I was driving to work this morning, and with the light dusting of snow we’re seeing here I ended up hitting a pothole with the right front wheel at about 50mph.
It was one of those deep, squared off potholes and I hit it pretty hard.
Immediately afterwards, the steering wheel starts “twitching” left to right like mad and a warning light comes on the dash indicating a blown tire.
The tire was a little low, but I suspect some more serious damage has occured.
I dropped off the car at the garage to have them take a look at it, but I was just wondering if anyone might be able to provide some possibilities of what could have been damaged and how much it’s likely to cost to repair…
I just want to avoid a heart attack when the shop calls me with a four figure estimate later this morning.
It could be anything from a bent rim, to an unbalanced wheel, to damaged tie rods and/or ball joints really.
I see you’re in Ottawa. I would call 311 and let them know where the pothole that caused the damage is located. I would also tell them that you are considering billing the city for the repair.
Lucky you did not experience more damage.
If the tire only became low after you hit the pothole, chances are the tire broke a steel belt and maybe the rim got bent too. A broken belt will make a tire wiggle down the road and is very visible. If you are truly lucky, the front suspension is ok or just needs an alignment. You could have bent a control arm. I’m pulling for just the broken tire belt in your behalf.
The best car I ever had for suspension was a 1976 Vega. I hit one of those deep squared off potholes at 50MPH and it ripped the tire right off the rim and bent the rim. The wheel alignment was never affected.
As for securing damages from a municipality, that is very dubious. Some allow it if they were put on notice ahead of time that there was a road defect. Such notification usually only occurs where notorious situations exist and it has made the news.