Why You Should Avoid Potholes
The slam of your car, truck, or SUV when you hit a pothole is going to make you wince… and maybe in pain as well, depending on how deep and abrupt the pothole is! These holes can spring up out of nowhere – you might drive the same road every day but one might suddenly appear, and you can’t avoid it. You didn’t have any warning, it wasn’t there before.
Not only is it annoying and teeth-jarring, hitting a pothole can seriously damage your vehicle. According to AAA, potholes cost drivers over $26 billion in damages each year! So these potholes are a costly menace – a good reason to avoid them. Let’s look at specific damages hitting a pothole can cause.
The rough, uneven edges of potholes can damage tires and wheels in a number of ways. The sudden compression can cause tread separation of even a flat tire. Depending on how you hit the pothole, the drop could scratch the rims or bend the wheels. Worst of all, if the drop is sudden or hard enough – particularly at a higher speed – the impact could even crack the wheels. A hard enough slam could also knock tires out of alignment, leading to poor performance.
Undercarriage and Exhaust System Damages
A low-riding vehicle or an extra-deep hole can cause damage to the underside of the vehicle. This could mean damage to bumpers and side skirts, anything from paint damage to cracking them or snapping them off where they are secured to the vehicle. This damage may not stop the vehicle from functioning, but cosmetic damage can still be pricey to repair.
Exhaust systems also hang under the vehicle and are in danger, and can be detrimental to performance and prevent your vehicle from passing inspection. Potholes can scrape or puncture exhaust pipes, or even cause them to break loose from the vehicle. This damage leads to noise and potential loss of power.
Suspension Damage
Your suspension system is built to eat up bumps, but only the stoutest ones are built for the abrupt, high impact that can come from hitting a pothole at speed. Regular jolts can accelerate the rate of wear and performance loss, while a single massive impact could cause damaged shocks, broken ball joints, or even worse – as bad as a bent axle! If there is strange noise, vibrations, or if your vehicle is pulling to the side after hitting a pothole, this could signal suspension damage from the poor road.
Steering Damage
That pulling to the side might not just be suspension damage either – it may come from your steering mechanism being knocked or pulled out of place. This in turn could cause steering wheel vibrations or make your car, truck, or SUV more difficult to control
These are just the main reasons why you should avoid potholes. There are plenty of other small issues that could arise, particularly in older cars – knocking loose interior components, knocking out a speaker, cracking a window, causing a rearview mirror to come loose and fall off.
So do your best to minimize pothole damage! Be alert, don’t follow too closely so you can see potholes ahead instead of them being blocked by the car ahead. Drive on properly inflated tires that are in good condition – they’ll help absorb the impact better. And recognize that there may be multiple potholes in one place, that just because you’ve missed one doesn’t mean there aren’t more waiting!
Avoiding potholes is the best way to avoid theses damages. However, if you can’t avoid the pothole, make sure to give your car a look-over if you hit it. Pay attention to the feel and performance after hitting the pothole, and bring it in for a check-up and repairs if you feel any difference. Make notes and take pictures – your insurance may cover pothole damage, and some municipalities may even be on the hook for it.
Potholes do a lot of damage, but by doing your best to avoid them, mitigate the impact, and be alert after the fact, you can minimize the cost and impact to your car, truck, or SUV’s performance! If you do hit a pothole and need service please contact our service center at Lancaster Toyota