Will Bleach Help You Get Traction On Ice?

About 30 years ago, a guy that drove an 18 wheeler told me that if you ever get stuck on ice just pour bleach over your drive wheels and it will help you get traction. I thought he was feeding me a wild story at first, but he swore by it and was dead serious. He said bleach will help your tires get a grip on ice or packed snow.

I carried a bottle of bleach in my car/truck for several winters after that, but never got to use it. I've always been curious if it actually works.

So, have any of you done this & does it work?

Carry a bag of kitty litter or sand.

never herd of bleach but I know ash from the wood stove does wonders.

I know that bleach spilled on a floor is very slippery.

I imagine it has to do with the effect of bleach on rubber. Dragsters used bleach for years to soften the tires for better bite and launch. Might have something to do with it.

Aaron

Last winter I stuck my 1500 Chev.

A Gas man was near , He stopped and dumped some kind of Alcohol they use on each tire he said he uses it all the time .
I didn't believe it walked right up, and out.

Kitty Litter works better.I carried some floor dry with me in the winter and used it a few times when I drove over the road.Ive heard of the bleach but didnt try it.A long time ago I remember doing burnouts with bleach before drag racing.It gets your tires sticky and shortens their life.It definitely worked on bias ply tires.I dont know about radials.
I know you are better off on ice if your tires are cold to get started.If you spin the tires and get them hot on ice then stop, the ice melts a little and you cant move at all.Water on ice is slick as snot on a door knob and you cant move on that usually.Now if you can burn through a thin layer of ice you might get going.I kind of remember that to get the tires sticky with bleach,you had to heat them up with a burnout.
So unless bleach works on ice when the tires are cold I dont know.I do know floor dry works.
Another trick is to drive around on the ice after coming off of the highway ,into a truck stop,and cool off the tires.Then back into a parking place,and back up and pull forward a few times so you mash the snow or whatever is there down.The next morning you might be able to move.If you back in with hot tires and stop, they will melt in a little and you will be stuck in the morning.Then if its bad enough you wont be able to break loose.

Bleach will help out a little bit,but it softens the rubber and the tire will wear real quick.

I always carry a 5 gallon pail fill with wood ashes and keep the lid on. It's free, and ussually works better than sand

You will see bleach used in the drag races, I think it softens the rubber or something and makes it stick to the asphalt, I dont know if it would help with snow and ice.

Salt would work better I think, or tire chains.

Okey Guys do NOT LAUGH until you try it.

In this One-Horse Town, it is angle parking on the main street and needless to say there is a crown in the roadway, so you park against the curb.

As you guys realize your tires build up heat while driving and when you park, they melt the ice under them and settle in.

Making this story short, when I returned to my vehicle, it refused to move, so I thought about my dry powder laundry detergent and sprinkled in on each of the rear drive tires and to my surprise it WORKED!

Go figure has anyone heard about this one?

It will definitely corrode the heck out of any aluminum it comes into contact with.

For some reason, laundry detergent gets hot when it gets wet.. Try using some to wash your hands, and you can feel the heat..

If you don't have room or don't like messing with tire chains, (like my wife) I bought a set of tire cables. They are easier to put on and lighter and store in a smaller area. Actually they fit in the spare tire compartment in her van. I wouldn't try them for hard pulling but for average get out of the ice and go on they are great. LarryT

Davis SC: I believe it is the caustic soda that does create the heat along with the grit for traction. I stopped using the dry powder in my laundry and now I only use the liquid detergent.

I just hope I do not get stuck in the snow without the dry detergent!

A sack of Oil dry is a lot cheeper and is the same thing.

Just recently my uncle's kitchen sink would not drain because the outfall pipe outside had become frozen. I poured some boiling water on the pipe but still no joy. I emptied the sink by taking off the U bend ,after replacing the U bend I put a cup of caustic soda down the plughole and some water and it thawed out in seconds!

I carry bleach, and use it before getting on the road to heat the drive tires. Bleach will not freeze. slushy snow will tend to freeze on the tires so I use it to help melt it and heat the tires. I used to haul milk in Wisconsin, from farms to reload, we cared wood ash in the trucks, chains were available if you wanted them, I never used chains. Sand was another option I carried. But when you use the bleach on car tires it will dilute as you drive from snow and melted ice on the road, so I don't believe it will effect thetire life that much.I have had god results. I may try the detergent thing.

Yeppers BLEACH trick is true. We also kept the largest container full of dry powdered washing stuff in sealed up container and made sure to tell others to keep the bleep out of it. IF ! you happen to get caught over a pass and the road super, or slant is extreme and it's so slick you can't even get out of your truck without falling down, HEY ! it happens if you drive a bit, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway pour a little bleach, FROM ONE OF THE TWO LITTLE BOTTLES YOU HAVE in the rig somewhere, pour it over the tires and you can at least SLOWLY CRAWL down the mountain, at least to a safer spot. OKay now get out pour some more on, don't forget the trailer, hurry up get in, now ease on down the mountain. DONE, oh do not drive truck near Winnipeg Canada XD

NO it doesn't hurt your tire if used in emergency, usually that one or second time in your life.

Boy I guess I live right or different or something. I never had all those problems of being stuck in a parking spot with the truck parking over night. Drove all over the northern US in winter during all sorts of weather from blizzards to sunny days. Across all sorts of roads and highways. From Mmi to WA into OR and ID from I-84 to Grangeville via US 95 and 55 in the past sure is some narrow hilly road there too. Across through Dubois also. Never heard the bleach trick though never needed it either. Got a set of chains for 11R-24.5's I would let go of new in the bag if it has not rotted off the chains now. Only carried them cause it was cheaper than the ticket in the North western states WA,OR,ID. Never put on chains for anything except dad's Mail car he had a second set of tires with the chains already on so we just changed the tires.