Bl**dy potholes

[Bugginbob]

My biggest concern when I got my Octy VRS Challenge was the 19 inch alloys and low profile tyres. Coupled with the bad weather recently and Devons back roads disintegrating it was only a matter of time before I knackered a tyre. With a bit of luck the alloy isn’t buckled but won’t be sure until a new tyre goes on tomorrow. 
 

even more annoyingly this particular pothole has been waiting for repair for a month according to the councils website.

 

 

[Ecomatt]

What tyre was it fitted? Id stick a claim into the council.

[Bugginbob]

2 minutes ago, Ecomatt said:

What tyre was it fitted? Id stick a claim into the council.

Pirelli p.zero 225/35/19. I intend to claim. Annoying though as only done 4K in the car so the tyre is barely worn.

[Ecomatt]

Bugger. Pirelli do have softer sidewalls. I too was worried about the 19s but so far the Goodyears are holding up. We have similar rural roads round here that have eroded with all the water and created huge potholes. Hopefully it hasnt buckled the wheel.

[Bugginbob]

10 hours ago, Ecomatt said:

Bugger. Pirelli do have softer sidewalls. I too was worried about the 19s but so far the Goodyears are holding up. We have similar rural roads round here that have eroded with all the water and created huge potholes. Hopefully it hasnt buckled the wheel.

Yep hope so to otherwise it’ll be very costly. I spec’d  a space saver for exactly this scenario though.

[Ads230]

Eesh! I've similarly managed to get away with a bunch of holes recently *touches wood* and to be fair the 235/35 R19 Michelin PS4s have held up excellently despite my worries.

 

Having previously stuck 2 claims into the council and won both (in full), definitely kill them with information (photos, time, date, weather, speed, oncoming traffic (danger to life threat) etc), and emphasise the 'known about it for 1 month'. I've previously gone so far as to file a FOI Request when they tried stonewalling me and caught them out by saying "frequency of inspections does not equal integrity" - which is a line I'm pretty proud of . Oh and also they sent me docs with a bunch of personal information on too, which was highly amusing for me, and embarrassing for them.

 

Best of luck in fixing and claiming!

 

 

Edited 12 March, 2020 by Ads230

[KenONeill]

11 hours ago, Bugginbob said:

With a bit of luck the alloy isn’t buckled but won’t be sure until a new tyre goes on tomorrow. 
 

even more annoyingly this particular pothole has been waiting for repair for a month according to the councils website.

Well, that says you have a well-found claim for replacement of the tyre, and if need be the wheel, at council expense.

[nidza]

Switch to Mich PS4(S). I had to do the same for the last summer, potholes as well. 

 

Not to mention, winter set before, very same thing, damn potholes, everywhere.

 

[Plantman]

2 hours ago, Ads230 said:

Eesh! I've similarly managed to get away with a bunch of holes recently *touches wood* and to be fair the 235/35 R19 Michelin PS4s have held up excellently despite my worries.

 

Having previously stuck 2 claims into the council and won both (in full), definitely kill them with information (photos, time, date, weather, speed, oncoming traffic (danger to life threat) etc), and emphasise the 'known about it for 1 month'. I've previously gone so far as to file a FOI Request when they tried stonewalling me and caught them out by saying "frequency of inspections does not equal integrity" - which is a line I'm pretty proud of . Oh and also they sent me docs with a bunch of personal information on too, which was highly amusing for me, and embarrassing for them.

 

Best of luck in fixing and claiming!

 

 

 

Agreed, obtain the ROI on how often they inspected the road and how often they should be inspecting the road in the maintenance schedule. And as mentioned, since this has been previously reported, why was this not addressed or drivers warned.

 

I too have had a successful claim against the council for pothole damage.  Unless they start seeing the trend on money payouts vs pothole repairs they will never get on top of the issue. Obtain repair invoices for wheel, tyre, balancing, alignment etc.

 

It is crazy the amount of vicious potholes that go unrepaired even have they have been reported, and I know this because I have often reported them!

  

Also, sadly, the quality of the repairs are shocking here. Literally I have reported a pothole, eventually it was repaired and within 2 / 3 weeks it has opened up again because their repair has simply washed away.  

Of course, we know all they do it place some tarmac down and give it a few stamps. They need to properly evacuate the hole, remove the loose material etc...but this isn't done. It's probably put down as a temporary fix until the road section is 'due to be resurfaced'.

 

Rant over...

 

[Bugginbob]

Thanks all, on the plus side the alloy was fine so just a new tyre and alignment which was way out. Will put my claim in tomorrow.

[silver1011]

As the Council has already identified the pothole for repair then they're in a strong position.

 

There are Government guidelines on how long it should take local authorities to make good the repair once identified. Hopefully it is four weeks and they're late.

[lastgasp]

2 hours ago, Bugginbob said:

Thanks all, on the plus side the alloy was fine so just a new tyre and alignment which was way out. Will put my claim in tomorrow.

 

Pah!  You are a complete amateur, one miserable tyre, that hardly counts! Beginners territory, that.

 

Three effin tyres last week, three of the buggers!  I'm in Shropshire, pot-hole capital of the world. Hit a little puddle in the centre of the road that in fact was a world-beating pot-hole, tremendous crashing noise and the front off-side deflated immediately. Fortunately no other damage. Put the spare on in the pouring rain and straight down the tyre place. He'd got one in stock to replace the spare, but as an after-thought checked the others and found that the rear off-side had got a monster bulge in it too. Went back next day when he'd got another one in, and he spotted that in the interim the front near-side had developed a minor bulge as well, no doubt due to the almost continuous pounding from holes along the kerb sides of what passes for roads around here, so that had to be replaced too. These had been a brand new set put on before winter started. I am not happy! 

 

Interestingly the TPM did not give a peep after the blow-out as I crawled to a lay-by! but it has complained incessantly about the marginal pressure differences at each tyre change. Go figure.

[Octaviarse]

10 hours ago, silver1011 said:

As the Council has already identified the pothole for repair then they're in a strong position.

 

There are Government guidelines on how long it should take local authorities to make good the repair once identified. Hopefully it is four weeks and they're late.

 

Not necessarily. If they acknowledge they are aware and yet it hasn't been repaired and there is no / inadequate warning of the pothole, they should honour a claim.

 

Best to take pictures of the approach and identify the lack of warning signage etc.

[TechyDonkey]

I had exactly the same problem with the same Pirelli tyres about two years ago.  Hit the mother of all pot holes in the dark near me, forgot all about it until a couple of days later and spotted I'd got a massive bulge in the tyre wall, slightly larger than yours.  Immediately went back to get some pictures of the cause but Cheshire East had actually been and filled the thing in beautifully.  Had to get both front tyres changed as fronts already had a fair amount of wear on them, and wouldn't have been within the right tolerances if I'd just changed one.

 

Couldn't be a#sed with claiming with the council as I already know from previous experience how much hassle and time that takes, when I even had pictures of the offending pothole last time.  I feel your pain, but just be glad it's only the tyre and not the wheel that's trashed.

[bhoywonder]

When I report potholes via Fix My Street I always mention that the pothole is tyre damaging (if I reckon it is) and it seems to get them fixed quicker.

 

I logged 4 calls the other week and mentioned 3 of them where tyre damaging they had temporary repairs within 2 days the fourth is still waiting.

[silver1011]

5 hours ago, Octaviarse said:

 

Not necessarily. If they acknowledge they are aware and yet it hasn't been repaired and there is no / inadequate warning of the pothole, they should honour a claim.

 

Best to take pictures of the approach and identify the lack of warning signage etc.

 

It isn't quite as simple as that. Not all potholes that have been identified as needing a repair have to be signposted or cordoned off.

 

Each local authority dictates their "reasonable" repair times based on the severity of the pothole at the time of inspection.

 

At the time the council inspector visited the site and marked it for repair, they will also have graded it. It is the grading that determines how long the council have to repair it. This can vary from as little as one hour to as long as three months.

 

There are no set government standards, only guidance. The local authorities can choose to follow this guidance or set their own.

 

If the local authority responsible for this road graded the pothole that allows them more than four weeks to fix it, then the OP will likely have their claim rejected. The only option from this point would be to seek legal advice.

 

The OP looks to be located in Devon, Devon County Council's grading policy is below.

 

Making some assumptions i.e. the likelihood of interaction with a highway user is 'likely' or 'almost certain', given that it has been driven over, and the risk has been graded as 'negligible' or higher, then the repair should have been made within 28 days...

 

 

If it has indeed been in "excess of one month" then it would be worth submitting a claim.

 

Edited 13 March, 2020 by silver1011

[tinman80]

Had 2 tyres go recently, latest on Tues. I've got a set of 18's in the garage so getting them fitted with ps4s tomorrow and swapping out my 19" eztremes

[Octaviarse]

3 hours ago, silver1011 said:

 

It isn't quite as simple as that. Not all potholes that have been identified as needing a repair have to be signposted or cordoned off.

 

Each local authority dictates their "reasonable" repair times based on the severity of the pothole at the time of inspection.

 

At the time the council inspector visited the site and marked it for repair, they will also have graded it. It is the grading that determines how long the council have to repair it. This can vary from as little as one hour to as long as three months.

 

There are no set government standards, only guidance. The local authorities can choose to follow this guidance or set their own.

 

If the local authority responsible for this road graded the pothole that allows them more than four weeks to fix it, then the OP will likely have their claim rejected. The only option from this point would be to seek legal advice.

 

The OP looks to be located in Devon, Devon County Council's grading policy is below.

 

Making some assumptions i.e. the likelihood of interaction with a highway user is 'likely' or 'almost certain', given that it has been driven over, and the risk has been graded as 'negligible' or higher, then the repair should have been made within 28 days...

 

 

If it has indeed been in "excess of one month" then it would be worth submitting a claim.

 

 

 

Those were the circumstances leading to me having claims accepted in the past.

[GreenMachine1.6]

Swapped my 18s for 16s in anticipation of Suffolk potholes😩. Very carefully check the alloys. Neighbour claimed, and won, for two tyres, fitter said alloys were undamaged. Car failed the MOT six months later for cracked alloys! 

[CookieMonster87]

Norfolk roads aren’t much better.

 

As much as I love the look of the 19s I went for a car with 18s for ride comfort and to reduce the chances of the above.

 

I always tell the wife to avoid puddles, I swear she aims for them though!

 

Keep us updated on this. We pay enough tax to keep a car on the road, this shouldn’t happen as often as it does.

[Stoofa]

It's always worth checking for further damage.

I hit a pothole in my Mk2.5 on 18" wheels. No damage to the alloy, had new tyre fitted - all was well.

 

Fast forward two months and failed MOT due to Offside Front Coil broken. I seriously managed to drive around for 2 months without noticing this.

[themanwithnoaim]

FYI on 19" 235 width is a more common size & hence, there is more price competition on more common sizes. Check out some the tyre supplier websites I generally find, about a tenner a corner cheaper for the 235's

 

Please note. You have to replace both tyres on a axle at the same time.

[flybynite]

Not that winters are any cheaper than the summers but it is one of the reasons I put smaller wheels on in the winter. The higher profile and softer compound do tend to survive better than the summers when you hit one.

 

They usually fill most of the holes by me either just before April when they spend a load of cash from last year to keep the budget next year or just after (like this year) if their are spent up and waiting for the new cash in the next year.

 

I generally swap wheels when the clocks change but I tend to wait until I see them start to fill holes 

[Octaviarse]

I'd swap the wheels to non diamond cut alloys so you have the option of repairing minor damage rather than full wheel refurbs.