Monday, February 08, 1999

COMMUTING COLUMN

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Drivers just have to roll with the potholes

BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Potholes haven't been kind to Tristate drivers.

        Lucky commuters have sent only a hub cap or two sailing across the road.

        But horror stories about more expensive and dangerous damage abound: blown tires, bent wheel rims and tie rods, misalignment and crashes as drivers swerved to miss the pit before them.

        Mechanic Jim Cobb at Cobb's Care Care Center in Oakley says he fixed a car whose power steering went out after a particularly good bounce.

        “Once they hit the pothole, they noticed they couldn't steer anymore,” he says. “They could have hit it just right and caused a seal to blow.”

        Tristate road crews are working furiously to fill pot holes that are plaguing the roadways and the commuters who drive them. Unfortunately, state, county and city crews around the Tristate say this is one of the worst pothole seasons in a long time.

        And this is just the beginning.

        In the next few months, drivers should keep their eyes on the road and on guard. When it comes to potholes, miss it or or hit it as gently as possible.

Car vs. pothole
        In any case, the pothole has the advantage.

        Let's say there is a midsized car.

        It's traveling 35 mph.

        There's a 6-inch-deep pothole.

        When the tire hits that pothole, “it's like dropping the ve hicle a distance of 10 feet,” says Ron Huston, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati. “It's about a 17 mph upward jolt.”

        Of course, many things are going to factor into how much damage is done.

        Older cars may have more problems than newer ones because of wear and tear. Cars with better shocks find they absorb more of the jolt. Trucks and sport utility vehicles may suffer less damage than passenger cars because they're designed for harder work. Front-wheel-drive cars are more susceptible to damage because so many precision parts are in that part of the car.

        But mechanics and the American Automobile Association say there are things all drivers can do to minimize the risk.

        First, make sure tire pressure is correct. If it's too high, there could be tire cord damage. If it's too low, there's a bigger chance of breaking or bending a wheel.

        Second, drivers need to try to roll through a pothole. Hit the brake to slow down before the pit, but let off before actually hitting it. Art Nellen, founder of the Ohio-based Car Care Council, says, “If the brake is on, it greatly amplifies the damage.”

When to worry
        Hitting a pothole doesn't automatically mean costly repairs.

        But if the steering wheel pulls, there's a sudden clunking sound or the tires feel as if they are wobbly, see your mechanic.

        Harriett Harlow knows that pulling feeling all too well.

        After taking her Voyager minivan down Ronald Reagan Highway, the Montgomery woman had a hard time steering. She says the steering wheel would turn left and right as if it had a mind of its own. “And it kept getting worse.”

        The problem: Belts separated in all four of her tires.

        The culprit: potholes.

        If the damage is bad enough that it requires professional help, here's what AAA says it should cost — including parts and labor — to get the problems fixed:

        • $50 to $150 for tires.

        • $50 to $150 for a tie rod.

        • $150 to $300 for a control arm.

        • $50 to $150 for wheel alignment.

        • $75 to $150 for a ball joint.

        • $50 for steel wheels; $500 for alloy wheels.

        But, one hopes, the rest of the pothole season will be kinder.

        E-mail Tanya Albert at tmalbert@enquirer.com

       

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