I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __ Pothole advice
Hi all, I hit quite a large pothole this morning on my way to work. It has literally appeared overnight and is likely to be because of the constant rain we’ve had. It literally spans the entire carriageway. I hit it at about 15-20mph. The car seems ok to drive, and I had no issues with the rest of my journey. Is there anything i should look for in terms of damage, etc…?
Also I get the the most terrible clutch judder every day. How can I minimise this?
If there’s no obvious damage to wheels and tyres and the car still drives true then you may be lucky. If there is damage you would expect to see some evidence usually.
Can’t offer advice on the clutch, it seems to happen to a small proportion of ND’s only as far as I have seen reported.
I seem to remember that tyre specialist @NickD on here reckons most of the wheels he sees are bent or distorted.
No doubt he will correct me if I’m wrong…
If you are concerned then I’d suggest having a reputable tyre fitter put the car up on a ramp and check it visually, as well has having the alignment checked. If nothing is wrong and the alignment is within spec, you may not be charged - ATS used to do checks like this for nothing but I don’t know if it’s still true.
15 - 20mph is quite slow, though. I hit one in Wales years ago in a Z4 at about 60mph or so. The noise that made was upsetting to say the least.
I’ve learnt to avoid my local ones on regular journeys but as you say they can deepen overnight and I dread new journeys where they catch me unawares e.g.
Irony …blocked from usual route to Specsavers for eye test because they were repairing potholes and directed to new route and hit a pothole at same speed as yourself and yep awful judder
So with one eye on the rear view mirror in case some one thinks you’re drink driving and one eye on the road surface looking for pot holes…are folk having more accidents ?
Can’t comment on your clutch judder BUT
CONCUR…WILL IT EVER STOP RAINING
So you are in Wales, I’m in the West Mids and IanH is in Scotland
Perhaps as a Club we should start collecting to Build an Ark
Obviously as well as 2 x 2 of all the Animals we’d need to include at least one model of each MX-5 created
A good reason to have a set of smaller winter wheels - go for the smallest size the car is ever sold with - is that the smaller wheel and taller tyre are much more resistant to potholes, which are both more common and harder to see in winter. This applies even if you don’t fit winter tyres.
I’m just hoping the pothole they’ve repaired on my annual route to specsavers is finally fixed as it’s right across the road and has been there for at least 10 years
Oh that looks nasty, I can kind of relate… I hit a small pothole on my way to work a few weeks back… I felt the jolt and in a few seconds the tyre warning came on!
I though that was it, blown the tyre but it stayed inflated and has been fine since…
I get the clutch judder on my ND too… Only when its cold/damp, when the engine is warm its fine. Also if the weather is nice and sunny, not a single judder… I assume its moisture related, I kind of got used to it now
When I had a 2013 Mini Cooper, I hit a pot hole that was at the edge of a country road, where the tarmac crumbles at the vegetation. I was probably doing about 30 mph. I checked the tyre when I got home and it was fine. A couple of days later the TPMS flagged up a low tyre pressure on that wheel, I checked it found nothing so pumped it up, it happened again a few days late so I jacked it up at work to take the wheel off and get one of our drivers to drop it into our local tyre shop and found the inside edge of the rim was flat for about 4" - 5", so this was causing the slow flat. New wheel and tyre later all fixed. I now check the inside edge as well. The pot hole was filled in the next day.
Many people might already know this, but in case you don’t: you can report potholes to the relevant local council and attempt to claim compensation for any damage caused to your vehicle. Which? has an article on it: How do I report a pothole and claim compensation? - Which?
Fed up with the potholes locally a resident whose quite vocal on the social media pages actually arranged for councillors and TV reporters to view the worse ones.
So the day before the TV crew were due the council sent the pothole filling team in to bodge fill the holes. Excuses on camera given, of course cut backs etc but promises of thousands of pounds going to be spent shortly on repairs. They didn’t say when though, still waiting, the bodge repairs were useless of course, they’ve all opened up again.
Had that happen to my self a few years back with no apparent damage. Shortly after had new tyres fitted due to fair wear and tear. Both nearside wheels which hit said pot hole were impossible to balance due to being buckled. Ended up fitting a complete set of new rims. Best of luck.
I trashed a tyre, reported it to Staffs CC and they repaired the pothole in 3 days .
When it came to the cost of the tyre they handed my claim to a scltrs firm in Norfolk who refuted my claim on the basis that 3- monthly inspections were carried out and so the authority was not negligent. “Naff off” in other words.
I bet their bill came to more than the cost of my tyre.
Go around the pot holes in your area, use the reporting app, then they have to get the holes fixed.
I’ve reported potholes, fly tipping etc previously with success. Recently though these things get ignored. We are talking craters now in the roads some have road cones in them they are that deep to warn off going over them.
Thanks for all of the comments! I’ve reported online and will now report all the ones I see… (there’s loads…) Doesnt appear to be any long term damage…
