Bridgestone Firestone Drive & Learn

Copyright © 2006 by Larry Mason

I recently enjoyed being a participant in the Bridgestone Firestone Drive & Learn program at California Speedway. It was a day structured to compare their tires against Goodyear and Michelin. Not only was it a fun day, but one where I learned specific differences between all these well known brands. The day consisted of a couple of classroom sessions, driving sessions, Q&A, and a LeMans style competition with participants.

The day was primarily aimed at local tire dealer personnel; however, media was invited as well. It started out under an enclosed awning adjacent to the transporter with an overview of new products, racing schedules, and shows. It wasn’t long before we were split into two main groups and sent outside to do some driving.

There was a single “test track” set up in one of the massive parking lots where the crew had outlined the course with orange safety cones. To make driving the course more challenging, a water truck dutifully dumped its load every few minutes. My first competitive comparison took place in the front wheel drive Pontiac G6 where I compared the Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires versus the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred. The back to back test on the sopping wet course was a real eye opener. While both brands of tires are high quality, I noticed that the Goodyear tires tended to lose grip more rapidly especially upon throttle lift off. How does that translate into the real world? Well, think about driving in an emergency situation whereby the first thing you do to avoid an accident is to turn the steering wheel and lift off of the throttle. The Bridgestone tires provided superior grip in this circumstance.

As soon as we were done with the Pontiacs, the groups switched to the other set of cars – this time for me it was the BMW 325. The match-up here was the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS versus the Michelin Pilot AS. As you might imagine, the Bridgestone tires came out on top again. This time I noticed that the Potenzas had greater overall grip while providing good predictability. The Michelin seemed to suffer much more understeer and trailing throttle oversteer (TTO). Normally a manufacturer builds understeer into the general handling characteristics of their vehicles. That tends to be a good safety measure. The problem arises when the driver lifts off of the throttle in an emergency maneuver. Moreover, most drivers typically tend to feed in more steering as the understeer worsens leading directly to the TTO.

After the driving stints, we came back to have a brief tech talk. Here questions were raised on a multitude of subjects including tire pressure monitoring systems, proper inflation pressures and more. The TPM is a major issue these days as both a safety feature, and as an extra cost to the consumer. If your vehicle is equipped with TPMs, make sure you bring your vehicle to a reputable retailer when changing wheels, tires, or even just fixing a flat. If they don’t have the right equipment and they damage your TPMs, replacement costs can exceed $1,000!

One of the most common mysteries among consumers is where to find out what the proper tire inflation pressure should be. The answer is that it’s typically found on a placard on the door jamb. Sometimes it will be located on the trunk lid while others locate it with the owner’s manual. Some vehicles list this information inside the fuel filler door! One other note of interest came up. If you only replace two tires, where should they go – on the front or back? According to the driving experts there, the two new tires should be placed in the rear for better grip under braking.

After some lively discussions, we went back out to the track to be split up into five groups. This time we’d be competing as teams against the clock in a LeMans style “race.” The stopwatch would start and the first person of the group would drive one lap of the track, come in to a stop box, get out and tap the next driver. This would take place with all eight drivers on our team. Time penalties would be assessed for a myriad of things including knocking over cones, not wearing your seatbelt, and so on. I was placed into Team One which I thought would be a disadvantage since the track was still quite wet. We worked well as a team and then waited and heckled the other teams as they did to us. When the competition was complete, we convened back under the awning and waited to hear the results. It was my lucky day! Thanks to my teammates, we won the competition and walked away with a nice backpack. I was a double winner as both my teammate and I also had the quickest driver’s change. For that we were rewarded with a sleeve of Bridgestone Precept golf balls which I’ll definitely put to use!

I left there with the goal of spreading the word about tire safety and care. Incidentally, National Tire Safety Week takes place from April 23-29, 2006. Are you and your tires ready for the upcoming driving season? With the price of gas these days, proper tire care can help you stretch your time between fill-ups, not to mention keep you and your loved ones safer on the road. For more information on tire safety, please visit www.tiresafety.com.