the speed rating of typical Q-rated tires.)
On the dry new pavement, I was surprised at how smooth 105 mph felt for the brief period in which I attained it.
Even though I gently pressed the accelerator, engine stopped accelerating at about 103 mph.
There is no speed limit for authorized emergency vehicles on emergency runs.
But just to be gentle on the engine and drive train, I may gradually attain 90 mph in a 75 mph posted area if no traffic.
How about a nice big bag of rock salt?
“How about a nice big bag of rock salt?”
Too heavy and vulnerable to moisture.
I actually thought of granulated sugar, which could be consumed if stranded.
Graham cracker crumbs and sugar!
Fine shale talus,works about as well as anything and its free. You need something that will create a interface of higher friction between the tire and ice,when the tire breaks traction and creates a layer of water between itself and the ice,you lose what little traction you have.I have used sawdust before,but generally speaking organic materials dont generate the traction that abrasive inorganic materials do.-Kevin
Yes. Wish I could fine ground shale here.
Coal cinders remains the lightest weight with the best edges.
Wish I could find something organic which would break down and wash away.
Maybe coffee grounds from Starbucks, dried.
There is a small enviromental concern with coal cinders-but they will work well-Kevin
“Robert” just checking in…I admire your ability to extract this many posts from one thread devoted to kitty litter…and counting.
Thought you might find the edible traction aid entertaining.
could everybody just please stop yanking on Roberts chain and just answer his question?
saw dust is mushy when wet, so the window of being able to use it is pretty narrow.
“chain” like what hangs from the overhead toilet tank?
The sawdust would be dry when first scattered and hopefully would provide enough roughness
to aid getting some traction on ice.
So far, kitty litter seems the best and lightest weight for carrying around in a vehicle.
An acquaintence hauls a 50 lb bag of sand in his vehicle ALL YEAR!
He’s too lazy to lift the thing out (I have offered) and he just wastes gas and makes pollution carrying all the junk he hauls everywhere.
It’s been answered ad nauseam.
Roadrunner43, even when you give him a straight forward coherent answer, as you have done, he wants to argue. I don’t know why he even asks these questions. He never takes the advice.
Here is my answer: In spite of all the people who have tried using it and think it won’t work, I think saw dust is the perfect solution. It will work great. Get yourself a 50 pound bag and go crazy.
If the rest of you will tell this guy saw dust works great, maybe he will stop yanking our chains. When you ignore good advice, you get what you deserve.
You are wrong on both counts. Tires along with brakes are the most important saftey related parts on any vehicle. And Q rated tires are rated for 99 MPH not 105 MPH. One would hope that someone who apparently drives at triple digit speeds for a living would know these things. To be blunt you haven’t exactly dazzled us with even a basic understanding of proper driving or proper vehicle maintence in your previous posts. It would behoove you take the advice you get here to heart.
Last time I bought sand it was only like $4.00 for a 100 pound bag.