KOLKATA: Steady spells of rain and shoddy patchwork have forced several car-owners to make do with not-so smooth rides as they wait for the monsoon to end and the roads to get a fresh coat of bitumen before heading to the workshop for a full-fledged servicing.“What’s the point of undertaking a thorough repair now? Considering the current condition of the road, the car will again start giving trouble after a week. Hence, I am waiting for the monsoon to end, when the authorities will conduct a total repair of the road before the pujas. Only then will I send the car to the workshop,” said Kauhsik Roy, a resident of New Garia off EM Bypass. Tollygunge resident Sumanta Saha added that his car steering was giving trouble and there were some nagging noises whenever he was driving his car. “I know the undercarriage of the car has got damaged. This monsoon, I did a minor repair of the car alignment from a roadside garage. I know if I take it to a workshop, it will cost me nothing less than Rs 15,000 at a go. I will take it to the workshop only after the rain ceases and the roads get better,” said Saha.On August 6,had reported on how some of the roadside garages are making the most of the poor road condition. However, the same is not true for authorized car workshops in the city, which are waiting for a spike in business immediately after the monsoon till the start of the pujas.“This year, the number of cars in the workshop is less as compared to previous years. We understand that this is primarily because the motorists want a thorough servicing once the rough season is over. We have already started having bookings for September and by the end of this month, more queries will start pouring in,” said Soumendra Ghoshal, the owner of Maruti Ultracraft Service Centre at Raja Dinendra Street.Subhrangshu Hazra, the service manager of the Audi service centre at Aurupota off EM Bypass, echoed: “The craters often cause long-term damages to cars. In the premium section, it takes time for the suspension to have problems but the undercarriage gets badly damaged. Rubber mouldings also get damaged and so is the alignment. But since the roads are bad almost everywhere, people do tend to drive cautiously with the existing minor damages and come to us only after the end of the season,” said Hazra.Since the start of monsoon this year, roads across the city — from EM Bypass in the east and Budge Budge Trunk Road in the west to DH Road down south till VIP Road and Jessore Road in the north — have disintegrated and are infested with craters. The agencies in charge of the roads have done patchworks time and again but with little success.According to service engineers, the tyres suffer the most when a car hits a pothole . “The sudden impact causes shift of air inside the tyre, which can cause the sidewall to bulge out or can even cause a puncture. The wheels can get damaged too as there can be bends or cracks in the side of the wheel where the rim meets the tyre,” said a service engineer of a Honda service center.A regular backbreaking journey can even damage the suspension system and bend the steering components out of alignment. “It makes handling the car difficult because of wear and tear on shocks. If the vehicle comes out of alignment, it won’t drive straight,” said an engineer of Ford India.

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