New Year’s Day is taking a bizarre turn, as Ford reveals the new Shelby Mustang GT500 Shelby Mustang Cobra Shelby Mustang GT500 on the same day that it’s advising motorists how to deal with what it calls “chuck holes.” Is that a regional thing, and what do woodchucks have to do with pavement other than, how do I put this.. splat? Anywho, here’s FoMoCo spinmeister Wes Sherwood’s take on pothole etiquette. “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.” Oh, BTW: “To give drivers a fighting chance with monster potholes, [Ford] engineers tune shock rebound rates to keep the wheel and tire suspended so it can glide over the pothole, preventing the tire from dropping down into it and impacting the edge of the tire and wheel.” Gliding over potholes. Well I never!
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Braking while going over potholes can tend to lock up the wheel making the impact worse. I tend to agree with the Ford engineers – go through the potholes squarely and make no severe movements or braking – let the suspension to its job without dealing with braking/steering forces.
Does that picture show a Detroit “pothole”? (More like a lane-wide collapse.) If that’s typical, then obviously the city is being run by evil wheel-alignment shops.
I seem to recall from my childhood days in Flint, MI in the 50s hearing my folks refer to “pot holes” as “chuck holes”.
I agree with the Ford engineer.
But… if a pothole can be avoided, all the better.
Here in the 3rd world we have to become masters at that ability. Some of them are so bad, that sometimes they destroy tyres, wheels, ball joints, bend suspension arms, shock absorbers…
Usually, cars sold down here, get their suspensions reinforced and raised, and I have seen recently in some Peugeot, Fiat and GM cars a very nice, metal, thick and big sump protector plate.
It’s not Detroit, unless that’s a recently repaved road.
Really? Ford actually has to teach people basic driving skills.If you can’t safely avoid it,don’t brake, steer or accelerate [crucial with fwd].
If you hit it hard enough pull over and have a peek at what you might of f—ked up.Bent rims/control arms play havoc with fwd enginering.
It allways pays to have a pro look at your front end after a good smack.
Course the best plan is to keep your eyes open for nasty things on the road and avoid them.
Nice picture. Front license plates. Therefore, nowhere in Michigan.
Chicago somewhere –I recognize the style of traffic light installation and streetlight installations in the background.
Chuckholes are not necessarily potholes, and vice-versa. Definitions follow.
From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chuckhole
chuck·hole (chŭk’hōl’) Pronunciation Key
n. See pothole.
[Probably from chuck]
pot·hole (pŏt’hōl’) Pronunciation Key
n.
A hole or pit, especially one in a road surface. Also called chuckhole.
A deep round hole worn in rock by loose stones whirling in strong rapids or waterfalls.
Western U.S. A place filled with mud or quicksand that is a hazard to cattle.
pot’holed’ adj.
chuck [chuhk]
–verb (used with object)
1. to toss; throw with a quick motion, usually a short distance.
2. Informal. to resign from; relinquish; give up: He’s chucked his job.
3. to pat or tap lightly, as under the chin.
4. Informal. to eject (a person) from a public place (often fol. by out): They chucked him from the bar.
5. Slang. to vomit; upchuck.
–noun
6. a light pat or tap, as under the chin.
7. a toss or pitch; a short throw.
8. a sudden jerk or change in direction.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
If thats the case you might as well use a dakar rally car in the city.
Gliding over a pot/chuck hole? Really?
Somewhere north of 150 MPH, maybe. Otherwise, that’s beyond misinformation – it’s a plain lie.
If anything, if you were able to do the calculations, it *would* be better to brake slightly before the hole, then release the brake and have the suspension in rebound when it encounters the missing pavement.
Once most cars have active suspension, this will become a moot issue.
Now hang on here just a minute:
1) Ford product (Mercury Grand Marquis) – Check.
2) Potholes (live in PA) – Check.
3) My car gliding over potholes (wtf) – ?
Someone please define ‘gliding’ for me as used by a Ford Public Relations representative .
Porschespeed,
I use that method for both large holes and bad railroad crossings. It works well, only takes a tap to get my landcrusher to shift the load.
I had not thought about the active suspension thing. However, Ford guy is correct about swerving, if you are caught so late you must swerve, better to do nothing.
If you aren’t in a truck with large, fate tires, then gliding may not be a good description of how it feels, but I think he means gliding vs braking or suddenly decelarating.
Landcrusher,
Glad you get it. Did you ride a motorcycle as a kid? Those who have seem to understand the dynamics of driving more intuitively. At least in my sample set…
Fully active suspension is the holy grail, it’s doable (see the Bose thing) just a matter of dollars.
Personally, I think you’ll see fully electronic valve actuation first – cheaper to implement, and the only way to meet tighter emission regs going forward. But I digress…
City where photo was taken is Chicago.
License plate on taxi is the giveaway.
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/publications/pdf_publications/0203lp_guide.pdf
Page 32 of this pdf.
Ford guy has good advice, but I’m still going to drive around them when I can. I do brake if I can’t avoid hitting the hole, but release the brakes with enough time to allow the suspension to recover and accept the impact.
I used to drive a ’02 Honda Civic, and the struts in that thing would blow out dropping off the concrete lip leaving a parking lot, so I got pretty good at saves.
I’ve been doing this all my life.
Rule 1.
Swerve before pothole to awoid it
Rule 2.
If rule 1 don’t work, lets say because there is a series of potholes, Slow down prior and release brakes before crossing. Note that with some potholes you need to come to the full stop before crossing them without damaging your car.
Rule 3.
Small potholes can be simly and safely run over with the fast speed.
As result of this tactics, I never had a blown tire, missaligned or damaged suspention.
What kind of smoothed road utopia do you live in R.F.? I live in Michigan where all this is common knowledge, or so I always thought. Same rules apply to gravel roads. I’ve never heard the term chuck-hole though.
It really depends on the size (in the direction of travel), depth, and steepness of the walls of the pothole relative to the speed of the vehicle, as well at the tire size/aspect ratio, and the type of wheel (alloy/steel).
In PA, you learn how to take all of these factors into account in order to keep the little donut in the trunk (where it belongs).