Re: Road spray (worthy of it's own thread): Dumb S.O.B.s at MNDoT have been cutting center- and fog-line "rumble strips" into the roads...
to save lives... because dumb em effen Minnesotans can't be trusted to know where the middle of the road is and stay on their side.
These aren't the old-school tar strips laid on top. Oh no, they have a pavement cutter than cuts mile after mile of divots into the surface:
Since they've been doing this I've had an exponential increase in rock chips and road splash being kicked into my windshields from passing vehicles. Now, I don't mind being passed but it does irritate me more than a little when the dumb bastids think they need to cut back into the right lane as soon as they've put about three feet between their rear bumper and my front.
So, yeah, rocks. Two mechanisms: jarred loose from their uuuuundercarriage when vibrating over those divots and/or those divots collect rocks and water and debris which is then kicked up by their tires.
Even if the roads are dry, if it rained earlier in the day and the divots are full of water, that isht gets kicked up just like if the whole road is soaked.
Plus nobody can be expected to squeeze their phat asses into mere sedans and coupes these days so with all the SUVs and PUs we have bigger tires with more aggressive treads sticking further outta the wheelwells followed by wakes the size of barns so that alone also increase the amount of rocks, water, and other miscellaneous debris being kicked up vs the old days.
Also it is my understanding that the failure mode for pavement is when it collects moisture and that moisture freezes and expands, breaking the pavement up. These water collecting divots seem to me to be a perfect way to guarantee prematurely broken-up pavement.
I called MNDoT with my concerns but haven't heard back yet.
Re: F150: I'd like to know the Cd and how much these two tricks improved it.