Researching potholes and the damage they cause to cars?

Question

Can you share your pothole experiences with me as I'm doing some research. Has your car been damaged by a pothole? Have you a pothole on your road that has taken months to repair. Have you made a successful claim after your car was damaged? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Unfortunatley it is rare for the damage on your vehicle to be immediately apparent after hitting a pothole.
Speed bumps are also a hazard of possibly worse magnitude.
My local council spent hundreds of thousands of pounds resurfacing then set huge speed humps over them.
If we must have our exhausts ripped off and our suspension battered then just leave the potholes,erect warnign signs then hand me back my council tax.

Answer 2

oh yeah I can help you.
I've been dealing with stoopid potholes my whole life. When I was in high school, the main street of our town was full of them. They could damage your car, but I had a truck, and I always went slow to dodge them.
However every year the town would put a load of money in for new road, and come the next year it would be needed to be fixed again! I hated that! It was like completely pointless.
Now I live in the woods, nothing but dirt roads. Is that a pain or what!
Depending on what sort of dirt they put down depends on potholes. If the people who brought down the dirt don't mix it with tar, the rain will wash some dirt away...making potholes.
On the other hand they mix it but don't rake or even out the sand. Then there are natural bumps in the sand that can't be taken out. I deal with this washboard effect. Its like this (vvvvvvvvvv) and the thing is when they do try to fill the pothole they do it with the same dirt, and within two weeks its horrible again!
Yes I deal with stoopid potholes, I deal with stoopid people who cant figure out how to fill it correctly. Almost every vehicle I've had has been damaged due to potholes.
I had a dodge neon when I moved to NH, and twice the brakes started bleeding just from all the bumps. Next car, due to the washboard actually lost a metal piece that helps hang up the exhaust pipe, so now its hanging low in the middle.
Oh yeah...I hate potholes.

Answer 3

Potholes are an increasing problem on Britain’s roads causing damage to vehicles and presenting a potential safety hazard. They are caused when moisture gets into the cracks in the road which expands when it freezes. The holes get bigger as vehicles drive over them damaging the structure of the road below its surface layer. Adverse weather conditions and repeated freeze-thaw and wet-dry cycles make the pothole situation much worse.

Answer 4

Yes potholes can damage vehicles. i've seen potholes cause simple damage like separated tires, or wheel alignment being knocked off center. More serious i've seen are blown apart wheels(where the rim is actually split in half), broken a-arms, tie rods, lots of bent suspension parts, and a broken spring or 2.

Answer 5

Dont think iv ever found a car down a pothole,Is this a new sport,Ive found them in caves or quarries but never potholes and does the car need to wear a hemet also wouldnt be to good a swimming through fooded sumps.

Answer 6

I also live in Ireland. I hit a pothole once, and caused a 10 inch crack round the outer rim of an alloy wheel.

Answer 7

Potholes on tar(asphalt) roads are more dangerous for your car than potholes on dirt roads. Its because asphalt roads are solid and for that reason they firstly damage your suspensions then your alloys and wheels. As dirt roads are softer they do less damage to motor vehicles with four tyres!

Answer 8

I live in Ireland and we have plenty of potholes, lots of hub caps on the side of the roads and punctures too!

Answer 9

SOUTH AFRICAN POT HOLES ARE SO MEAN YOU COULD LOOSE AN ENTIRE WHEEL, DO NOT EVEN THINK OF RE REIMBURSEMENT FROM THE MUNICIPALITY, AS THEY ARE MOSTELY CORRUPT AND DO NOT KNOW WHAT POT HOLES ARE.