Green Earth Coatings has been the City of Auburn Hills contracted painting contractor since 2008 and company owner Doug Drew has been innovate in demonstrating many coating products that have proven beneficial to service our City buildings. Last year Doug demonstrated a product called Nano-Clear and we thought the product might help us to slow down the underbody corrosion problems associated with our live bottom dump trucks that are used in winter operations to plow and salt City roads. Corrosion of the underbody components of our 10 dump truck fleet used for winter operations is the most costly aspect of keeping these trucks in operation beyond 10 years. In as little as 4 years, corrosion issues have resulted in hydraulic, electrical and brake component replacement repairs where salt eats away at these underbody components.
A new 10 yard tandem axle dump truck equipped with the latest technology in salt spreading equipment, underbody scraper blade and passenger side wing plow was purchased and arrived at the DPW in August 2014. The fleet division decided to try NANO Clear on this truck before it was put into service and Green Earth Coatings was contracted to apply the product to the underbody components and rear wheels of the vehicle.
We are almost done with our first winter season and the underbody components of this truck still look new. To date, this truck has responded to 27 events where plowing and salting operations have been performed. Although we typically don’t see much corrosion in the first year of service, it is impressive to see the underbody components still have that shiny new gloss to them. We are looking forward to seeing how the product performs as the truck ages. NANO Clear will likely be part of the preparation process before new trucks and heavy equipment are put into service.
Dan Brisson – Manager of Fleet and Roads, City of Auburn Hills Department of Public Works
