[Tech]

With monsoon come pot holes and these test the stability of Indian cars to a great extent. Please share how your cars have fared while passing over the really bad roads.

My observation for Swift is that the Swift is able to take many pot holes rather smoothly but the bad roads generally cause to have some squeaks and rattles coming from windows, bottom and especially a long squeak when parking car and moving down at a very low speed at an underground parking.

What are your views for your cars ?

[aerohit]

The OLD madras road in bangalore is pathetic after rains - disgusting!

If small cracks are not fixed on time, it is actually more expensive to fix them in the long run - something Govt dont know?

Swift is doing great on bad roads, never bottomed out. Mandovi didnt know crap and they actually learned from my advice, so I have fixed all the rattles by myself, so there is no problem with rattling. I usually cruise over the bad roads and swift behaves fine.

I just dont like first gear of Swift, it feels heavy and rough, and loose, on the move.

However, the plastiky feeling with the shifter is about to be fixed, as i discovered slack in the shift cable after removing entire shifter console, something Mandovi could not diagnose either.

[sajands]

My Verna has handled the pot hole roads very well so far. touchwood, no rattles or squeaks from the car, verna is a tough car. takes the rough well.

I do feel bad eah time the tyre goes into a pot-hole, really wonder when we shall get really good actual tar roads with out any potholes.

[teknophobia]

Potholes are all in a day's work for my alloy equipped Indica Turbo (Touch wood), no squeaks, no rattles and no broken alloys

[akshay4587]

I rather prefer to use my Bolero over Accent on monsoon infested roads.
recently while in ludhiana,even the bolero bottomed out on a stretch,so you can imagine the condition it would be worse than surface of moon

Still no rattles,no squeaks,no bent alloys,nothing

[car_crazy1400]

I took my swift to Ludhiana recently & now my Swift is rattling more than coins in a beggars bowl.
Everything rattles, rite from the front suspension, to the rear windows.
This, when I got it serviced just last week.
The build quality of Swift is really really very poor.

My swift is more than 2 yrs old & has done 46,000+ kms.

[Sahil]

The run flat tires on my car haven't given me the most comfortable ride this monsoon, but acceptable nonetheless. By next monsoons they will wear out so i ain't complaining much.

Fortunately my cars haven't taken the beating this monsoon although the roads have become worse year on year.

[akash_m]

I had applied my own idea to overcome the squeaks and rattles in my swift post monsoon in Delhi.. Just reduce the tyre pressure by 7-8 psi than the recommended pressure for your car. This gives the car an extra cussion and the ride quality improves by more than 50% on potholes!

Gives you a smooth ride as well. Though you may have to compromise on fuel efficiency (hardly 3%) and have a sliiiiiiiight heavy power steeing. But all in all, you will definately enjoy the ride!

[bblost]

@akash_m
Reducing air pressure and driving fast and for long periods of time may cause a blowout.
Even short term use will cause your tire side wall to deteriorate faster than normal.

[NIP]

i think my avatar explains what i think of the situation

[GTO]

I think my Jeep damaged some potholes .

Jokes apart, our C took the numerous highway trips well. No unwanted noises at all. The Vtec, on the other hand, has developed some squeaks & rattles. Will have to wait until it's scheduled service in December to sort things out.

[suman]

Originally Posted by akash_m

Just reduce the tyre pressure by 7-8 psi than the recommended pressure for your car. This gives the car an extra cussion and the ride quality improves by more than 50% on potholes!

The ride may be smooth but don't do it on a continuous basis mate - apart from the FE going down (and by more than 3%), you are also doing damage to your suspension, steering & the tyres.

[kalyanikar]

My Honda City had a rattling noise from near the front right wheel. On examination, it turned out something had damaged the "steering gear-box" (Honda terminology). Got it replaced under warranty, but I suspect (maybe, just maybe) that the potholes in Mumbai had something to do with this.

[watashi75]

No "additional" rattles in my Swift. Have gone through foot length water few times. Its weight and ground clearance is an advantage. Brakes are fine. No leakage even in pouring rain. No dampness inside car.

Some people recommend reducing tyre pressure for wet roads. But it could affect the ground clearance when wading through water, especially if there are hidden potholes.

[Firebird]

UVA took monsoon well. There are no rattles so far. But I did keep the tire pressure low to 27 and driving was kind of very much careful over pot holes. Got FE of 11 with low pressure.

Been to Sinhagad this monsoon. The road was exactly for SUV or Sumos and the rear left suspension setup started squeak due to bad road condition of the left side of the road. Actually there was no road on the left hand side . I had to go back to service center to get the suspensions checked. They ultimately replaced rear left suspension FREE OF COST .

Thanks to Chevrolet Promise. Now I guess I can go OFFROAD.. :-)