What do you call the nasty black mixture of snow and ice that builds up in your car's wheel wells in wintry weather? Is there a word for this frigid gunk? Various names have been floating around, including hunkers, snard, snowlactites, knobacles, slud, snowtice, grice, carsicles, and snirt. A caller shares another her own family uses, braxis. This is part of a complete episode.
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Grant asked: What do you call the nasty black mixture of snow and ice that builds up in your car’s wheel wells in wintry weather?
Growing up and (learning to drive) in Wisconsin, we had those things all the time. They'd drop off in the garage as the car warmed after a drive, leaving a slushy mess of ice, road salt, and petrol by-products on the floor. And that stuff stains concrete. I doubt there's any "official" name. We called them "roadbergs" or "slushbergs." Haven't thought about them much since we moved to Arizona. But we do see them on Interstate 17 dropped by cars returning from Flagstaff.