New Tarmac Roads

[Paulm]

Gave staff afternoon off due to a candle going passed office in afternoon. So it was off home to start the clean up of the 3200.
Stripping now finished and a nice list of jobs compiled ! So the great clean up was now upon me......

Thought I'd start with easy jobs.....wheel arch protectors....The bed time story begins.....
A bucket of nice warm soapy water and sponge, easy job....nope there are loads of tar specs all over the thing. Quick check on the other panels....oh Flippin heck. Right.... tin of Jizer...... spread a good layer over the panel and wait. Now this is where it may be of interest to anyone who has faced the same predicament.

Mobile phone to hand....1 call to Head of Highways...and conversation went like this...have to call gentleman "Richard"
"Alright Dick, cleaning my car and I have noticed loads of tar spray all around the wheel arches and I'm not a happy chappie"
"Paul, your road was surfaced dressed ages ago"
"Dick I know that, but my car is covered in the stuff"
"Clean it then !!"
"Listen I'm going to get the tar tested and if it's the same as the tar on our road you're in for it "
"Hold on, I know where you're going with this. The road was re-surfaced ages ago, how come it's taken you so long ?"
"Dick, how long is it before I tell everyone about chip and spray roads !, you know and I know it's to mask over the lack of funds you have to repair the roads."
deadly silence, then "Ok...while we're on the subject, I think we have a couple of roads that will need surveying"
"Thank you, I'm sure a little elbow grease will remove the tar. Speak to you soon"

Now I know what some of you are thinking, but bare this in mind next time you take your pride and joy or any of your other toys along an newly surface dressed (tarmaced) road. The council are treating the road to mask over the repairs they need to carry out, The spray and chip laid is not to be treated lightly.....the tar will not go off straight away !!!! there will be signs posted "10mph, slow, stones flying" etc.... no matter how slow you go the tar will stick to your wheels and spray your arches.
If this happens and you leave it, the tar will go off. I now have an idea of how long it will take to clean your pride and joy (hours, believe me). If this ever happens to you, pick up the phone and ask to speak to Head of Highways or Head of Road Maintenance. Explain to them you have travelled along whichever road and now your vehicle is covered in tar. Stand your ground as you have a right....they will soon back down and either have your car fully cleaned or supply you with tar remover, that's if you prefer to do it yourself. You have been warned !!!
Take care everyone

 

[dem maser]

Thanx for that paul.....

 

[stradaman]

Lazy bugger
Elbow grease it!! Actually, good stuff to use, is Panel Wipe. Thin thinners!!

Andy

 

[RSM Masser]

Went down one of those bodge repair roads at weekend - wheels off over Jubilee weekend to remove shite!

Whilst on the subject, just how can it be legal to spray black sticky tar all over a road, throw buckets full of loose chippings on the road, get other peoples cars to do the hard bit and roll the stones in - leaving the worlds most treacherous road surface for motorbikes ( I have nearly come unstuck on one) and negate all responsibilty by putting up a f*****g SIGN!

"Health and Safety"

 

[Paulm]

RSM
Suggest you give the council a call tell them where you were and that your vehicle is covered in the stuff.....don't let them get away with it !
It's the cheap way of maintaining our road network ! lasts for a few years and gives councils breathing space !

 

[stradaman]

Did you know, a Brit invented a tarmac, that does not freeze, puddle, or even break-up, with heat and severe cold. But, because it costs between 5-10 per cent more, it is only used on severe sharp bended slip roads, to motorways, and a slight bit on certain roads. Less then 5% of our roads have it. And it lasts at least 3 times the length of good tarmac. We export it abroad, and over 50% of roads in Netherlands, use it!!
Once again, a great invention, sold abroad! When are we ever going to learn?

Andy.

 

[Parisien]

Crying shame Andy.......the roads in NI are breathtakingly awful..............


P

 

[RSM Masser]

Yes I will complain - I have the complaints line to Surrey County Council stored in my "favourites".
We pay tax after tax and get shoddy sub standard repairs eventually on roads you pay to drive on through petrol tax, road tax, insurance tax, value taken away tax, income tax, tax on tax and finally tax.

If they worked for me they would be sacked! Interview without coffee and the biscuits are not yours.

Long live the revolution!

 

[stradaman]

How much of the taxes we pay, actually go on the roads? Last figure i heard, they needed to spend over £30 billion, to get our roads to a standard of the French.
French did it years back. Why can't we?

Andy.

 

[Emtee]

10MPH is the get out of jail card. Makes 'em legally untouchable.

Not fussed about tar, but funkers coming in the other direction that spray your pride and joy in stone chips! - that's another thing altogether, but you try claiming on that!

And that's before I get into the technical shortcomings of this resurfacing method! In the medium to longer term it's destroying our roads. Rather than layers of well bonded structurally rigid compound you have layer of soft tar separated by layers of structurally unbound chipping. A good illustration of it's shortcomings can be had by watching an articulated lorry perform a sharp turn - it will very easily destroy the structure in just one manoeuvre.

 

[Paulm]

Miles,
Beg to differ on the get out of jail........been building roads for nearly 30yrs and I can categorically state "if you travel on a road that has been surfaced dressed and you have tar splatters all over your car, the council / contractor is liable"
They will argue a little, trust me they will relent and either do a vehicle clean or supply you with material.
Stone chippings are a different matter....if you drive over the 10mph, that is thier joker !!! try proving that.....it has been proven over that speed, chip do fly !
Other users throwing chips at your car is another matter.....very hard to prove either way ! I know someone who tried to take another user to court over this.....unfortunately he lost.....Judge said there was no hard evidence to prove the other guy did it
With ref to road building I'll leave that up to you