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New asphalt drive...car tire divots

13K views 36 replies 12 participants last post by  rkfast  
#1 · (Edited)
Had a new drive installed three weeks ago. Base was compacted well, crushed stone and even some portland cement mixed in to the base. About 2" of asphalt poured and rolled. Very well known contractor did the work, definitely an experienced, reputable crew. Stayed off it for a whole week. Temps here are fairly low, too right now. After the week elapsed, Ive been parking my small SUV on it. No more than 8 hours at a clip and overnight when temps are low.

Much to my horror today, I noticed small tire divots and even tire tread patterns all over the drive. They are evident was drive is wet from rain but more or less dissappear when things dry out. Then, the only way to "see" these things is to run your hand over the drive and feel them.

What could be causing this and is it at all normal for this sort of thing at this stage of a new drive?
 
#2 ·
wouldda been helpful to post where YOUR 'where' is located,,, absent that, sounds as if the hot mix wasn't,,, how far from the plant ? did they use a spreader to pave it ? did the truck sit before dumping its load ? was the screed hot ? did the trk driver arrive holding coffee cup ?
 
#7 ·
did a few driveways in nj just for,***** & giggles on a couple w/e's as favors,,, 4" of base & 2" of top was standard,,, dumped 1,000's of tons on the lie, too,,, op's 2" was cold imo so there's no poss repr - just rip out & repl

whether this 2" was top layer ( wearing course ) or total thickness remains unknown as the op never said
 
#10 · (Edited)
OK, OP here.

Its a new drive, base is about 5" or more of RCA, compacted and leveled pretty well. Asphalt laid about 2-3 inches..about the depth of the paver border, maybe an extra inch or so. Here are some pics of base and the type of marks we are looking at. They are all over.

I parked our Mazda CX-5, hardly a "heavy" vehicle, in a "new" spot at 7Pm last night, dark, temps in the 50s. And woke up to new divots where car was after wife drove to work. Cool weather and drive is now 3 weeks old at this point and leaving marks. I cant imagine what I would have if it was 80 degrees out and I tried to park on this drive at, say 1PM.

Important point..to make the divots "show" the driveway has to be wet. Once dry, these cannot be seen. But when its wet, they are all over. Looks horrible.
 

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#12 ·
Wow. That does not look good. Just had ours done this fall. The UPS man comes up our driveway on a regular basis and no compaction even from his truck.

Only thing I need to watch out for is people turning steering wheels without moving because that will tear up a new drive way.

Call the "reputable" contractor and have him mill the drive out and do it right.

I view Bondo as the asphalt expert on this site. Hopefully he will come by and comment.
 
#16 ·
Didnt pay by CC. It was part of a larger job.



I spoke to my mason this AM who subbed out the asphalt. He said the asphalt company will come by in the next week or so to have a look. I told him I need to be there to show him whats going on. I have a really solid relationship with mason and asphalt company is one of the larger ones in the region. So Im hopeful this is rectified smoothly (no pun intended).
 
#18 · (Edited)
Important point..to make the divots "show" the driveway has to be wet. Once dry, these cannot be seen. But when its wet, they are all over. Looks horrible.
Ayuh,..... Asphalt mix varies, widely, from batch to batch, much less from plant to plant,....
Which is My major bytch 'bout the plant We buy from,....
They make 57 different mixes, 'n I never know what I'm getttin' til I dump some on the ground,...
I order what I want, 'n get whatever they put in our trucks,....
But that's another story,....

At this point in time, I suggest ya quit sprayin' water on yer blacktop if ya don't like the looks of it,.....
Let it settle in over the winter, asphalt is much more dynamic than concrete, even in these temps,....
Blacktop cures in 2 different ways,.... 1st is, it gets hard when the heat is removed from it,...
The 2nd is a chemical cure that takes ages to happen, though even then, it can be brought back to it's fluid state, with enough heat,....

2, 1/2" to 3" is what We put in for a single lift driveway, which most of ours are,....
(the strength of asphalt is the base under it, not the toppin' put down)
Binder, then top is more for commercial applications, or in high rent houses, ei; rich folks driveways,....
2 to 3 times the material, 'n more than twice the labor,....

As I said, til Spring, try to park in slightly different spots, each time ya park, 'n don't worry 'bout it,.....
I'm guessin' that by Spring, you'll be Happy with yer new driveway,....

Either way, come on back in the Spring, 'n I'll tell ya how to keep yer driveway in pristine condition for decades to come, by seal coatin' it with portland cement,..... ;)
 
#20 ·
Ayuh,..... Asphalt mix varies, widely, from batch to batch, much less from plant to plant,....
Which is My major bytch 'bout the plant We buy from,....
They make 57 different mixes, 'n I never know what I'm getttin' til I dump some on the ground,...
I order what I want, 'n get whatever they put in our trucks,....
But that's another story,....

At this point in time, I suggest ya quit sprayin' water on yer blacktop if ya don't like the looks of it,.....
Let it settle in over the winter, asphalt is much more dynamic than concrete, even in these temps,....
Blacktop cures in 2 different ways,.... 1st is, it gets hard when the heat is removed from it,...
The 2nd is a chemical cure that takes ages to happen, though even then, it can be brought back to it's fluid state, with enough heat,....

2, 1/2" to 3" is what We put in for a single lift driveway, which most of ours are,....
(the strength of asphalt is the base under it, not the toppin' put down)
Binder, then top is more for commercial applications, or in high rent houses, ei; rich folks driveways,....
2 to 3 times the material, 'n more than twice the labor,....

As I said, til Spring, try to park in slightly different spots, each time ya park, 'n don't worry 'bout it,.....
I'm guessin' that by Spring, you'll be Happy with yer new driveway,....

Either way, come on back in the Spring, 'n I'll tell ya how to keep yer driveway in pristine condition for decades to come, by seal coatin' it with portland cement,..... ;)

Well, this definitely makes me feel a bit better. Like I said, they are gonna come by soon and look at it. Mason says hes seen it happen before and the asphalt guy can fix with some heat.
 
#27 ·
They worked quickly. Definitely didn't go slow.
Ayuh,..... Everything you just explained, is how blacktop works,.....

Many of my days are spent waitin' on dump trucks, but once they arrive, it's hinnies & elbows, Flyin', for an hour or 2, then pack up, 'n move on,....

Again,..... I really don't see a problem,..... nature of the material, 'n job,.....
A walk-behind roller is just fine,....
Done many tons of asphalt with a single drum walk-behind roller,.....

Lookin' at yer pictures, only thing I'd have done differently has to do with the prep, not the blacktop,.....
I'd have found another inch of pitch, so ya didn't have that standin' water,.....
That might get better with age though,.....
The fresh oil has surface tension with the water, causin' slow drainage of slight pitch,....
 
#30 · (Edited)
Alright, based on what youre telling me Im good. Im gonna have the contractor have a look and call it a day. More pitch would have been tough for a few different reasons I wont get into but we have had some rough rains and no issues with water going the wrong way. Its all going away from the house and/or down the drive. That picture I took was about ten seconds after I watered down the drive to make the imprints show clearly.
 
#29 ·
Hey @Bondo, why am I not surprised to see you hanging around here? Strange that I haven't seen you before...
Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 7,936
Ayuh,....... Just as at iboats, I post in the few sub-forums I may, or may not know what I'm talkin' 'bout, but rarely or never post in sub-forums that I know, I know nothin' 'bout,.....

As you can see, I'm been 'round here awhile,...... :wink2:
 
#31 ·
don't know how parking in a different area ea nite'll compact cold mix over a long island winter,,, maybe n of the city, plants put out different mixes but i doubt it,,, most plants have nysdot approved mixes & are certified by nysdot,,, rap (recycled asphalt products [road millings]) are acceptable in new hot mixes but ONLY to a certain %age,,, that doesn't mean plants don't add more than nysdot standard for private work,,, this may explain why bondo's always getting different mixes,,, never happens on nysdot jobs in my experience

1 of these MAY do the trick: https://www.asphaltsealcoatingdirec...RC8ARIsAIOyQ-n-Yf7FKkXIYLSc51gLM3b6Nq1uAdESLZQBJeh0Y8ErZM7_005yqlQaAlclEALw_wcB

this means the contractor's lost $ on this job but that was his own fault