The Roads Are That Bad In South Africa
This afternoon I had some spare time and popped in to the tyre workshop to see what was causing the irregular tyre wear on my sons car. If you know what you are looking for a tyre will tell you so much information just through the way it is wearing.
I will probably replace this tyre next week as it does not look that great with what appears to be like a ripping action over the outside section. A failed shock absorber has a similar type of pattern and why I was not 100% sure what was wrong.
Tyres are not cheap and rather fix the problem than have to fix the problem later plus the added cost of replacing tyres. Over inflated or under inflated tyres are easy to spot through tyre wear plus spotting wheel alignment which is rather common. If you let this go and ignore this the tyre life is going to be a short one and if left this tyre would be finished in the next few months.
After a quick check the shocks were ok and it turned out there was 3 buckled rims which is a first for me. The car was pulling slightly to the right and it could have been a simple wheel alignment issue, but this is not the case here. This is not an expensive fix and will rush me about $160. The solution as this would take a day in the workshop is to use the spare tyre and fix one wheel at a time over 3 days rotating the spare on to which rim is being straightened.
The other fault they found was one of the brake calipers was missing a bolt and must have shaken loose due to the state of the roads. This is another reason just to pop in regularly and have someone do a quick check.
The holes ahead in the picture above have reappeared in the last few days and will become so bad people will place loose bricks in the hole. These are the exact same holes everyone in the area knows about and there are 4 or 5 more about 100 meters up the road. These will take around 6 months to get repaired because this is a local road and not a main thoroughfare and will not be a priority.
There is no budget left to repair roads or traffic lights and even the roads repaired for the G20 summit had broken traffic lights this week. This was a cosmetic fix that literally lasted two weeks and highlights how poorly run the country is.
Potholes in one suburb in Johannesburg highlighted on the app Waze. These are all big holes and not just little holes with each one able to blow your tyre and buckle your rim. This is not just an extreme example and is the standard replicated over every area in Johannesburg. This is a huge crisis and why you spend the budget doing the job correct the first time. I would love to have a pot hole repair business because you could retire within 5 years.
The roads in South Africa are in a shocking state and one of the main reasons I will fly to Durban and not drive as the journey is that hazardous. Over the last week we have had a considerable amount of rain and with rain the pot holes appear rather quickly. The reason for this is the repairs are not done properly and only last until the next period of wet weather. I am sure this is done on purpose by whoever is fixing the pot holes as this keeps them busy repairing the same holes every other month. Most things in Africa are never repaired correctly and is more about making money than doing a decent job.
A few years ago we had insurance companies paying for pot hole repairs with drivers sending pin drops via the app highlighting potholes. I would hate to know how much this is costing the insurance industry even if only 10% of the cars on the road are insured. I tend to give a safe driving distance when following a car in front of myself as you need time to adjust to avoid any holes that suddenly appear. Earlier this week I straddled a large pothole and the car behind me went straight into the hole and these holes are up to 20cm deep so they are serious road hazards.
The biggest problem and a test of your memory is when there is rain and these potholes are looking like a normal puddle hiding how deep they are. If you drive a certain route daily you just know and some roads are so bad you have to drive on the other side of the road at certain points.
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Roads are pretty bad all over the place. Especially in big cities. I know several areas that look really similar to the map you showed if they charted all the potholes. I have to get some new tires for my wife's car soon. I am not looking forward to that!
When we were in the UK the Waze app showed the odd pot hole that would not even be considered a pot hole here. Tires are not exactly cheap these days especially the brands we know and trust and not considering a Chinese alternative as I would not do that.
No, those Chinabombs are horrible. I usually stick with brands I know. I was looking at Cooper for her Buick, but I think we might have to get Michelin.
Never heard of Coopers before and obviously know Michelin. Coopers I was reading are made in the US and Mexico for the American market so maybe they are not a bad option depending on the price. I guess it depends on how much driving the wife does and if it is only around town or not. Your truck tows the caravan and you travel decent distances so that tire choice would be far easier.
We actually drive the car more than the truck. It takes us the 20 miles one way to work everyday most of the time. We also take it when we travel longer distances because the gas mileage is better. I have load class E tires on the truck. Mastercraft which is an offshoot of Cooper I think. It's a rougher ride, but they are heavier ply for the extra towing weight.