The snow and ice are finally gone. Left in their wake are a number of royally screwed up roads. I'm amazed at the speed that they have deteriorated. What was a perfect road Friday is a 15 mph crawl to keep from beating the suspension out of my truck. The ice has done the number to them.
I don't know if the Northern roads are built differently than the Southern roads, but if they aren't it's no wonder y'all bitch about potholes.
After our several day 0* deep freeze the roads have been getting worse by the day as they thaw out this week. Every time I drive a road there are new potholes, etc.
The freeze thaw cycle is hell on pavement...
Toyman01 said:I don't know if the Northern roads are built differently than the Southern roads, but if they aren't it's no wonder y'all bitch about potholes.
They're built differently, and they need to be repaved every few years regardless.
I'm no expert, but I know there are a few different kinds of asphalt as well as construction techniques. The kinds of things that stand up better to freeze/thaw cycles (and we can get those daily) are a lot more expensive, so people don't want to pay for it, but the roads might last 20 years instead of five.
Old roads tolerate it a lot less than new because old roads have cracks that allow moisture in, causing frost heaves when it freezes. One thing they do around here every fall is go around and tar over all the cracks in the surface streets that they can see. It ends up looking like someone got crazy with black silly string.
Streetwiseguy said:The freeze thaw cycle is hell on pavement...
People too.
A lot of filled in potholes popped out this week. I don;t know if it was from two weeks of arctic temps followed by a slight thaw or from the plows, but there are a lot of seriously deep holes in the roads now
But its kinda fun to see the pickups and SUVs on big rims and low profile on the side of the road with flats waiting to getting towed. Plenty of money for tire and alignment shops.
Toyman01 said:The snow and ice are finally gone. Left in their wake are a number of royally screwed up roads. I'm amazed at the speed that they have deteriorated. What was a perfect road Friday is a 15 mph crawl to keep from beating the suspension out of my truck. The ice has done the number to them.
I don't know if the Northern roads are built differently than the Southern roads, but if they aren't it's no wonder y'all bitch about potholes.
So, this weekend, I went on a little jaunt to Knoxville to fill my car with RX-7 parts. I'm driving over some mountain, everyone's going like 55-60, I'm crusiing along at 80-85. Geez, why TF are people driving so slow, the conditions are fi- ***BANG!!!*** That shudder tells me that I done something bad to the left front.
On the way home. Back in Ohio, actually. Cruising along halfway between Cincy and Columbus, where it doesn't really get cold/snowy all that much, look down to flip the settings on the stereo to see what folder is playing. ****BANG!!!**** Right front this time. Shudder is much worse now. The hit was hard enough to knock some trim from the top of the dashboard and launch it somewhere under the passenger seat.
Got it in the building today: Both front wheels are wrecked, and the right rear, which was previously badly dented, is now badly dented in two spots.
Car lived 180k in Michigan and managed to get only one badly munged wheel (which is doing very good for anything on 18" wheels with rubberbands), now it's got three after driving down out of the Great Lakes watershed?
In reply to Knurled. :
Over Thanksgiving last year we were heading to Knoxville. Coming up through Alabama heading into Chattanooga I saw a sign warning of potholes. It was pitch black and I managed to dodge a few but one moment of inattention was all it took and I hit the biggest pothole I ever have. Somehow managed not to damage anything but the wife was less than pleased cause it was her brand new car.
When spring comes I have to throw the wrx wheels on the balancer, i ate a nasty pothole with the RF a few weeks ago.
The consistently abysmal condition of the roads around here is one of the primary reasons I run the smallest diameter wheels I can in the winter. If I have to wreck something in a pothole, I'd rather it be a tire.
I just saw a story on the news where 8 cars damaged a tire/rim by the same pothole on the town freeway bypass. It took the news crew calling the dot to get it filled.
02Pilot said:The consistently abysmal condition of the roads around here is one of the primary reasons I run the smallest diameter wheels I can in the winter. If I have to wreck something in a pothole, I'd rather it be a tire.
AWD. Bend a wheel, replace a wheel. Wreck a tire, replace four tires.
Oh well, I knew what I was getting into I guess. Bought their ticket, let 'em crash, etc.
I am thinking of finding the mythical rare 17" wheels for this car so I can run 235/45 summer tires. So 18" wheels for winter and 17" for summer. The world's a crazy place! Aftermarket wheels generally don't fit because of a combination of shallow rotor hats and 4 piston calipers, so the spokes have to be thin and very far outboard. In Volvo-speak your options are 18" Pegasus or 17" Pegasus. ("Pegasus" was a unicorn, right?)
Nashville got it pretty bad. I’ve been riding my bike all week and dodging the potholes has been a pain. I try to keep in the same lanes daily so I can remember the worst of them. One day a few weeks back there were 6 cars pulled over on I440 with flat tires.
Everything around here is already fixed. The worst of them were repairs within a week. I was fairly impressed with the speed SC-DOT got it accomplished.
Around here the roads look like moon craters right now. I've nailed a few holes that have made me question damage on the Jeep. And seen a few that would basically swallow the thing whole...
I like how they come out mid storm around here and tamp in cold patch to fill pot holes. It makes for much larger, sharper, deeper craters come thaw time.
And some people think I’m old fashioned for loving 36”- 38” mud tires on 15” wheels...
I've been grousing over how bad the potholes are here in Knoxville this year...until I got back from a trip to Columbus Ohio last weekend. Smooth sailing by comparison. Glad I took a rental car, because it wasn't the same by the time I got back.
Good thing the cars rust out after 5 years up there because they'd be a wreck otherwise.
Rapid big thaw plus rain this week... Many metro detroit roads look like they were strafed by enemy aircraft. Macomb county especialy seems to have roads that have turned to swiss cheese, but craters can be anywhere. The holes are popping tires and bending wheels. The liberated chunks of road are flying through windshields. It's chaos.
Around here, when a road gets bad, the state puts up "Rough Road" signs. After a few years they may get around to fix it.
My city DPW is pretty good at taking care of potholes as weather permits.
Be ware of those puddles, they often hide a big hole.
WilD said:Rapid big thaw plus rain this week... Many metro detroit roads look like they were strafed by enemy aircraft. Macomb county especialy seems to have roads that have turned to swiss cheese, but craters can be anywhere. The holes are popping tires and bending wheels. The liberated chunks of road are flying through windshields. It's chaos.
Yes and the rain won't let up to allow the patches to take hold. Just this year I had to replace a front and a rear wheel bearing after hitting a very large chuck of road that was lifted by the car in front of me. Oddly the tire and wheel seem fine. The bearings were original 14 year old units though. This was on that new section of I 75 near Adams/Crooks road. The day after that really cold couple of days the road just fell apart in a mile long section of the southbound side. It ripped the exhaust off a current model S class! Semi trucks were swerving. In the chaos of me going left to give room for the swerving car on my right I didn't notice the large chunk get pulled up. I didn't think I could straddle the chunk and clear the hole it left behind so I tried to go left as I hit the brakes but BAM!
We took many road-trips when I was a kid. Even while sleeping in the car, I'd always know when we got to Chicago---- because the pounding from the potholes would start! Well that, and the fact that when traffic is light, you SPEED UP when entering the city---- because traffic is moving along at 80-90mph!
Winter is murder on asphalt. It's kind of amazing we haven't figured out a way to fix this problem after all this time.
From what I've heard, TN DOT will reimburse for pothole damage to your vehicle. I'm sure that's a speedy, pleasant process. /s
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