[Vwdiesel] A4 handling issues

[Scott Kair]

Loren wrote:

>>Either that or the
roads or I am getting really bad!<<

    Deteriorating roadbeds and surfaces may well contribute to the problem.
Lack of money is something else that runs downhill:  the feds are broke, so
a good many states are broke, which causes county and local governments to
be broke, so less roadway maintenance is being done.
    More traffic going faster, particularly more trucks weighing more going
faster, is detrimental not only to surfaces but the roadbed base underneath.
Cutting back on maintenance is one of the first things government agencies
do as a short-term expedient during financial shortfalls.  Naturally it
comes back to bite very hard later, but by then it may be someone else's
problem.
    We have spots on the interstate- and even state highways running through
town- where the wheel tracks are almost like wagon-wheel ruts in dirt roads.
If a front wheel gets on the slope, directional stability suffers to say the
least.  It gets to be a whole lot of fun transporting on/off road equipment
with lower pressure tires that are wider than the grooves, and anything with
center-mounted rear guide wheels has to be, as Lee put it, herded down the
road.
    It might be interesting to find out whether the autobahn, where
presumably the input data for setting steering angles originates, is
maintained better than the roads here in the states.
    Scott Kair