Hit a pothole? What to check

What a hit can do

When a wheel drops into a pothole and hits the far edge, the tire and wheel take the whole impact at once. Three things can happen, alone or together.

To the tire

The sidewall can be cut, or the cords inside it can break. Broken cords let the air push the rubber outward into a bulge or bubble. A bulge means the tire is damaged inside and can fail without warning. Sidewall damage cannot be repaired.

To the wheel

A wheel can bend at the lip or crack. A bent wheel may leak air slowly where the tire seals against it, or shake at speed even after the tire is balanced.

To the alignment

A hard hit can push the suspension angles out of spec or bend a part. The car may drift to one side, or the steering wheel may sit off center on a straight road.

What to check right away

1. Pull over somewhere safe, out of the travel lanes.
2. Look at the tire that took the hit for a bulge, bubble or cut on the sidewall.
3. Look at the edge of the wheel for a bend, a chunk missing or a crack.
4. Look for a warning light on the dash, especially the tire pressure light.
5. If you carry a gauge, check that tire against the door placard number.

While you are stopped, take a photo of the tire and wheel, and of the pothole if you can do it safely from the roadside. It helps when you describe the damage to us, and when you report the hole.

Do not stand in traffic to do this. If the shoulder is not safe, drive slowly to a parking lot first, unless the tire is going flat.

When to stop driving

If you have to stop, put the spare on or call for help. Driving on a flat can ruin a tire that might have been repaired, and can damage the wheel too.

Damage that shows up later

Not every problem shows at the side of the road. A slow leak from a bent wheel can take days to bring on the warning light. An alignment knocked out of spec shows up as uneven wear on the inner or outer edge of a front tire over the following weeks.

After a hard hit, check the pressure again a couple of times over the next week. Notice whether the car still tracks straight with your hands light on the wheel.

Curbs do the same thing

Sliding into a curb while parking, or clipping one on a tight turn, puts the same kind of force through the tire and wheel. Everything on this page applies to a hard curb strike too. Look at the sidewall where it touched, and pay attention to how the car drives afterward.

Before you buy a new tire

If one tire has to be replaced, the new one should match the others on that axle in size and type. On an all-wheel drive car, tread depth matters as well, so check your owner's manual before you settle on a single tire.

What we check at the shop

Bring the car in and tell us which corner hit. We take the wheel off, look over the tire inside and out, check the wheel for bends and cracks, and check how the car tracks. If a puncture in the tread can be repaired, we repair it. If the tire has a bulge or sidewall damage, it cannot, and we will show you why.

If the alignment needs work, you get a before and after printout, so you can see what the hit changed and what we set it back to.

If the tire is fine but the wheel is bent or cracked, we will tell you that too. We sell and mount wheels of all styles and sizes, so a damaged wheel does not mean a second stop somewhere else.

Wheel alignment

Flat repair

Wheels, sold and mounted

Report the pothole to 311

The City of Houston takes pothole reports through 311, by phone or through its online 311 service. Note the street, the nearest cross street or address, and which lane the hole is in. Reporting it gets it in front of the city so the next driver does not hit it.

Make the report once you are parked, not while you are driving.

Whether the city covers any damage is a separate question with its own process. We do not give legal advice and cannot tell you how a claim will go; ask the city through 311.