This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Cooper Tires and DiMe Media. All opinions are my own.
I’m hard headed. It’s true. Stubborn, some might say. Terco, to be quite honest. And over the years I’ve kind of gotten especially good at being a cynic. Not that I choose to believe the worst in every situation, but that more often than not I’d rather opt for being surprised instead of being disappointed.
It’s not the most endearing of characteristics, but hey, what’s that saying we all grew up with? No soy monedita de oro para caerle bien a todos. Well it’s true. But so is the notion that none of us is a sabelotodo, and we can all learn something new every single day.
That’s what happened to me over the last couple of weeks.
I told y’all a few weeks ago that I was getting new tires installed thanks to the folks at Cooper Tires. Well me being the cynic that I am, I thought “okay cool, new tires.” I didn’t honestly think there would be a major difference in how these new tires would drive, much less how much they would change my perception about road safety all together.
I know, I know. Sure they drive a lot better. They’re better tires than the gently used tires I had been sporting around for the last couple of months. No question there.
During my time in Miami for Hispanicize 2017, however, I had the chance to participate in a live focus group with Cooper Tires. It was a room full of men and women from across the country. All Latinos. All who were sharing their own experiences about how they had thought about the tires on their vehicles until then. Most, like me, confessed they hadn’t ever really given much thought to what tires were on their cars at any given moment.
Every now again we give them a glance when we remember, or when we happen to get a flat tire, but other than that, they’re out of sight and out of mind. Tell me you haven’t thought about your own tires the same way before?
Our conversation about tires in the focus group got really intense. Afterwards Anjelica and I had a one-on-one chat with one of the folks from Cooper Tires who got us thinking even more seriously about how important our wheels are when it comes to keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe on the road. The more wear and tear they have, the less safe they are. That’s pretty much the gist of it – plain and simple.
Now that Edgar is closer to getting his driver license this is even more of a wake-up call. Not so much for us to keep up with his tires, but to teach him how to do it himself and why it’s so critical. At the end of the day, a set of good tires could make a huge difference on the road.
And that is more than enough good reason to turn this cynic into a tire-safety advocate.
Go check your tires folks!