That`s pretty crazy if there`s no structural damage to the rim.
So on the way back from FL I stopped at Baltimore, near the Inner Harbor. Let me tell you, the government must have squashed a war or an aerial bombardment we had down there, because the roads in Baltimore had what appear to be bomb damage. By far worse than Philly.
But your wheels returned home unscathed?
Yup.
Went to the beach at Hutchinson Island on Mon. All of a sudden it started raining and there was a mass exodus to leave. Turned on my car and the CEL came on. Car ran fine.
Bad news. Of course I travel with an OBD2 code scanner. But, it was raining hard, nowhere to pull over, and I was stuck in traffic...
Drove about 20 miles with CEL light on. Whole time I was thinking of all the bad things it could be... VANOS failure, ECM internal fault, multiple misfire codes, etc... Contemplating trying to find a BMW dealer to buy parts that prolly wouldn`t be in stock anyway; than laying in the middle of a highway somewhere trying to fix something using pliers in the rain....
When I finally was able to pull over and scan it, I got a DT ML voltage high code, which on BMW means the fuel system has failed it`s self pressure test (evaporative emission control).
The gas cap was loose.
Bought a scratch off lottery ticket. Having difficulty deciding to use a quarter or a dime to reveal my winnings. Why do I always have to make the hard decisions?
Too cold to detail today. Cleared the time sent wife shopping and it snowed (flurries) so I didn`t get to do it.
Now I gotta re book the time and send her shopping again.
She did however not get ME anything.
Post Thanks / Like - 1 Likes, 0 Thanks, 0 DislikesRonkh liked this post
With so many vehicles running low-profile tires these days, I bet we`re gonna see a lot more intances of this.
The question is, why are our roads (USA) so bad? I recall driving in Europe, specifically throughout Germany - and the roads were fine. I don`t recall them being anything like ours.
I recall someone told me years ago how European road construction was done much better, and the roads have a deeper foundation. I did find this from Time Magazine:
"But some of the most important differences between American and European expressways lie well beneath the surface. All highways are built by bulldozing softer subsoils and either tamping them or replacing them with more durable dirt or gravel. But in Germany the roadbeds tend to be 1.5 m or 1.8 m (5 ft. or 6 ft.) deep, twice the U.S. average. European engineers also devote more time and money to designing roadbeds that resist frost and have excellent drainage, addressing two problems that play havoc with U.S. thoroughfares. Each step, from laying the subsequent gravel or concrete layer to applying the asphalt surface, is taken with long-term durability in mind."
I guess Fritz Todt knew what he was doing.
Sure, the engineering has something to do with it.
But here in the northeast there are some factors that are larger IMO. One is the sheer amount of traffic, which not only causes more wear and tear on the roads, but complicates repairs due to traffic issues, which I think results in less repairs and less frequent repairs. I also suspect that the use of recycled asphalt may be making the road surfaces less durable. The use of lowest-bid contractors also may play a factor more than it did in days of yore.
However, the biggest reason the roads suck is MONEY. It costs a lot of money to repave roads (or build them in the first place like they do in Germany). We are still in a period of historically low taxes. Taxes are where the money comes from to fix the roads. Now I know a lot of you don`t like taxes because you think all they do is pay people you don`t like to sit on their asses, so would you support a higher gas tax in your state to provide for better road maintenance? Be sure to vote in your state elections for lawmakers who will make sure that all gas taxes actually are used for transportation funding and not something else.
I personally remember the roads being a lot better back when taxes were higher, but as I noted above, there are certainly some other factors involved.
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