Do Speed Humps Mess Up Tracking/Wheel Alignment On Cars ?

1jacks64

I was going over speed humps the other day and wondered if they mess up the tracking/wheel alignment on cars. Does anyone know if this is the case? Or am I totally wrong?

rizla01

AT 50mph - PROBABLY.

At a reasonable speed, provided your bits are tightened up then there will be no problems..

tonys_3

It is impossible to say since there is a complete lack of standardisation in road humps.The research into road humps was very poor.Some humps are curved,and some are angled-and all the angles are different.There is no set distance apart for each one.
I assume it makes it impossible for snow ploughs to operate on such roads as well.

The angled road humps are the ones that are most likely to affect wheel alignment,
since some of them are so badly angled that your car is jolted quite badly even at low speeds.It is not possible to look at each set of humps and judge accurately the speed at which you can attempt them.This is partially borne out by the gouges in the road
just past the hump.

I have not mentioned another type of hump-the individual ones,either two or three
strung across the road.The larger vehicles can straddle these without having to slow down,especially if there are no vehicles coming in the opposite direction [which would seem to defeat their object].
Hard to say the effect on vehicles that slightly misjudge their approach and hit the
cambered part of the hump further up than they intended.
They do seem to give extra problems to the narrower guaged vehicles and black cabs
in London have problems as a lot of them have low slung exhaust systems that can
get damaged.
I don't know if anyone has successfully managed to claim recompense for damage/
expense caused by them?I do know that the Councils do not accept liability-they simply pass you on to the company that constructed the humps.

It is about time that the motoring public had a voice that could complain loudly and strongly on our behalf and not just about humps.The AA and RAC only pay lip service to our problems in an attempt to get more subscribers.

alanobrien

1jacks64 wrote:

I was going over speed humps the other day and wondered if they mess up the tracking/wheel alignment on cars. Does anyone know if this is the case? Or am I totally wrong?

I can tell you for sure that they can certainly split the suspension bushes.

We have loads of these things in our area and had to have the bushes replaced on the car at its last (third) service.
I was none to pleased about that.

ceegee

That's interesting, alanobrien. I was wondering about the suspension. We have tons of speed humps around here and I had to have struts and arms and things (excuse terminology....I'm female!) replaced on my car last year. I was livid about it, it cost a fortune and I did wonder whether the humps had contributed to this.

kazd

I have had to have the bushes changed on my car each time for the last three years. We have been living in an area with masses of speed bumps for the last three years and I slow down and drive over them very carefully.

mr_accountant

I would recommended you also post this on https://www.honestjohn.co.uk, go to the back room then discussion, im sure many people will give you a response to this one.

Luis

I knew it! At my last MOT I had a split front nearside bush (owch :eek: ) and we have LOADS of humps round by us and at work. I always crawl over them so slowly too. PLUS despite getting my wheels retracked and balanced very recently, it doesn't take long for the wobble to come back.