A jar of jam is a sweet idea here in the McHenry area. But there is nothing sweet about a jar from your car hitting a post-winter pothole. Hit the pothole hard enough and your teeth may float in your mouth a bit while your spine coils and uncoils painfully. Then there’s the question of what that pothole is doing to your car.

Cars are designed taking potholes into account. Suspensions are built to reduce the shock of uneven roads. But not all cars are built for offroad driving. And when a bit of the offroad spoils the McHenry asphalt where you’re driving, those irregularities can test your car’s suspension, steering and alignment. Even your tires and wheels are required to be up to the challenge.

Even an offroad vehicle, with a suspension built for the most extreme terrain, will experience wear and tear. What will a similar surface do to a vehicle primarily designed for finished roads?

Hit just one McHenry pothole hard enough and a litany of damage can occur. And that list is not necessarily limited to one from the list below; more than one mechanical part can experience damage. In fact, the longer you drive with one damaged steering or suspension part, the more likely it is that the problem will spread.

Here are some of the parts that can experience damage from even a single pothole:

• Shocks/Struts
• Control Arms
• Tie Rods
• Ball Joints
• Wheels
• Tires
• Alignment

And that’s not a complete list. These are merely the most likely parts to experience problems from hitting too many potholes, or that one monster pothole.

With the McHenry winter of 2020-21 finally fading into the past, we are confronted with the wreckage of season on our roadways. As the potholes are filled, this is the time to have your steering, suspension, tires, wheels and alignment checked. Do it before any problems spread and before a pothole sends that jar of jam flying off the seat and breaking on the floor.