mmarshall

For large sections of the country, it's been a long, miserable winter, and it looks like spring has finally arrived in most places. (of course, you out there on the California coast have spring temperatures all year around...must be nice).

However, with the retreat of the snow cover and yo-yo temperatures up and down (both were especially widespread and persistant this year) come the inevitable potholes. Potholes form when water seeps into pavement cracks, freezes and, and breaks off chunks of the asphalt or concrete. The underlying pavement around it then weakens, drops, and forms a hole, much like a sinkhole in Limestone (Karst) soil/topography conditions. These potholes, with their often-sharp rims/edges, can not only affect wheel alignment, but cause significant damage to wheels, tires, and suspension/steering parts. Many late-model cars, with their larger, expensive alloy wheels and sport-oriented lower-profile tires, don't offer as much protection from potholes as older vehicles with taller-profile rubber. The taller sidewalls, with more cushioning/absorbing motion, offered more protection over bumps for the wheels underneath them.

This year, after endless snows and freeze/thaw cycles in many places (and the usual pounding from traffic), the annual Swiss Cheese on the road is especially bad. Road salt, of course, makes it worse, because it lowers the freezing point of water in cold weather and actually accelerates the freeze/thaw cycle. Below about 20-22 degrees, salt no longer works, and other, more expensive chemical de-icers have to be used. But the point is that, this year, all of these factors combined have created some of the worst damage I've seen on the roads, here in the D.C. area, in years. I don't think I've seen local roads look like this since the famous Arctic winters of the late 1970s (particularly January of 1977), when it snowed even in Miami.

Well, of course, vehicle repair after potholes doesn't come free...except for some free wheel alignments from some manufacturers (as needed) for the first year. A typical 2 or 4-wheel alignment at a dealer or independent repair shop will run from $69.95 to $129.95, though some shops charge the same for either one. Upmarket German dealers like Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, and Audi may also charge more....they are traditionally expensive. But new tires, wheels, and undercarriage parts, if needed, can run much more than that in parts and labor....in some cases, you're talking REAL money.

Anyhow, from my own driving experience over many years, I'll share some tips with you on minimizing the possible exposure (and possible damage) from cratered or damaged roads.

First, keep your speeds down. More speed simply increases the impact-force of the tire and wheel-rim over the edge of the hole, increasing the likelihood of the edge of the hole penetrating the low-profile tires and impacting the wheel. If it DOES impact the wheel's rim, of course, less speed usually means less damage...and less chance of it (or the tire) having to be replaced.

Second, if possible, try not to drive when at night or when there is significant water on the streets. Even with today's good headlighting systems and street-lights, darkness and/or water can hide a pothole's depth, making it either invisible or deceptively shallow. You won't know how bad it is until you actually hit it.

Third, keep your tire pressures at or near factory-recommendations. No matter what the profile-height, too-soft tires will have too much give and not protect the wheels underneath, and too-hard tires will be overly-harsh and, while maybe protecting the wheel underneath it, will pass on much of the hard jolt to suspension/steering components, increasing the chances of them getting bent or damaged. Once again, the factory engineers usually know best....they recommend those PSIs for a reason. You can usually find the recomended PSI (for cold tire pressure) printed on the inside of the drivers' door-jamb, underhood on a plaque, or in the Owners' Manual. Check tire pressures when they are cold (after sitting for at least three hours), and out of direct sunlight, which heats up the rubber and increases the pressure inside. Of course, some new cars (like my Verano) have tire-pressure sensors that will automatically check specific PSI in each tire for you. Other, lower-cost sensors simply compare wheel-rotation speeds and warn if one or more tires is low...then you have to find out which one it is yourself.

Fourth, if possible, notice the pattern of holes and and pavement-damage ahead of you on the road as you drive. Of course, keeping an eye on other traffic and pedestrians/cylists is the most important thing (to avoid an accident)....that has to come first. But, especially with practice, any reasonably good eye can also note where the worst of the holes and damage are....and avoid them as needed. No two roads are exactly alike. But, in general I've noticed that, because of the crown of many roads, damage usually ends to accumulate and multiply along the edges of the pavement, and that is where you will often find the majority of the holes. That happens because the crown (slant) of the road, as designed by road-engineers, allows water to drain away from the middle of the road and into sewer-openings on the side. But many roads, of course, don't have drains on the sides, and the water accumulates there and repeatedly freezes/thaws in cold weather, creating more potholes. Another place that often gets a lot of holes/damage is the pavement underneath bridge overpasses, as water drips off the side of the overpass down onto the road below.....so be extra-vigilant there, too. What I have found is that one can often avoid the worst of the holes and pavement-damage by generally keeping the right wheels of the car away from the edge of the road some...but not to the point, of course, where you get too close to other traffic in the lane next to you. And, of course, holes and damage can alsompop up any time even in the middle of the road....so be ready to make quick minor steering corrections as needed to avoid both holes and other traffic. Sometimes, of course, you will have no choice but to hit some holes...that's to be expected from time to time. But, using the tips I've posted here, you can generally minimize the impact these annoying gremlins in the road will do to the nice machine you paid so many hard-earned dollars for.

MM

LexFather

FYI if the pothole is owned on a city/town road you can bill them for the damage. Most bills are for wheels/tires and most of the time they are well aware of the pothole and they will write a check once you provide proof of purchase.

mmarshall

That's true, though some jurisdictions don't make the reimbursal-process very easy (they obviously lose money on it). IMO, it's better to simply try and avoid the vehicle-damage to start with.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Nice tidbits. Best thing to do is be alert and aware of your surrounding, fewer distractions and drive within acceptable traffic speed limits

mmarshall

Where you are in CA, unless you are at or near higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada, you probably don't have as much of a pavement-damage problem as we do in the East and in the Great Lakes Snow Belt (Michigan, typically, is considered the nation's worst). Of course, earthquakes/tremors can strike in CA at any time, and cause a different type of road damage.

nipponbird

I think potholes here, has done a lot for SUV sales. Until recently potholes were very near the top of the political agenda. The 2010 Fifa World Cup hosted here sent them scrambling to fill in potholes (can't let all those visitors see the potholes). Well potholes can negate an SLS Mercedes to the back row, even if you can afford two, but a Toyota 70-series Land Cruiser move to the top of the charts. After all potholes and low profile tyres are not good friends. Anyway, what you say is absolutely the only way to try and reduce the risk of damage. A local authority here would definitely wonder what you're smoking, if you say they must pay for pothole damage - you people are lucky.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

I'm in the Bay Area. Our roads aren't severe like Great Lakes, East, but they aren't well maintained unless its an affluent area like the East Bay or Silicon Valley. For what it's worth they are repaving some of the major Interstates but it is taking a long time. They tend to spread themselves too thin vs focusing on one area at a time.

tex2670

This varies by your city/town/state laws. Some laws require that the city received "notice" of the pothole before the incident; but some areas have some consumer advocacy groups that keep track of, and evidence of, potholes that have been reported. I think there's even a few apps out there that keep track.

My addition to tip #4--pay close attention to the lateral movements of the car in front of you. If you see that car weaving in and out, the driver may not be drunk--they may be swerving away from potholes.

tex2670

Double whammy I got in winter of '13 from one big pothole:

FrankReynoldsCPA

Remind me never to leave the desert.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Put on a set of winter wheels with winter tires, and ride on them until warmer temperatures and the city takes care of the potholes.

geko29

Some great advice. One other tidbit. If you see a pothole and can't avoid it (either it's too big or you'd have to swerve off the road or into traffic), brake HARD until you get right up on it. Just before hitting it, let off the brake and roll through. This reduces your speed as much as possible before the pothole (per Mike's advice). However, hitting the pothole while continuing to brake risks more severe damage to the suspension as well as the wheels, which is why you want to just passively roll through.

RXSF

ugh I hate california roads. They are getting better since they have decided to spend billions fixing them. With our new lower profile tires in all vehicles, bubbles are so common. What a waste of a tire when that happens

mmarshall

Desert roads, unfortunately, have their own set of problems. The intense heat in the summer not only makes tires run very hot, exposing them to possible damage (a noted factor in the Ford Explorer/Wilderness tire failures and rollovers), but also can cause the pavement, from heat-expansion, to warp and form what in effect are mini-speed-bumps.

mmarshall

Potholes can damage winter tires/wheels (especially the low-profile ones) as easily as other types.