Aron9000

My daily commute is 10 miles one way in Nashville, I work near downtown and live in Donelson, east of downtown near the airport. I drive some of the most congested and poorly maintained interstates in the whole southeast IMO, I 40 where I get on goes from 5 lanes down to two lanes, then combines with I 24, which was 4 lanes and goes down to two lanes, for a 4 lane stretch of highway that was once 9 lanes, then it again goes down to 2 lanes, so from 9 lanes to 2 lanes to get through downtown nashville. Then its a pothole **** show. I don't even drive my Lexus on the downtown interstates during Jan, Feb, and March due to the potholes possibly shredding a tire on the 18" wheels I run(shredded a tire and scuffed a wheel back in 2014, cost was $450 due to ****ty *** roads).

Anyways, these past few weeks I drive my 2004 Tacoma to work and back over this ****ty *** poorly maintained, never widened, backed up to **** section of road. It has 15" wheels/tires that can take a huge *** pothole with no problem. Pisses me the **** off that our tax dollars go to support some pretty damn corrupt governments over in the middle east yet we have a pot-hole ridden section of **** *** interstate that didn't meet traffic requirements in 1982, yet 35 years later, its still the same **** *** piece of interstate.

theory816

We're not giving the state enough credit that it deserves. The US is HUGE and we have a TON of paved roads, which is good and bad. Some roads break down quicker because of the type of soil and the location of the road. If the soil tends to hold water or is in a location where water will accumulate the paved road is more susceptible to pot holes. Some land areas are just not suitable for paved asphalt. The gov goes ahead and paves this road regardless. That is why I think they are not getting enough credit.

Also it depends on the contractor. Some are good at what they do and others are amateurs. Nothing beats smooth, paved asphalt though, lol. Really, as with any profession, its going to take a very smart individual or group of people to hone in their engineering skills and tackle the problem. Its just that theres too many contractors out there and vetting them takes up time and money. It can be done as Ive seen some contractors do very good work. They just need to expand their work and knowledge on a larger level.

Aron9000

That same road in 2015 that busted my tire, beat up my 18" wheel, gave me a tow home, well that stretch of road was completely repaved about a month after that Feb 2015 incident. Guess what, 3 years later, that road looks just as horrible with 10 yard sections of pavement missing, it gives my 2004 Tacoma with 15" wheels/75 series tires a workout.

Just saying that I might have ruined my SC300 with tires sized like 245/35/R18, thing is when I put those wheels on about 5 years ago roads were never this bad in Nashville. And yet traffic wasn't quite as bad either.

bagwell

Yeah Denver roads SUCK too. You should only drive an SUV or Pickup with fatter sidewalls in the winter -- which is 6 months long here

Zero road maintenance here.

rai

arentz07

theory816, I see you're in MO. As a fellow MO resident, I must say you are very patient with the road situation. At least in KC, the roads change from clear to cratered very quickly. Funny enough, the Kansas side of town is way nicer in that regard, but it seems like there is constantly some kind of road work going on over there, too. Which ties into your point, that there are trade-offs to maintaining the roads well - takes lots of time and resources, especially when we have so many roads and so many vehicles and weather conditions beating the crap out of them 24/7.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

riredale

I lived for many years in SoCal, then moved up to Oregon nearly 30 years ago. The "crummy roads" thing must be a localized phenomenon because I've never seen a bad road, never hit a bone-jarring pothole in all my years of driving. It must be a local taxation thing or a particular mindset of County officials.

And the freeways have all been in decent condition, though Oregon does suffer one defect: they allow studs here in the winter, and one studded tire does the same damage as probably 10,000 rubber tires. As a result we have these parallel channels maybe 1/2 inch deep on the freeways a decade after repaving. Mix with rain and you get some pretty amazing hydroplaning effects. Yet they continue to allow studs, all for perhaps a couple of days a year with ice.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

i learned the hard way NOT to daily drive on expensive, discontinued, hard to find wheels

Stroock639

that's the entire reason i bought the vic! i got a 7 year old car for $1,500 that's extremely cheap and easy to repair knowing that a single repair on the other two could easily exceed what i paid for the entire ford. i got used tires for the back so i don't mind doing burnouts and donuts with them, and the car actually handles and drives quite well for how ancient its design is. also the combination of 235/55-17 tires and caap shocks / caap springs all being on an actual frame (it's basically a truck with a car body) make it take rough roads and bumps like a CHAMP

if i'm going into brooklyn or manhattan or something i'll exclusively use the vic and not risk damaging the other two which i care much more for. forget bumps, how about just other people dinging it up it parking lots or other areas with tight parking? let them back into the vic, it'll only damage their car anyway lol...

bagwell

SW17LS

Naa, I've never understood this desire. I want to drive the nicest car I have, all the time if I can. Aside from going places as a family, where we take the Pacifica largely because its easier to move the kids and all their stuff around, I will take the van once and a while if I'm going out to run an errand and its raining and the Lexus is clean (its garaged, the van is not), or if I'm going to go pick up pizza or takeout so as not to smell up the Lexus (any added food smell improves the smell of the van lol), otherwise...I want to drive the Lexus.

Yeah I'm careful with it, I dodge potholes and I park carefully, walk a distance to avoid a valet at a questionable place or a public valet, take time to find good spots...but I pay a ton for it, and I do so because I love to drive it, so I do.

Spending a lot on a great car and then commuting in or choosing to drive a crappy car so as not to use the good car has never made any sense to me.

ttsport15

110% yes/////

mmarshall

If you don't stay on local freeways most of the time in this area, that can be a LOT of dodging LOL. And, the constant salt-applications this winter (completely out of control, IMO) is only taking it worse.

I'll give you one tip, though. Try and keep your left wheels as close to the center-line, in the middle, as is safely feasible without risking a head-on....though safety, obviously, comes first. In general, because of the way most road surfaces are crowned for water-runoff to the side, water tends to drain and collect at the outer edge of the roads, more freeze-thaw cycles will occur there, and most of the road-damage and potholes will be more or less in a row along the other edge of the road. if you stay close to the center, your outer-wheels might miss the worst of it. (Water, of course, can also fill potholes and hide them).

LeX2K

My winter beater is softly sprung sporting 15" wheels. I am invisible.