Potholes the number one cause of sidewall damage, says Kwik Fit

Motorists in England will be pleased to hear the Government has allocated £168 million to repair pothole damage. Based on a cost of £53 for each temporary pothole repair, the money given to 148 councils will be used to fix around three million potholes. Councils that “demonstrate best practice in highways maintenance” will receive extra.

But the announcement of these funds for local councils comes too late for some. Research carried out by ICM for Kwik Fit shows that one in five car owners have had to replace a tyre in the last year due to damage to the sidewall, rather than through tread wear, and the most common cause of sidewall damage is hitting a pothole. Of the 2,003 UK car owners questioned by ICM, 53 per cent said their tyres or wheels had suffered damage in the last two years. 22 per cent said they’d hit a pothole while 11 per cent experienced damage after hitting debris on the road. Other damage was self-inflicted, with ten per cent having hit a kerb while parking and nine per cent while driving. Four per cent of respondents claimed tyre wall damage due to under-inflation.