[teknophobia]

Originally Posted by kreddy

You can get a masters degree in this subject, if you can practice on Karnataka roads.

And a PhD if you practice on Mumbai roads, especially Navi Mumbai to BKC

[Path_Finder]

Liked the Khan’s way of handling potholes – not sure on the science behind all this. But the sad part is it is not just the suspension of the vehicle, but also of the passengers (read backbone) that get affected. Also will be the tyres, alloys, the alignment etc. that would take the beating.

So one has to be mercifully slow over bad roads… And when the patience runs out make it mercilessly fast; that is what I do

One small tip is to have seatbelts on and preferably a neck pillow to take care of your suspension!

[rranjith_kum]

Originally Posted by kreddy

You can get a masters degree in this subject, if you can practice on Karnataka roads.

Well A PhD if you drive in Tamil Nadu roads!!

Originally Posted by teknophobia

And a PhD if you practice on Mumbai roads, especially Navi Mumbai to BKC

Guess I was late to make the post any ways I would say TN roads will help in writing the dissertation.

[Hashim]

Originally Posted by jogidada

The set of three speed breakers did so much damage? Was he going too fast?

Yes he was fast as I heard a loud sound of brakes, I think rapid brakes also helped in this kind of damage.

[9thsphinx]

I've noticed an interesting thing with multiple speedbreakers lined up before heavy traffic crossroads or railway crossings. The "easiest way" to overcome such speedbreakers is to drive over it at precisely 20km/hr. This way you will hardly feel the bumps and it will work your suspension to the least!

Drive safe

[arunforu1]

Best practice is to drive away slowy over the potholes & breakers.

I agree with some memebers, that above a threshold speed, you wont feel shocks on the series of potholes, except a few vibrations.

But my fellow BHPIans, be aware, the fast driving over the potholes may cause, sudden & momentarily loss of steering control, which can be Dangerous.often pot holes are filled & surrounded by loose grit/gravel, that means ones you loose steering the next instinct would be to brake hard, causing a wheel-lock over the gravel, sending your car into dangerous spin & sudden stop one another wheel lands in next pothole.

Most dangerous could be, a broken/bent tie rod: as seen in pic with zen. Drive slow, always over breakers & potholes. Remember they always give feedback to steering, sometimes this feedback can be so sudden & hard, that it may be too difficult to control, especially with a sudden, deep pothole on one side.

BE CAREFULL.

[Gansan]

BUMP!

I got this doubt while negotiating a few bad streets today. The streets were not really rough, just there were a few trench sort of cuts on the road a few inches deep - where the road was cut to lay a pipe may be and not closed properly - and a few depressions over manholes as well,again a few inches deep.

As these were fairly distributed over the entire stretch of the street, I was driving real slowly and gently over them. The "trenches" were running the full width of the street and could not be avoided. Ditto with the depressions over manholes, but one could manage to drive only the right/left side wheels over them.

But my doubt is about driving over fairly smooth roads and suddenly a pothole looms which you can't avoid. If one hits such a pothole at a good clip, what gives first? Will the rim get bent first and the suspension gets damaged next, or is it the other way around? And how fast is usually fast enough for such damage to occur?

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by Gansan

But my doubt is about driving over fairly smooth roads and suddenly a pothole looms which you can't avoid. If one hits such a pothole at a good clip, what gives first? Will the rim get bent first and the suspension gets damaged next, or is it the other way around? And how fast is usually fast enough for such damage to occur?

I think your rim will bend first. It takes a lot to damage the suspension but rims bend much more easily on small cars in particular.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by kreddy

You can get a masters degree in this subject, if you can practice on Karnataka roads.

Wow, I never saw this thread before. Hell, I have earned not only Phd, I have done extensive post-doctoral work in this topic.

Field work is very important since this is a very hands on subject. You got have a vehicle with a tyre diameter of at least 25 inch or above and side wall depth of 5 inch or above. Then you have to live in an area that provides ample potholes throughout the year.

I live in a place that can only be described as what Galapagos island was for natural history studies, this is for pothole studies.

[CrackedHead]

@Samurai - Talking about the roads around Mangalore/Udupi are we? My M800 needed new steel rims all around after spending 2 years in Manipal.

Another "avoidable" obstacle is rumble strips - Even in a M800, you hardly feel them if you go over them at 60+ km/hr.

[Samurai]

CrackedHead, I do live around Manipal.

BTW, M800 obviously doesn't qualify for any pothole dancing. I said 25 inch tyre diameter, not car height.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by SuperSyn

I have observed that driving fast over broken surface can feel more confortable then driving slow.

However, the risk is if the bad road deterioates some more and you hit the potholes at 60 Km/H. Not good. So as far as possible I tend to slow down and try to crawl over them.

agree with you on the driving style over broken roads - the suspension suffers less damage this way

Originally Posted by Gansan

BUMP!
But my doubt is about driving over fairly smooth roads and suddenly a pothole looms which you can't avoid. If one hits such a pothole at a good clip, what gives first? Will the rim get bent first and the suspension gets damaged next, or is it the other way around? And how fast is usually fast enough for such damage to occur?

suspensions are generally designed to handle shocks - my Padmini hit a granite block approx 10"*10"*10" and it was a bad hit; fortunately all that I saw was a bend on the rim.The suspension was intact.

[wildsdi5530]

How about bridges? The expansion gaps make a lot of noise. It is often the worst experience. Especially for sleeping co-passengers. Any way to reduce the noise and the bumps?

[teknophobia]

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx

I've noticed an interesting thing with multiple speedbreakers lined up before heavy traffic crossroads or railway crossings. The "easiest way" to overcome such speedbreakers is to drive over it at precisely 20km/hr. This way you will hardly feel the bumps and it will work your suspension to the least!

Drive safe

I have noted another very interesting thing about these multiple speed breakers, if you're doing over 100, you don't feel them, I dunno about the suspension

[amikacin]

Originally Posted by Gansan

BUMP!


But my doubt is about driving over fairly smooth roads and suddenly a pothole looms which you can't avoid. If one hits such a pothole at a good clip, what gives first? Will the rim get bent first and the suspension gets damaged next, or is it the other way around? And how fast is usually fast enough for such damage to occur?

It is your rim which bears the brunt. I drove my WagonR into a pothole at around 40 to 45 kmph and the result was a bent right front rim.

The suspension survived it but the front shockers were damaged in another incident when the car jumped over a big hump.