Potholes are the product of winter weather but don’t put all the blame on the season; you and your car, truck or SUV share some of the blame.

How is it possible that you would play a role in the crumbling of McHenry roadways? To understand, we need to look at how potholes form. For our purposes, it can be narrowed down to a three-step process. The steps are as follows:

1. Rainwater, melting snow and ice seep into the asphalt. As it runs through, it moves into the roadbed gravel and the soil beneath.
2. The weight of vehicles passing above forces the water down. 
3. As the moisture in the asphalt, roadbed and soil freezes and thaws, it causes expansion and contraction that erodes the roadbed under the asphalt allowing the weight of passing cars, trucks and SUVs to break the asphalt above into pieces.

What this means is that driving plays an integral role in the creation of potholes. We can do a lot to save the roads from potholes if only we quit driving during the winter months (the heat of summer can cause the pavement to buckle). Since it’s really not practical to stop driving all winter, we’re just going to have to live with the existence of potholes until road crews can come out and patch or replace the pavement.

The problem with potholes is that they disrupt those soft, smooth stretches of road we all prefer to drive on (all of us except the offroad drivers who go out of their way looking for the roughest stretches on or off the road). While this is uncomfortable for us, it’s worse for our vehicles.

For a car, truck or SUV potholes are down-right abusive. They cause excessive wear for steering and suspension components. They generally shake your vehicle apart. Drive over enough potholes and you’re liable to hear new rattles coming from the car, truck or SUV.

Drive through enough McHenry potholes and you’ll need to start replacing your shocks, struts and other components of the steering and suspension. And, it’s important to remember that worn steering and suspension parts can make your vehicle dangerous to drive.