Posted on 1/30/2026
A pothole hit can feel like nothing more than a loud thump. Then a day later you realize you’re holding the steer ing wheel slightly turned just to keep the car straight. That pull might be mild, but it’s your car telling you something shifted, bent, or loosened up. Sometimes it’s just an alignment angle that got knocked out. Other times, the pothole started a chain of issues that gets worse the longer you drive on it. Why A Pothole Can Change The Way The Car Tracks When a wheel drops into a pothole, it’s not just the tire taking the hit. The impact loads the wheel, tire, and suspension all at once. That force can bend a wheel slightly, damage a tire internally, or jolt alignment angles out of spec. It can also stress steering and suspension joints that were already a little worn. The pull happens because the tires are no longer pointing and rolling the same way. If one front wheel is angled slightly differently, or one tire has a different ... read more