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I respect what you are doing, coming from a family that has been in automotive field since its inception and close friends of a number of successful repair shops and dealerships in our town, you baffle me. I do not understand the dirty gloves in your videos when testing electrical and your metal bench. One; grease and dirt are a real problem in electrical circuits, (my specialty) your gloves are filthy and you could, contaminate a circuit. Two; not only is your bench filthy, it is metal, the last place you would test anything electrical on. Three; Working inside a customers vehicle so dirty with those filthy gloves, not acceptable. I had bought my wife a brand new minivan, top of the line, they had these special cloth seats and interior which was an expensive option. About three months later I brought her spotless van in for a electrical problem. I went to pick up the van. Knowing the dealership owner, I came in from the back door and saw this filthy mechanic with grease all over his coveralls walking through the shop and thinking to myself, why is he so dirty. Bottom line, I found out later, that he worked all day on my wife’s van, in those filthy coveralls, hands and work boots. The whole drivers side was soiled with grease, panels, arm rests, seat, carpet ( he had literally walked through grease earlier that day) They were able to clean up about 98% of the mess, but that whole drivers side, lost it luster and new car feel. Eric, you have a lot of potential, it is my opinion you are loosing a part of your audience which is unnecessary. There is no reason to be wearing gloves that have grease all over them and working on a dirty metal bench when doing electrical or working in the interior of the car. Actually, there is no reason for fitly gloves all time, change them once in a awhile. Otherwise, keep up the good work.
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This doesn’t read anything like a video request. It reads more like you’re scolding me for something a mechanic did to you once.
I worked for Acura for 8 years. There, I often worked on brand new cars that cost above 50K every day for customers that wanted the best from their vehicles with gloves that were sometimes dirty. Mostly, it wasn’t a problem believe it or not, the dirt often clings to the gloves and not the things I’m touching. If it was a problem, I made every effort to clean up after my mistakes.
Seriously, dirty gloves and my bench causing inaccurate electrical readings? #Reaching
When you work flat rate, and the wash stink is a quarter mile walk across the shop, you learn to adapt. No, taking them off is not an option. Ever wear latex gloves while working on cars in the summer? If you had, you’d know that taking your gloves off releases the swamp hand. Trust me, you don’t want to touch anything with the swamp hand. It’s much better to touch things with a dirty glove. That’s exactly what I did, and as stated, I was successful at it.
Unless you’ve actually worked as a technician in a shop, you really can’t judge. Having friends and family in the business doesn’t count. Until your neck deep in waiters and you have cars lined up all over the parking lot on a hot, humid summer day, or you’re pulling a transmission on a dump truck lying on the cold shop floor in the middle of winter wile the dirty snow melts and drips in your face (it tastes just like it looks BTW), you don’t have the grounds to judge in my eyes. You’re just standing on the sidelines crying foul. At least that’s the way I see it.
Am I saying I’m right and you’re wrong? No, I’m saying there are 100 ways to do the same thing in auto repair. Dirty gloves have worked for me for years. They didn’t for you. I get it.
Remember when you point your finger at someone, you’re pointing 3 more back at yourself.
Thank you for your point, thank you for your polite reply. I did work on the ground, had salt dripping in my eyes and mouth too. Went home with the odd burns on my chest from torching off an exhaust, etcetera. Actually , my forte was trouble shooting, when a mechanic could not find the problem, I got the job. This all happened in the late seventies and early eighties. I did not have the wonderful equipment they have today or the internet. Mind you in some ways certain areas were not as complicated, but on the other hand they were. I had to figure out new technology, electronic ignitions, EGR valves, electronic controls for fuel injectors, etcetera. I was so good at it, that I used do work for one of the dealerships, as much work as some shops did with all their customers. Bottom line, it was a family business, I loved the business, but because of the greed of a family member I bowed out and sought a living in a different field. FYI, one of the reasons we had a business that was in top of it’s field, was of our cleanliness, many a brand new car went form our shop, to the dealers showroom, which I would deliver personally and would eye ball for any smudges before I left. Our shop, and floor were cleaned nightly. WE had no gloves. Bottom Line one more time. I admire you, I was not trying to be judgmental. I was not trying to put you down. FYI. I stand to be corrected, but I do not believe that any automotive electrical shop would support your metal bench and dirty gloves. Personally, I do not understand the gloves working on electrical area you did, plus you did have time to set up for your video. Keep up the good work, I enjoy it, but please change your gloves when making a video. I believe you will get a bigger audience.
Thank you for your respectful response. I’m sorry if I came off as arrogant. It’s just that every few months someone shows up with the same comment. For me it’s gotten old. That doesn’t mean that it’s not a valid point. If you’re working on someone else property, you should take care of it as good or better than they do. I feel I’ve followed that for the most part in my career. I will admit that after a while I began to feel a certain contempt for the work I was doing. I’m not proud of that, but I’ll own it now.
I have a lot of respect for you and what you did ‘back in the day’. I came in just after that period. I have a toe in that water. I’ve worked on MC solenoids, Jetronic, and early OBD systems. Nightmare would be a word I would choose to describe them. Especially if you didn’t have the wall of Mitchell books to tell you what the set up procedure was.
Once again I apologize if I came off the wrong way. Thank you for your responses and for being a part of this forum.
Kudos , for stepping up to the plate and being a man. I respect you even more now. FYI, Some of that new technology was really challenging. Mitchell, etcetera was after the fact and dealerships would not give private garages any info. I will look forward to more of your advice. Once again, it is my opinion that you will get a larger audience if you clean up a little. Best of luck. Peter
Thanks for keeping this a conversation instead of a finger pointing contest. I appreciate that very much.
I have been doing things differently in my most recent videos, but I haven’t really noticed that it’s improved views. Just the opposite in fact. It’s all about the algorithm these days. Unfortunately the ‘repair’ videos I produce don’t work too well with it. If I really wanted to grow the channel I’d have to switch to videos like, “How To Wash Your Engine”, or “5 tips for Removing Lug Nuts”. Repair videos just don’t get the views they used to. It has nothing to do with dirty gloves.
Eric, you have great potential. I have been around long enough to know that most things are like the tide, they are constantly flowing. I humbly, offer you my opinion on the matter. My son did a lot of site building, layouts and general marketing. He taught me a lot. He showed me how he could take a site that if you googled it , you may never find to it, to changing some things and it being in the top 10. The problem you face is a very competitive market. You have everybody trying to be the King. (Not saying you are) There is so much poor information out there. The market is waiting for the right player. Don’t let algorithms decide your future. Tell me, what do you want EricTheCarGuy to become?
FYI: You can end this conversation any time you want, I am just trying to be helpful.Thanks for the advice. I’m already working the problem, I’m just not inclined to go into detail here. If you’re offering your son’s services, send me an email to biz@ericthecarguy.com. I’m going to be traveling for the rest of the week and may not give a response till next week however.
I appreciate you being in my corner.
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