
Potholes can damage a car to unbelievable extent. Such damages can happen to any car at any time. The reasons that create such deadly potholes are many. It can be ill maintained streets, continuous rainfall or snowfall and the like. Potholes can be of any size, among them, while smaller ones might only result in jerky rides, some are large enough to cause serious damage on the tires, wheels and undercarriage components like suspension, exhaust pipe and silencer. As we cannot be in the know how where a dangerous pothole is awaiting us, all we can do is take some precautionary measures, to avoid these potholes in every way possible.
But before that we need to know what kind of damages the potholes can inflict on our vehicles. A team of mechanics whom we met at our Houston Chevrolet dealer service center shared their experiences of damages they’ve repaired that were caused by potholes.
Sidewall Bulging
One of the worst pothole damages that is seen happening to vehicles is forcing the wheel and tire of your vehicle against the pavement with the sudden fall into the hole and hence slamming to the edge of the asphalt. The worst affected part of your vehicle that takes the brunt of this blow are the tires. Such potholes manage to damage the inner liner of the tire by creating a bulge on its sidewall which can be seen even through the naked eye. If your car tire has suffered any such threat to its structural integrity, then there can be no other way out than a timely replacement.
Rim Damage
Potholes that can damage the inner liner of the tires are also capable of damaging the rim of the wheel, irrespective of how good material it is made up of. On the contrary, sometimes the wheel rim is the first thing to get damaged by a pothole before reaching the tire. And once a tire rim gets bent or cracked up, it will invariably cause vibration that can even reach the steering wheel. We all know that a damaged wheel is a matter of serious concern, that can’t wait to get addressed.
Failing Suspension
When the pothole is deeper and yet appears to be inconspicuous on the surface level, chances increase for the vehicles to cross it without knowledge and as a result, the undercarriage hits against the uneven surface causing the shock absorber to fail, or the tie-rod to bend or cause severe scraping on the joints at any place that is lying lower. In such incidents, the vehicle starts pulling aside automatically while vibrations can be felt even while moving on paved roads.
Malalignment
A sudden clash against the pothole might lead to a mal-aligned wheel that can start affecting many other systems in a cascading order. To bring your car wheels back to their original shape, all you have to do is take the help of a mechanic and undergo an alignment session for the wheels.
The only suggestion that the experts of the Houston Chevrolet dealership service center gave us is to drive slow when the road ahead is doubtful. One has to stay extra alert for the potholes and should always try to dodge them away.