Even auto repair workers who profit from potholes unhappy

Potholes are so pervasive on Oahu that local car-repair company Lex Brodie’s offers customers a “Pothole Prescription Special” that includes alignment, tire rotation and brake and suspension checks.

Kekoa Nobriga, a Lex Brodie’s manager who has been with the company for 11 years, estimated that about 5 percent of the Kakaako location’s daily customers arrive at the shop complaining of pothole-related damage to their vehicles.

“We find a lot of issues with potholes cracking the (wheel) rims,” Nobriga said. “I mean, the roadway can do it as well, but sometimes when you have the deep impact on the pothole, it cracks the wheel itself. A lot of times it does throw off the alignment as well.”

It can cost between $300 to $1,000 to replace a rim damaged by a pothole, he said. Fixing a car’s alignment can cost $90 to $150, he added. About four or five of the Kakaako location’s 90 to 100 daily customers mention potholes, Nobriga said.

The multitude of local potholes on crumbling roads are good for business.

“We use the potholes to our benefit,” he said. “We even have commercials talking about pothole blues.”

Still, Nobriga added that he and Lex Brodie’s employees sympathize with customers because they drive on the same roads.

Nobriga, who commutes to work from Waipahu, said he lost a hubcap several weeks ago when he hit a pothole while driving along Kamehameha Highway in Aiea, where roads are torn from rail construction. “I saw my hubcap just fly off. I was kind of upset about it,” he said.

Often when a tire hits a pothole, the tire loses air, and drivers don’t realize they have a flat until it’s too late, causing severe damage to the wheel, he said.

Nobriga recommends drivers “keep an eye out” and drive more slowly to mitigate damage. Still, he said, local drivers are entitled to better roads.

He cited the new West Oahu-­bound lane on the Pearl City viaduct stretch of the H-1 freeway as one of the worst spots for potholes. The state hasn’t finished repaving the lane, which used to be a shoulder lane for cars to pull over in an emergency.

State transportation officials had hoped to wrap up that work by the end of last year, but rain and perfecting the concrete mix delayed the work, they say. They now hope to have it done by the end of February.

“It’s terrible,” Nobriga said.