Slippery Roads in the Bay Area – New Tire Time
Have you checked your tires lately? After the big storm and hearing that there were over 1800 accidents on the roads in the Bay Area in the last few days, now might be a good time to check your tires. Are your tires in good condition? Or are they bald with the tread showing? Celia Graterol checked her tires this week and realized she better get some new ones right now. She was so happy with her experience at Diamond Tire Center in San Rafael that she offered to do a guest blog post.
Yesterday, in the middle of the storm, I was looking for a place to replace the tires of my company truck. I, like so many that kept leaving it for later to replace almost bald tires, was pushed by the storm to get new tires right away. I stopped by two tire places in the Canal area of San Rafael and I am glad that I decided to check out my friend Bonnie’s referral, Diamond Tires, where I met with Paul after briefly talking over the phone with him. Paul is the owner who is a very nice, honest and knowledgeable guy. I later learned that he used to race at the Laguna Seca Raceway in the open cars category so I know he knows about tires and how important they are. Racing mountain bikes (including one race at Laguna Seca!) and looking for ways to improve my performance made me research and test different tires for different ground conditions since they are the direct contact to the ground!
Anyway, Paul’s prices were the most reasonable of the three places I checked. But beyond that I have to say their service was really good. Think about it, Paul had his shop packed with clients wanting tires right away, the phone was ringing non-stop, the rain storm was blowing air into the entrance and making the power go on and off, but Paul and his crew kept working, changing tires, ordering tires, and answering the many questions we all had about tires. And their customer service was impeccable, always polite, calm, patient, to the point, even though you could tell they were busier than usual.
When I was leaving, as a very happy client with 4 new tires, I asked Paul if they were busier than usual and it was then when he told me that in the last 2 days they had the sales and work of several weeks. He was happy about that but recognized they all were exhausted. I didn’t even notice how tired they were because they were so focused on providing a great service!
Also, Paul didn’t know that I am a geek computer tech that loves gadgets and that I know a little about tires and the process to replace tires because of the maintenance of my several mountain bikes I work on. So I was checking out the digital equipment he has to balance the tires and to do alignment, and it is really cool to see the precision of these machines!
If you need new tires or need alignment, I recommend Diamond Tires!
Thanks Celia!
PS. Paul sent us a wonderful video of his shop with his dog Buck, the Diamond Tire Customer Service dog. Buck is adorable and as soon as I can figure out how to add a video file to this blog I will.