Tips for Navigating Potholes

If the road is four-laned or the potholes dispersed widely enough, you can avoid driving over the tire-damaging craters. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case, and you have no choice but to travel across the minefield.

Ford Motor Company offers a few tips for drivers when they are faced with a bumpy ride.

• Pay special attention to your tire pressure. Keeping tire pressure consistently at the manufacturer's recommendation will help protect your vehicle's wheels and tires from being damaged from pothole impacts.
• If safe, don't swerve to avoid potholes. Swerving can create a situation where the front wheel and tire on the car can impact the edge of the pothole at an obtuse angle, which might do more damage than hitting it squarely.
• If safe, don't brake just because you see a pothole: heavy braking compresses the front suspension of the car and will have a tendency to force the tire and wheel down into the pothole, instead of gliding over
• No matter how carefully you drive there's always the possibility that you may eventually have a flat tire on the highway. Drive slowly to the closest safe area out of traffic. This may further damage the flat tire, but your safety is more important.
• If you feel a sudden vibration or ride disturbance while driving, or you suspect your tire or vehicle has been damaged, immediately reduce your speed. Drive with caution until you can safely pull off the road. Stop and inspect the tires for damage. If a tire is under-inflated or damaged, deflate it, remove wheel and replace it with your spare tire and wheel. If you cannot detect a cause, have the vehicle towed to the nearest repair facility or tire dealer to have the vehicle inspected.

Today's pothole sample comes at the suggestion by a couple readers. This patch (ahem) of road is at the intersection of St. David's Ave. and Worthington Ave.