Hit a pothole this morning, it was dark/wet and the dazzle of oncoming headlights I didn't see the offending hole, was quite a bang on the drivers side both axles.

Thought things were ok until a few miles later accelerating up the usual dual carriageway route I am getting a vibration around 60 - 70MPH+ seems to be coming more from the back and when accelerating.

Obviously I am going to get this checked, just wondered if anyone else has had the same and what was the issue ?

 

Worst case I am hoping its a knackered tyre or re-balance needed, but I fear a pair of wheels or something with the drivetrain....

I need to dive out later to try and get some photos of the hole ahead of any claim to the Council, and then get it into a garage.

Edited 30 November, 20187 yr by TasMan

Hi Tasman,

 

 

I wouldn't worry about yet. I believe it may of affected your rims slightly but to begin with I would just go to a garage and balance the wheels. If the vibration is at about 60-70 MPH that's a clear sign of unbalanced wheels. I've been through it myself.

Check for bulges on the side wall of the tyres.

 

If the tyres look OK it's likely to be a bent alloy wheel.

 

It's unlikely to be more serious i.e. drive chain related.

 

Don't be like Darren 

 

2 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

 

Don't be like Darren 

 

 

Lol, that will be me later on when am taking the pics of the hole !!

Still likely to involve hassle and ££££......!

Good luck with your claim - I hit a nasty pothole which was submerged in water back in April and the council have punted my claim for rim repair and new tyre onto their contractor. Not holding my breath.

 

I don't even have the car any more..

 

As for potential damage the suspension/drivetrain is pretty robust in my experience so I'd say at worst that you may have mis-shapen the rim and will almost certainly have knocked the alignment out of whack.

 

Could also be worth checking tyre pressures too.

 

Is the steering wheel still level when driving straight ahead and/or does the car pull to one side under acceleration/braking?

 

Good luck anyway.

 

Dave.

Jack the car up that side and spin the wheels. You will notice the buckle which is what I think it will be. I have had buckled steels fitted and seen them on a balancer and one spun on the car. You just can miss the mishape when spun up slow or fast.

Council wise I gave up last year just wanted one 16” tyre for winters compensated. Had dash cam footage too. Thankfully tyres are not that expensive. £50 ish. But it’s the principle. 

Courtesy of North Yorkshire County Council. They too refused my claim, via their solicitor. I reckon the solicitors fees would have been higher than the new tyre 

 

 

22 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

Courtesy of North Yorkshire County Council. They too refused my claim, via their solicitor. I reckon the solicitors fees would have been higher than the new tyre 

 

 

Seems like councils are happy to fight the innocent motorists as far as they want. Just so they don’t pay. Roads are shocking in the run up to the chill. They will only get worse. 

You should always be checking the inside tyre walls because the damage can easily be there and no visible damage to rim or tyre on the outside as you look at a car, or jack up and spin wheels.

 

 

& If you do not ask you do not get. If it is not the Council that has to pay out but those with the Maintenance Contract and responsible for the checks and timely repairs then get the pictures if you can be bothered.

Councils and contractors so tax payers pay out millions every year so people do get compensated.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/272686-motorway-blowout-2-tyres-wrecked-everygreens-fitted-oh-dear

 

Edited 30 November, 20187 yr by Offski

2 hours ago, Offski said:

You should always be checking the inside tyre walls

 

Good advice. I've had 3 tyres damaged by potholes. One was visibly damaged on the  sidewall. The other two looked absolutely perfect - until you felt the inner sidewall. They were dangerously bad.

 

I was worried about my alloys being OK. They were. It was the tyres that were gonna kill me.

On a related subject, it’s often worth checking the inside sidewall of tyres for wear/bulges periodically. Speed tables (ie the speed humps which are like pimples in the middle of the lane as opposed to stretching the entire width) are known to cause wear on the inner edges of tyres as you - perhaps naturally - straddle them and there have been instances of tyres failing at speed due to wear that hasn’t been evident from the outside. 

 

The general advice seems to be not to straddle these things but to approach them with one wheel on and one off, therefore avoiding wear. This does make for less comfortable progress but at least you won’t be causing potential problems for yourself.  

 

Dave. 

Bit of an update, managed to get back to the location a couple of hours after it happened to take pics to find the road crew on site with traffic management all up and running and the hole literally being filled !    Just my luck but I got some pics of the patches/work in progress and spoke to the foreman so at least that's something - in the daylight there were two whacking great patches applied about 2inch deep apparently.   I expect these will be dug back out in a few weeks given the poor quality of the repair once the rain/frost get into them but that's a gripe for another day.

 

Visual inspection of the car over the weekend - no sign of inner/outer sidewall damage and having driven about 50 miles since the strike at varying speeds/acceleration the vibration has all but gone......?  Steering is bang on, no wobble etc, you wouldn't know I had hit a pothole.  Very odd and I wonder if anyone has had this before ?

 

My only thought is one or both tyres had deformed at the time and having driven around they have kinda reformed ?  I can't see a buckled alloy 'unbuckling' so to speak...!

 

I am booked in for a road test/inspection tomorrow so will see what they find.

No further update on the buckled alloy as the car sh#t itself on my driveway yesterday and had to be recovered to the local dealer - failed clutch concentric cylinder.......I may start another thread on this tale of woe....

Just to conclude this trail (sorry to bore you!) but I have a theory on the vibration issue after hitting that pothole.

You may have seen my thread a couple of days later that the clutch gave up.  Well I am fairly sure that the vibration when accelerating was actually the clutch slipping and just a symptom of the failed concentric cylinder as the clutch became contaminated. 

The pothole strike was just a co-incidence as the dealer wasn't able to find any damage.  It kinda makes sense, when accelerating in 5th/6th gear the vibration was noticeable and I think its been the clutch slipping.  Odd how it disappeared and has not returned, and the car now has a new clutch and all is well.....