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Due to the fantastic state of public roads in Emalahnleni my tyres are ruined, but luckily the rims are still o.k. My rim size is 17", but now I am undecided between 225/50R17 and 225/45R17. Unfortunately R/T Wrangler offroad tyres don't come in either size (and will make my car look a bit stupid) so would the 50's provider better cushioning than 45's for potholes?

Well the first ones have a wall of 113mm and the second ones have a wall of 101mm. So I'm guessing that extra 12mm might help.

yes - higher profile tyres would be better

WiK1d is spot on in his calculations - the profile ratio is the percentage of the width of the tyre that makes up the height - so if its 225 wide a 50 profile would mean that the height of the tyre is 50% of the width

with higher profile tyres and the correct tyre pressure you wont be pinching the sidewalls when you hit the pothole hence they have a better chance of survival - they will also provide better cushioning and create better ride comfort but will decrease handling and roadholding to a small extent - so lower profile tyres are more suited to sporty conditions while higher profile tyres are more suited for comfort conditions as well as a bit more durability in regard to potholes because it is easier to buckle your wheels with a lower profile tyre since the lower sidewall means that the metal of the wheel is closer to the ground hence more exposed

I don't want to sound like a chop, so maybe you guys should enlighten me a bit after my forthcoming statement.

Why not just drive carefully? Seriously man, I drive on some TERRIBLE roads on an almost daily basis, and I somehow manage to miss the potholes. Even on roads that you haven't driven before, just assume that they're full of potholes and drive in the appropriate manner. I screwed one of my wheels a few months ago because of a pothole, but honestly, that was my fault. I wasn't being careful at all.

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:I don't want to sound like a chop, so maybe you guys should enlighten me a bit after my forthcoming statement.

Why not just drive carefully? Seriously man, I drive on some TERRIBLE roads on an almost daily basis, and I somehow manage to miss the potholes. Even on roads that you haven't driven before, just assume that they're full of potholes and drive in the appropriate manner. I screwed one of my wheels a few months ago because of a pothole, but honestly, that was my fault. I wasn't being careful at all.

The problem I've had is when it had rained and you can't see where the potholes are...

And pottering along at 20km/h is kinda unproductive.

Yeah, driving in the rain is certainly a tough one to do when potholes are involved.

I don't know, I think maybe you (ST Visagie) should just try driving a little more carefully. Despite the bad roads, I don't find potholes to be a problem big enough to buy specific tires for...

the problem with potholes is that they cause more damage when you brake - you tend to sink inside them easier - the idea is to be going fast enough so that at that point you are going so fast that the other three wheels and your momentum make you more-or-less airborne at that wheel so it just skims over the pothole

obviously this doesnt work in town where you are forced to be driving slow but it does on freeways and fast moving freely flowing traffic - ad it was the wheel repair guy who told me this - he said right now he is making hundreds of thousands of rands out of guys who see the pothole and brake to try and go over it slower

I don't know, I think maybe you (ST Visagie) should just try driving a little more carefully. Despite the bad roads, I don't find potholes to be a problem big enough to buy specific tires for...

you obviously do not use low profile tyres - ive had to reduce the wheel size after three tyres were written off and ive also had to replace an entire set of rims when two tyres were buckled and another bent out of shape when i hit a road repair in central town - the local city council is apparently spending millions on replacing peoples tyres due to its negligence in failing to effectively repair the roads - i claimed only the R4,5k it cost me to replace the set of wheels and the single tyre that burst on my incident but it seems like others are submitting fancy figures for apparently fancy cars

You're missing my point, Nitin You're still hitting those potholes. I try to drive carefully, so I SELDOM go over a potholes.

My emphasis is not on the replacing of wheels, etc, it's on trying to avoid the potholes altogether

I agree with DJV.

The idea is to miss the pothole completely and not brake and go over it slowly. Potholes are only a problem when you don't concentrate on the road by looking and avoiding these buggers.

Hell then you haven't seen the Freestate roads, the dirt roads are in better condition....Were talking about potholes 15 to 20 cm deep and half a meter across...you physically have to slow down and stop and pass on the side of the road on numerous places...between Wepener and Zastron.

Thanks for the replies

@DAE

I should send you some pics of the roads in Emalhlaneni. You cannot avoid the potholes at all, a couple of weeks ago 80+ cars destroyed 2 wheels each all in the same pothole. The municipality replied to the reports by stating the following: "eish"

The problem is that SAfers are just not trained in the art of driving in Africa. I suggest you all go live in Zambia for a year. That should give you ample training in the skill of pothole avoidance.

it's on trying to avoid the potholes altogether

its impossible to do this especially on roads with fast flowing traffic - you slow down there and you will be tail ended - whats worse? - being hit by fast moving traffic or slowing to a crawl to avoid potholes

there are times when you have to be realistic - and driving slow is not option on most SA roads nowadays .... unfortunately

Potholes are only a problem when you don't concentrate on the road by looking and avoiding these buggers.

absolute twaddle - when there are cars in front of you and cars behind you - you are going to be looking at the road for potholes .... no wonder SA has the worst number of road accident deaths

I try to drive carefully, so I SELDOM go over a potholes.

and you seem to think that everyone else just spends their entire time on the road only going over potholes - when you do it with "granny" tyres - it doesnt cause a problem - do it once with low profile tyres and that once will destroy the tyre - so the term seldom means you still do go over potholes every now and then - as ive said earlier you obviously do not use low profile tyres whilst the opening poster does or has to - its different from driving around on 70 profile tyres with 14" or 15" wheels

The problem I have is that on numerous patches of road around us the have excavated pieces across the entire road and then filled it up with the ground they dug out... with the high volume of trucks on our local roads they mess up a road very quickly and playing dodge-a-pothole is something you do for about 20km at a time and the next moment "SMACK" you hit a canyon in the road... hence the reason I got a 2500TDi Ranger D/C

@Dae, you can't always see an incoming pothole if you drive behind another vehicle. I never lost a tire on a pothole though, and I guess I'm not one of the slowest drivers. I lost 4 so far on dirt roads though on a Mazda Drifter, good thing its the work's bakkie so I don't pay the tires.

Nuke wrote:@Dae, you can't always see an incoming pothole if you drive behind another vehicle.

Dude, if you're so close to the vehicle in front of you that you can't avoid a pothole it just went over, you need to check your following distance

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:

Nuke wrote:@Dae, you can't always see an incoming pothole if you drive behind another vehicle.

Dude, if you're so close to the vehicle in front of you that you can't avoid a pothole it just went over, you need to check your following distance

even if you are at a safe following distance - if the guy in front hits a pothole and brakes suddenly - then hits a pothole and loses a tyre - if you are in town you will most of the time not be far enough from him to avoid him - and on a freeway you might not have enough reaction time at 120km/h

as for keeping a safe following distance - nowadays most people dont bother cos some other idiot takes it as a gap to just step into - and invariably its some idiot who just got his drivers licence and never ever saw an accident yet so he doesnt fear what an accident is going to do to him and other people .... its now part and parcel of SA driving life that nonsense like this bound to happen more often than not

to be honest driving around at 20 cos you want to avoid potholes is no way to be driving at all - you will hit potholes - and even if its seldom you will hit them - and if you have low profile tyres you will lose tyres ..... end of story - so lets just call it what it is and state that the guys without low profile tyres dont have to worry as much as the guys with - there is no ways you can change the laws of physics - you will buckle your rims and damage the sidewalls of low profile tyres each time you hit a pothole with no exception - if i havent mentioned it before i will do so now and a little bit louder so you can hear me ....... IF YOU HAVE LOW PROFILE TYRES AND YOU HIT A POTHOLE IT IS DEFINITELY BYE-BYE TYRE ..... there is nothing else to it and all the rest is all gumpf - if you dont have low profile tyres you shouldnt even bother trying to be a part of this discussion cos you dont know what the guys who do have low profile tyres are talking about

the idea is not to avoid hitting potholes cos thats impossible - and dont even pretend it isnt - and the only way you can achieve this is to drive once a year on your own driveway - other people who use their cars all the time will be hitting several potholes every hour .... some small and minor and some large and potentially life-threatening - city councils throughout the country are reimbursing people for damaged wheels almost on a daily basis so its not like it doesnt happen all the time

as i have stated before if you have 14' wheels with 70 profile tyres then you have no basis to present any argument in this thread cos its merely argumentative and not based on experience and is not factual - and if you drive at 20 looking for potholes to avoid then i fear it wont be long before we have another thread to talk a lot in entitled

"SOME IDIOT REAR-ENDED ME AND MY CAR IS WRITTEN OFF"

So the profile is a ratio of the width? Cool, learn something new everyday... I thought it was an absolute measurement in mm. I always wondered why my front tyres had a larger profile than the rears but it makes sense becoz the rears are wider than the fronts.

This thread is exactly why i got my self a Dutsun Hardbody 3.3V6 d/cab
I had brigestones and then got some Hankook DynaPro Muds. (265,70,16)


But i think even these tires get hurt on Potholes. the thread is soft and can get damaged and these tyres are R2000 each.

I dont understand what you want to know.
In your case its all about sacrifice, The higher the profile the less good looking but more protective on your rim. Or just dodge them.
Just like that.
Its your choice point


In my case the higher and wider the profile the stronger it gets and it looks good, get your self a bakkie

The reason I have 2 sets of rims...
1 set that I use for everyday driving with BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires because it is harder and more durable than the MT tires
plus it is more than efficient for the everyday mud wrestling or dirt road driving




and 1 set with BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain tires for when I go into soft soil off road conditions or when I go to the coast and only to get more grip on the softer surfaces than I would get with the AT tires

My father's car has low profile 17" wheels. The stock tyre was Michellin and the wheels are imported.

He hit three potholes on three separate occasions and had to replace both tyre and wheel. Michellin only imports a small batch of those tyres every 6 weeks and the wheel has to be imported from Germany if the Renault warehouse is out of stock.

They say you can judge a country by its roads...