Traffic Tips: Potholes increase wear and tear on your vehicle

All right, we are talking about potholes this morning, Caitlin. We all love them. Don’t we love to hate them? Last week we talked about how spring is the unofficial start to the pothole repair season, and today we’re going to tell you about the damage they can cause to your vehicle and how to avoid some of that wear and tear. Potholes come in many shapes and sizes. Hitting the wrong one the wrong way can seriously damage your vehicle. Tires and rims tend to take the brunt of the impact. This is the extreme when the tire’s been gone flat and now somebody has driven on the tire. Initially the main points of contact is going to be the tire and wheel, so we can end up with damaged tires. Damaged wheels from there travels up to the suspension. We’re talking about control arms, those things potentially being bent as well as knocking out the wheel alignment potentially of the vehicle. Not all damages immediately visible. You’ll want to pay close attention to changes in how your vehicle drives. Things to watch for are a vibration that’s now there because the wheel has been bent or? The tires gone flat in extreme situations. Best thing to do is to pull to the side and have a look at the assembly and see if you notice anything. And to be 100% safe stop by a professional to them have them inspect. While potholes can form at any time of year, there are usually more of them around in the spring. It’s coming out of the fall season, so there’s a lot of Rd. damage that’s occurred over the season with all the rain and snow, so we would see more this time of year than other times of the year. This is rubber dust that’s come off that inside liner of the tire. The most common ones we see are bent wheels and damaged tires, so that can present itself in the shape of a a bulge in the side wall of the tire, which may or may not be easy to see. Or a bend on the inside or outside lip of the wheel. While you can’t always see a pothole on the road until it’s too late, there are steps you can take to lessen the impact and the damage. The main thing is to manage your tire pressures to the accurate pressures that are set on your door placard to allow the assembly to have a chance at surviving that impact. The other thing to do would be to leave a sufficient gap between the car in front of you so you can appropriate your react to observing a pothole. Potholes are an everyday Rd. hazard, Dodging them isn’t always an option. But practicing good driving habits will go a long way toward lessening the impact on both your vehicle and your wallet. Great information, Caitlin. Yeah, a little bit scary. They can they can come out of nowhere sometimes. If you have a suggestion of a store that we should cover a traffic concern we should look into, you can always e-mail us at Morning News at globaltv.com.