Written by Teresa Anderson
Ever wondering what kind of training staff goes through at an auto repair shop, like Steve’s Auto Repair & Tire? A lot of times we get not only training videos and information to read and study from, but we also get to do plenty of ‘hands on’ learning as well.
I’d like to share my experience as a woman attending the BFGoodrich training course that was held at the FedEx Field on August 6.
At the 5 hour training course, myself and several colleagues learned about the new and popular tire lines offered by BFGoodrich – like the All Terrain KO2, and the Comp-2 A/S. We had a class with one of the most knowledgeable tire experts out there, that explained the different tests that all BFGoodrich tires undergo, and how the results of these tests compare to other tires on the market. Things that may seem small, like grip in the rain, and dealing with seasonal weather, vary widely from brand to brand.
And we didn’t just learn about the different tires, we got to get behind the wheel and experience first hand, the performance differences between a BFGoodrich tire and a competitor’s tire – on a dry and a wet weather course.
Hands down, one of the most valuable parts of the experience were these behind-the-wheel road courses, when it comes to giving us knowledge about tires that we can pass on to our customers. For each test, they had cars with the same year, make and model. The only difference was that one car had BFGoodrich tires, and the other, a leading
competitor’s tire.
While I was afraid to drive on the wet track, and had a professional driver there to drive me on the course, I did drive on the dry track. During both courses we practiced accelerating, hard braking, fast turns and swerving in the different conditions, to really push the vehicle to its limit. People normally don’t think about the performance differences from one tire to another, but when I got behind the wheel with both sets of tired, I was floored by how much better the BFGoodrich tires performed. The difference was absolutely night and day.
Overall, I felt that the BFGoodrich course was an excellent way to reinforce the things we’re constantly learning about tires and vehicles, and helping us to have a practical hands on understanding that we can pass on as knowledge to our customers. When it comes to the safety of yourself and your family, having technicians that can speak from experience about the quality and performance of tires is something you need to look for as a smart consumer.
