In addition to insurance, you can protect yourself by downsizing your wheels and buying tires with bigger sidewalls, Rogers said. Buying a wheel one inch smaller — let's say a 16 rather than a 17 — dramatically increases the amount of flexible rubber you've got to absorb the blows from potholes.
But there is one more trick: Run-flat tires are a good hedge against pothole damage. If one loses air pressure, you can safely drive for about 50 miles—plenty of distance to seek assistance on most routes.
Large wheels generally mean thinner tires. The tires have to be small enough to fit inside your wheel well. The thinner your tire, the less able it is to take on rougher roads and potholes, which can lead to blowouts.
Potholes can puncture your tire or bend or crack your wheel. It can damage your tire's sidewall or belts. Even a minor impact may knock your vehicle out of alignment. A pothole strike can damage your shocks or struts, or harm your suspension.
As a rule of thumb, vehicles have 4 to 6 inches of ground clearance, and most SUVs have 6 to 8 inches of clearance with adjustable suspensions. Four inches should be enough for daily driving and on paved roads. It's also a standard height for going through potholes and curbs, but it's not like you want to.
To make sure this problem doesn't repeat itself, you should start filling in your pothole with coarse gravel. The gravel will give water enough space to drain away from the driveway without getting concentrated at a certain point.
The most common types of damage are loss of a hubcap, a damaged tire, a bent or broken wheel, wheels knocked out of alignment, damaged suspension components, bent steering parts, and damaged shock absorbers.
You actually increase the likelihood of blowouts and tire failure on rough roads and potholes. Because low-profile tires don't have as much space to absorb the impact of bumps, ruts, objects or potholes, it's not uncommon for low-profile tire failure to coincide with catastrophic wheel and rim damage.
Supercars and Low-Profile Tires
By lowering the height of a tire and adding to its width, low-profile tires add huge performance boosts to any vehicle. In particular, low-profile tires improve overall handling, cornering, steering response at high speeds, and traction.
Buying a wheel one inch smaller — let's say a 16 rather than a 17 — dramatically increases the amount of flexible rubber you've got to absorb the blows from potholes. “If you keep damaging your tires, consider stepping down a size or two.
Rear tires provide the vehicle stability, and if they have little tread, then stability is lost. Although new front tires will spread water and maintain traction, worn tires in the back will hydroplane and may cause the vehicle to spin out, says Tire Review.
While it's fine to put narrower tyres on the front and wider on the back, it's pointless to put wider tyres on just one side of the car. This would change the weight balance and would mean one side of the vehicle would grip differently to the road when braking. It would change the cornering dynamic, too.
Under normal driving circumstances with a front-wheel drive vehicle (passenger cars, minivans, etc.), the front tires will wear at a slightly higher rate than the rear tires.
Low profile tyres are more prone to damage from potholes and speed bumps, especially if you drive over these at speed.
Of course, there are also a number of disadvantages to low-profile tires. Some of the most common concerns include: A stiffer, bumpier ride: Running low profile tires puts less space between your vehicle and the road, leaving your suspension system responsible for absorbing the shock of the various bumps in the road.
Faster wear - Low profile tyres provide better grip at the cost of faster wear, especially if you overload your vehicle, corner too hard or drive at elevation often. Damage vulnerability - Low profile tyres make your car more vulnerable to damage.
Low-profile tires have a larger “contact patch” with the road, so they grip better, but they also convey every bump and crack in the pavement to the riders in some vehicles. If you don't mind a firm ride with some bumps and jiggles, low-profile tires will work for you.
Low-profile tires are not prone to punctures any more than a regular profile tire is. They have a similar width and surface area contacting the road, and their composition is virtually the same. The probability of having a tire puncture is the same in either case.
Low-profile tires have stiff tread, which means less contact patch area on uneven surfaces. So, such tires are only for on-road use, and off-road they will be useless.
Tire damage is the most common type of pothole damage a vehicle can sustain. It could get bruised and form a bulge on the side or even get sliced from the sharp edges of the pothole. It might get a big bump on the tread side if you hit the pothole hard enough, making for a bumpy and uncomfortable ride.
Common consequences include a bent rim, messed-up wheel alignment, or a dented frame. If you notice the car driving differently after hitting a pothole, park it immediately and call for a tow truck.
Weight of traffic breaks up the road surface to form a pothole. Wear from traffic expands the hole.