Reader Letter: Inferior Road Tar Causing Tire Alignment Issues?

We don't often print reader letters -- @Fairfield HamletHub is a mostly celebratory site focused on events across the community -- but this particular submission, from Fairfielder Gwen Ackley, seemed worthy of putting up as it could affect all of us who drive around town and especially on newly paved streets. Read on...

 

It started out as a soft repeating noise while driving home from work one day. Pulling into the gas station, I walked around to check to see if any of my car’s tires were low on air, but all seemed fine. When I got home and pulled into the driveway, I asked my husband to listen if he heard anything outside the car, but he said it all seemed okay.

The next morning, driving to work down North Benson Road I noted the unusual sound again. I thought to myself that I should contact my mechanic when I get to work to schedule an appointment to get it checked out. I got onto I-95 just before 7 am for my down-county commute. Traffic was the usual rubber-banding; alternating between slow bumper-to-bumper to accelerating to the speed limit for a stretch, then back to the snails’ pace. The repeating noise continued, so I checked my gauges and tried to see if the car pulled at all. Except for the noise, it all seemed okay, and the noise went away below 20 mph.

But after a stretch of faster driving, the noise increased in volume, now sounding like I was driving on the “wake-up” strip. Then there was a vibration in the steering wheel. That’s it, I decided, I’m getting off at the next exit before it breaks down on the turnpike. I get off at exit 18 and decide to take the back roads back to Fairfield where I can go at slower speeds.

Driving white knuckled, praying that I make it to my mechanic on Tunxis Hill Road, the noise seemed to be blaring if I went over 30 mph. What could it be? Wheel bearings, brakes, the suspension falling apart? I finally pulled into the parking lot and was very relieved to park the car, still trembling and certain that my blood pressure was elevated.

My mechanic, Nick Gramigna of Nick’s Automotive Technology, told me that I was his fifth customer with the same car trouble – noise, vibration, and shimmy. The cause of the problem was – drum roll please – road tar!

Nick believes that Fairfield is paving the streets with an inferior grade of asphalt that is sticking onto tires. The paving is being done all over town, so no telling for certain which street caused the problem with my car. The more that you drive with the tar stuck on your tires, as it heats up the more it gets into the grooves and throws off the wheel alignment. Nick cleaned my tires and I got my car back the same day.

I think that our fellow Fairfielders should be made aware of this problem, so that if they experience the same symptoms that they get their cars tires checked out right away. 

Thank you,

Gwen Ackley

F
Submitted by Fairfield, CT

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