Exploring the Bridgestone Winter Driving School, this episode highlights the importance of winter driving skills and tire technology. Guests Todd Chapman and Kurt Sprinser discuss the school's unique offerings, which cater to drivers of all levels, from beginners to professionals. They emphasize how proper training on low traction surfaces can empower drivers and enhance safety. The conversation also delves into the significance of winter tires, particularly the upcoming Bridgestone Blizzak Ice Peak, and how they can dramatically improve vehicle performance in harsh conditions.
In this episode, we sit down with Kurt Spitzner, Operations Manager at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Todd Chapman, Sr. Manager of Product Strategy at Bridgestone Americas, who share expert insights on mastering winter driving—from essential techniques for handling ice and snow to why choosing the right winter tires, like Bridgestone's renowned Blizzak line, can make all the difference in safety and performance.
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"...we've seen inside a nice Toyota Sequoia, very comfortable."
The Toyota Sequoia is a large SUV that can fit many passengers and is good for driving on different types of roads. It's known for being comfortable and powerful.
The Toyota Sequoia is a full-size SUV known for its spacious interior and off-road capabilities. It is designed for families and offers a comfortable ride with a strong V8 engine.
"...Todd Chapman, who is a product strategy manager for Bridgestone."
Bridgestone is a big company that makes tires for cars and other vehicles. They are known for their quality and technology in tire design.
Bridgestone is a leading global tire manufacturer known for producing a wide range of tires for various vehicles, including cars, trucks, and motorcycles. They are also involved in tire technology and innovation.
"...especially in these conditions, and Blizzak is like the number one winter tire in the industry, right? Tell us about it."
Blizzak tires are specially made for winter driving. They help cars grip the road better when it's snowy or icy, making them safer to drive in those conditions.
Blizzak is a brand of winter tires manufactured by Bridgestone, known for their superior performance in snowy and icy conditions. They feature a specialized tread pattern and rubber compounds designed to enhance grip and handling in winter weather.
"So I think tires are probably the most important component on your car because at the end of the day,"
Tires are the round rubber parts that help your car move and grip the road. They are very important for keeping your car safe and handling well while driving.
Tires are the only contact point between a vehicle and the road, making them crucial for safety, handling, and performance. The right tires can significantly affect a car's traction, braking, and overall driving experience.
"...the tire contact patch is about the size of a postcard. So even for a car this big. Yeah, it's still a very small contact patch."
The tire contact patch is the part of the tire that actually touches the ground. It's usually about the size of a postcard, and it's important for how well a car grips the road.
The tire contact patch refers to the area of the tire that makes contact with the road surface. This small area is crucial for traction, handling, and overall vehicle performance.
"...If you have a good high quality tire, you're gonna get good performance out of it. If the tire has lesser performance,..."
A high quality tire is one that is made with better materials and design, which helps it perform well on the road. It can provide better grip and last longer than cheaper tires.
A high quality tire is designed to provide better performance, including improved grip, handling, and durability. These tires often use advanced materials and technology to enhance their capabilities.
"Yeah, so summer tire is gonna be designed around warmer temperatures. A lot of times they're kind of handling focused or to make sure that you can get good handling characteristics on back roads."
Summer tires are special tires made for warm weather. They help cars handle better on the road, especially when it's dry or a little wet, but they aren't good for cold or snowy conditions.
Summer tires are designed for optimal performance in warm weather conditions, providing better handling and grip on both dry and wet surfaces. They typically have a rubber compound that remains flexible at higher temperatures, enhancing their performance compared to all-season or winter tires.
"One, make sure that it's also a competent tire in the wet as well, because wet happens a lot in the summer, especially in a lot of locations around the world."
Wet handling is how well a tire performs when the road is wet from rain. Good wet handling means the tire can grip the road and keep the car stable, which is very important for safety.
Wet handling refers to a tire's ability to maintain grip and control on wet surfaces, which is crucial for safety and performance in rainy conditions. Tires designed for wet handling often feature specific tread patterns and rubber compounds to channel water away and reduce hydroplaning.
"It has very good ice and wet capabilities because of our multi-cell technologies that we have, which are little micro pores that we make into the rubber."
Multi-cell technologies are special features in some tires that help them grip the road better, especially in wet or icy conditions. They have tiny holes in the rubber that help remove water from the surface.
Multi-cell technologies in tires refer to the design feature that incorporates small pores within the rubber compound. This design helps to enhance traction by allowing water to be channeled away from the tire surface, improving grip on icy or wet surfaces.
Sipes are tiny cuts in the rubber of a tire that help it grip the road better, especially in snow or ice. They make the tire safer to drive on slippery surfaces.
Sipes are small slits or grooves in a tire's tread that enhance traction on slippery surfaces by increasing the number of biting edges. They help improve grip on ice and snow, making tires more effective in winter conditions.
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Welcome to the AI Auto podcast with Javier Moda,
your front row seat to where artificial intelligence
meets horsepower.
Well, today we're here in a beautiful steamboat,
Springs in Colorado.
It's about 32 degrees outside, but we've seen inside a nice Toyota
Sequoia, very comfortable.
And we're with Todd Chapman,
who is a product strategy manager for Bridgestone.
And Kurt Sprinser, who is the director or I don't know what.
Operations manager.
Operations manager of the Bridgestone driving school.
So let's start with the name of it,
because I heard you're associated with Bridgestone,
but Bridgestone doesn't own the school.
Correct.
So the Bridgestone Winter Driving School is an independently
owned company, small company here in Steamboat Springs.
We've been exclusively here since 1983.
Bridgestone does own the title rights to the school,
but that allows us to have our own curriculum,
run our programs our own way,
but Bridgestone is associated with us.
And that part of the situation brings the technology,
what it's on the cars, that we're driving not only today,
but I think for a long time, right?
How long has been this?
We have this partnership for a long time here.
We do utilize the facility for testing needs.
We work with the team here at the Bridgestone Winter Driving
School for events such like this that you're at today,
where we bring media out to see our tires.
We also have some customer events that we do as well,
where we're bringing in maybe dealers or people
from higher visibility customers to have them come in
and actually feel the tires on the surface out here.
So we do a lot in conjunction with the driving school
for events and also for testing needs as well.
Yeah.
And Kurt, tell us about the school.
I mean, who can come here?
I mean, besides us, thank you for bringing us,
but who else can come here?
It's open to the public.
How much does it cost?
How long do they have to make a reservation?
Okay, so that's a good number of questions there.
So from a who can participate, who can come to the school?
Anyone with a state-issued driver's permit,
a learner's permit, or license?
So basically 16-year-olds help, I guess,
because that's when you can get it, right?
No, Kansas still does permits at 14, so.
Oh, really?
Oh, my God.
We've got 14-year-olds.
It's not too tough.
I went to high school in Kansas,
but they didn't have that back then.
But yeah, as long as they have a state-issued permit,
and of course, we have clients come from all over the world
to us, because we are very unique in the industry.
So we have programs for beginning drivers.
We have programs that are ideal for people
who are just regular day-to-day drivers
who just want to build confidence
in driving on a low traction surface.
We also have a robust law enforcement,
executive protection, ambulance training,
because if you're already in bad shape,
you don't want to be in worse shape
when you're in the ambulance.
And so with that, we also have a trailering program.
So for people who are using trailers in the wintertime,
we have a 25-foot steel trailer
that we actually use that for training here as well.
So it's a broad array of programs.
So will you consider winter conditions
the most dangerous for driving,
besides speeding and texting and drinking and driving,
those kind of things,
but the actual conditions of the weather,
would you think that that's,
or you will say that this is the worst condition
that people...
I would say that once you become accustomed
to driving in the winter,
well, yeah, but I...
It can be just as, you know,
no more really challenging...
Oh, yeah, but that's a practice, yeah.
Any other adverse weather conditions.
So a lot, if you think of our school
as an empowerment program, okay,
where we push you on an all ice surface all day long,
and you learn over the period of the class
how to manage the mass of the vehicle
instead of letting the mass of the vehicle manage you,
that's a tremendously empowering moment for most people
where they recognize that, hey,
with the proper tools, i.e. tires,
and with the proper education,
that I can drive...
Anywhere, safely.
Yeah, safely, yeah.
So talking about the technology of the tires,
which I think, I was thinking about this
when preparing for the podcast,
like tires are very underrated in a way
because you can buy a new rim for your car,
you can buy a spoiler, you can put decals,
you can change the paint,
but the modern tires at least are all black.
When they're moving, people don't know what they are
from far behind or whatever from the side,
but they're like really, really important, right?
And especially in these conditions,
and Blizzak is like the number one winter tire
in the industry, right?
Tell us about it.
So I think tires are probably
the most important component on your car
because at the end of the day,
your tire is the only contact to the road surface.
And really when you get down to it,
the tire contact patch is about the size of a postcard.
So even for a car this big.
Yeah, it's still a very small contact patch.
So that is the only surface of the tire
that's touching the road.
If you have a good high quality tire,
you're gonna get good performance out of it.
If the tire has lesser performance,
you might have braking concerns,
you might have some stability concerns.
There's lots of things that could be an impact for you.
So tires are absolutely the number one,
most important key thing that you would replace on a car
for normal maintenance items.
And tell us a little bit about the difference
between summer tires or regular tires.
I don't know what's the technical name of it.
All season that maybe people get a lot confused with that
and maybe overconfident and winter tires.
Yeah, so summer tire is gonna be designed
around warmer temperatures.
A lot of times they're kind of handling focused
or to make sure that you can get good handling
characteristics on back roads.
One, make sure that it's also a competent tire
in the wet as well,
because wet happens a lot in the summer,
especially in a lot of locations around the world.
But the compounds utilized on a summer tire
are targeted for warm temperatures.
You drive that tire in the temperatures
that you see out here at Steamboat below freezing
or even really we like to say around below 45 degrees.
That's where the tire starts to actually lose grip
because the compounds get hard.
So you're actually losing grip
versus what you'd have normally as a summer tire
in warmer temperatures.
So we typically are saying summer tires are used
from say 40 to 45 degrees and above.
And then we have like the all season segment.
As you mentioned, I'll lump also all weather
into this as well.
The all season and all weather segments,
they're the jack of all trades.
They have to be able to do your warm temperatures
but also cold temperatures as well.
Some limited amount of-
To some limits.
Limited amount of snow capabilities.
They're not going to be nearly as good
as a dedicated winter tire.
But they still, for somewhere that maybe gets snow
once a year or twice a year in a small amount,
you can get by with that.
You just have to be more cautious while you're driving.
Now an area like Steamboat,
where they have winter tires on their cars
for up to seven months out of the year.
Yeah, I was listening to that this morning.
They're really surprising.
October 1st?
Yep, yep, to the end of May.
Wow.
Yeah, so an area here where the temperatures are cold
like that for seven months out of the year
and they get typically a lot of snow.
Maybe not this year.
Not this year.
A lot of snow as well.
It's cold but not a lot of snow.
Winter tires are critical in this sort of environment
to make sure that you can get the places you need to go,
especially with the elevation changes that you have here.
You know, you have a steep driveway.
If you don't have a good quality tire.
Even for that little maneuver.
Right, you might get stuck.
You might not be able to get
or slide back, which is worse.
Yeah, exactly.
So going back to the school,
if people show up and sign up for it,
hopefully they already are interested in the topic
and they took care of putting winter tires with that.
What's the, I didn't most come on mistake maybe
or assumption or I don't know what the word,
I don't want to insult anybody.
But what will be, you think is like the concept
that people probably or we even myself,
like we don't understand about,
it's important to learn the proper techniques here.
Yeah.
I mean, that's a,
that could definitely turn into a loaded question.
I tried to put it very, very softly.
So I wouldn't, you know,
one of the most wonderful things about doing
the morning check-ins is that everybody who's coming
through our door wants to be here.
Exactly.
You know, so, and when you have a student body
that all wants to be in the class,
it makes it an easier experience for us for sure.
I think, you know,
without looking into different age groups, stuff like that,
it's, I think a lot of people,
especially on the safety-based programs,
assume that they're not going to do well.
Oh, really?
It's really kind of interesting is that they've either
had bad experiences on low traction surfaces
or they're expecting to have a bad experience
on a low traction surface.
So there's already, they've already got a dark cloud
over their head because they don't think
they're going to be able to manage it.
And one of the most empowering things that we have,
that happens to us during the class,
especially for people who have had accidents
in a low traction situation,
is that there's going to be a moment at some point in time
during the day, the process of the day,
where there's going to be some seat of the pants moment
where just before the really big bang that they had
when however long ago,
they're going to have that same dynamic feeling in the car.
And I always tell my students,
this is, you know, if you've had a bad experience,
at some point in time today,
this is you're likely to feel that feeling
when you do tell us, okay?
And then we can start looking at
what was going on dynamically.
Exactly, understand everything.
Yeah, and then it's, and then all of a sudden,
it's just like the world opens up for them.
As an instructor, it's a wonderful experience.
Yeah, because you accomplish the mission of the class.
I think it's also, you know,
you get to a point where they just then build the confidence.
They give the, they understand how the surface reacts
and what to do with the car.
And that gives them the confidence moving forward to say,
if I'm put in this situation on a regular road,
I know how to handle this situation.
So that panic moment is like the key
to turn the bad experience into a learning experience
that will be positive in the long term.
So let's talk about a little bit about the new tire.
Yeah.
That is debuting later this year.
Tell us a little bit about it,
because I mean, it's amazing.
Like, again, like people don't understand or they don't see,
but if you look closely,
they're like thousands of little turns and lines
and deep surfaces, it's incredible.
Yeah, so we have a new tire coming out here in May of 2026.
It's the Bridgestone Blizzak Ice Peak.
And this is the newest addition to our Blizzak lineup,
the premium Blizzak lineup.
It has very good ice and wet capabilities
because of our multi-cell technologies that we have,
which are little micro pores that we make into the rubber
to help wick water off of the surface of the ground,
which gives you additional traction on ice surfaces.
And to your point, we have a lot of sipes
and a lot of cuts on the tire.
It's incredible, to me, it's like...
We like to call those biting edges.
And the reason for that is that they actually will bite
into snow and grab the snow and hold it into the tire.
And that gives you additional traction
over just the tire surface itself.
And if you were on snow,
because snow on snow traction is actually,
a grip is higher than just a rubber on snow grip.
Think about a snowflake.
It has thousands of little points on it.
You see them in the microscope, it's amazing shapes.
So now you put that little snowflake
with 10,000 of its friends
underneath that contact patch,
the size of your like a postcard,
it ends up with a lot more grip than you would have
if you just had those biting edges alone
contacting the surface.
So they're extremely important
for the performance of the tire.
And again, this tire is gonna start production in May
and available when?
So availability in May as well.
Oh, okay. It started production already.
Oh, okay, okay, okay.
We'll have availability in May.
That's when sales will start.
And we wanna make sure that all of our major outlets
have time to order their tires
for the winter season for 2026.
And that tire is fully available to everybody.
Very diverse coverage for it.
We have 107 sizes going from 14 inch
all the way up to 22 inches.
And at least for North America,
we're covering 97% of the car park.
So it's a huge amount of coverage for us.
And you might be a little biased
because I mean, you have an association,
but obviously again, like the equipment,
the technology that touches the surface,
the ice, the snow, the black ice,
that's the difference.
I mean, the cars always they help
because they have a lot of technology
and they have snow mode, drive-ins mode and all that.
But that makes a huge,
and you've seen it like how many years
I don't know how you've been here, but.
So, I mean, we couldn't present the school
without Bridgestone as a partner.
Because if we just had conventional tires on our cars,
we would spend most of our day
towing cars out of the snow bed.
And.
You would need another partner for that.
Yeah, exactly.
So everybody's got to bring their triple A car.
So, but as Todd mentioned earlier,
it's the proper tool
because it's the most important piece
you can put on the car.
Because that's where you got your four,
five, 6,000 pound vehicle
and it's communicating with the ground
on these four things the size of your cell phone.
Yeah, incredible.
Well, from theory to practice,
and I've been doing it for a little bit here.
I'm not going to say anything
because I'm not allowed till next week,
but I mean, we haven't gone off the track.
So I think we're doing good, right?
We're done by.
Well, thank you very much.
And if people want to come,
how do they register or buy a ticket
or something?
Look us up on winterdrive.com.
OK, and that's it.
Winter. OK, I see it there.
And for the tire, same.
Bridgestone.com.
Well, easy. Everything.
Come, thank you very much for your time.
Thank you.
When I keep driving here
and I hope you get more snow this year.
That's it for today's AI auto podcast
with Javier Moda.
Hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did.
Tune in next time for more
on how AI steering the wheel of tomorrow's autos.
Drive safe, stay curious and catch you later.
New year.
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