Maverick61

Wow, surprised to hear that. I thought we had some pretty bad roads in PA. But sounds like you have it much worse. I guess I am comparing to my old car - where I had 18" wheels but with much lower profile tires so less tread protection than I do with the 19" wheels on my Audi. On my old car, I did have issues with tire blowouts and one bent rim til I ultimately switched to 17" wheels and a less low profile tire. The 19" wheel and tire combo on my Audi actually give even a little more tread height protection than the 17" combo on my old car so luckily (knock on wood) they work well here

Akshun

I just ordered me some 19s from Hartmann. Woooooo doggy!!!!

irenesbob

In the US, snowy regions like the northeast seem to have a pothole creation service performed annually by the local and state highway departments. By that I mean they use huge, heavy steel plows then attach them to heavy trucks that scrape the heavy blades down the road at speeds up to 60 mph. This rips away curbs, tears concrete aggregate expansion joints and more. The goal is not to remove the deep snow so drivers can pass, but to remove every bit of snow down to the road surface on the assumption that the average driver has little in the way of snow driving skills and a car improperly or not at all prepared for winter diving. So, every winter we tear up the roads, then during spring and summer we slowly patch them. We get to drive on the repaired, somewhat smoother roads for three months or so, then when the snow hits the “tear up the roads” program begins anew. I guess it is one of our culture’s annual cycles.
In Germany and most of Europe they have a different take on snow removal. Authorities assume and require that drivers know how to drive on snow and that their cars are properly equipped with snow tires and such. The goal of their snow clearing is to remove most of the snow so that the roads are passable, but not scraped clean down to the surface. Many of the plows used on European highways have rubber edged blades so as not to rip up the road surface and some have rubber tires to keep the blade from resting on the road surface as it moves along. The drivers themselves have a non-American take on life in that they do not expect the roads to be completely cleared "to the bone" within a few hours of a major storm so they can get to the mall, hairdresser, Sissy's ballet lesson and other such really important things. How quaint.