There are a lot of manhole covers on the first section of my drive to work, and I commknly see people swerving all over the road just so their tires won’t touch them, even jeeps. Why?
I drive through a new area near our home everyday (in UK). Some of the manhole covers make a loud “clonk” noise when I drive over them. I avoid them because it will otherwise annoy our new neighbours. I used to live off a main road into town. There was a loose manhole cover there which drove me crazy until I managed to get the council to fix it. Probably just had stones in it making it loose.
After freezing temperatures, construction, and deferred maintenance, manhole covers can be a damaging obstruction
My car is only two years old, and the one time it needed work …. I hit one of the smaller pieces of road infrastructure - a gas valve maybe. But the pavement was broken up around it so it was a deep hole with a sharp metal edge. It destroyed my tire, a damn expensive tire
It’s fun to do on a motorcycle.
Because I drive the same way every day. I know which ones to avoid and which ones are fine. I also have to pay to do maintenance on my car. If I can move the steering wheel a few inches for certain covers rather than spend a weekend replacing suspension, I’ll do that.
Tell me, what alignment is your car?
Chaotic neutral.
My favorite people are those who drive giant SUVs with huge tires lifted way off the ground who do this and also slow down to 2MPH to go over train tracks.
Huge tyres? Or huge rims.
Skinny tires on huge rims and a lift kit will self destruct pretty quickly. Pavement princess trucks are considerably less capable, ironically.
Huge tires, not rims. I get the big rim idiots babying their purchases. I’m talking about regular SUV tires.
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I drive a Honda fit and don’t baby my tires like these people. Tires that are way smaller and an undercarriage way closer to the ground. Not a vehicle made for bumps like an SUV is. I have never, not once, had to replace my tires from damage other than a piece of debris that got picked up like a nail dropped in the road. I’m on my second Honda Fit as well so I’ve been driving them for some time.
If SUVs are losing tires to train track they are so insanely overpriced. Their car payments are more than a set of my tires.
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Why the fuck do people on lemmy intentionally misquote people to make their points?
Do you really think people can’t just read my comment? Or did you just not comprehend what I actually wrote?
If going over manhole covers or train tracks too fast caused tire damage it would have happened to my cars by now. I’ve been driving for over 24 years.
I was about to comment just right this.
And here I am with my 20 year old little truck and don’t slow down for anything.
In my city, they just keep paving over the old asphalt, so the manhole covers are like 6 inches deep in some places. Hitting one of those in my sedan is not pleasant.
Why do I feel good when I avoid stepping on the pavement cracks?
As others have said, it’s just not great for the car. Will it damage it if you hit one? Probably not. But if it’s your work route or other commonly taken route, you’re gonna hit it 260x in a year, and you’ll own the car for multiple years. It adds up quick. Plus, they aren’t always smooth to the ground or free of other pot holes and square edges. If you hit it hard enough or if it’s too sharp, jagged, or deep, you can damage the wheel, the suspension, and the tire itself, easily in the thousands of dollars to repair, along with not having a vehicle for up to a few weeks.
Don’t get me wrong, they shouldn’t really be swerving all over the road, but dodging em when you can is nice.
The forces on your suspension can be tremendous. Repeated impacts cause faster wear. Large impacts can cause immediate damage and/or loss of control. The popularity of large wheels means the capacity of the tyres to absorb an impact is reduced, and even with larger sidewalks, tyres can be damaged by impacting a sharp edge. A single OEM rim can cost over $1000; a suspension repair is probably in the same cost range. At this time of year in frosty countries with failing infrastructure, manholes aren’t typically even close to level with the road surface and may be a significant road hazard.
Jeeps have the handling characteristics of a jeep, and hitting bumps in them is uncomfortable. “Off road capabilities” is not the same as Baja.
I would try to avoid driving over them when safely possible, because they make an annoying noise, which I wanted to spare folks living nearby from. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
i unconsciously avoid sidewalk grates also. fear of falling forever ig
Your tire usually drops into them and this shortens the lifespan of struts, ball joints, sway bar links, control arm bushings, and potentially throws off your alignment.
Because it feels horrible to drive over and if they’re bad enough you can crack your rim on them
I drive a small car with stiff (sport) suspension. In my area manhole covers typically aren’t aligned well with the road surface making them quite bumpy to drive over. This can jarring and even painful for me due to medical issues that I don’t care to get into here. So I routinely avoid driving over manhole covers.
