What say the hive? Any one have any experience with them?





Im kind of lookin at these



but i have zero experience with retreads.



Any info would be appreciated



 

I'd rather walk.

I don't have a problem with them on an 18-wheeler.

Never ran them on my tractor, but never had a problem with the ones I ran on my step deck.

Retreads are for retards. No way I would trust my life or my familys to them.

Not sure about my truck...

I work with a LOT of fucking tires. 90% of them retreads. In the last few years at work I have changed out 20-60 trailer tires a day, so 1,000's of them. Work on the docks.

It is rarely the retread that causes the tire failure. The tread separation only happens after the tire has gone flat and is driven 10's or 100's of miles. Even after that the carcus of the tire usually fails before the tread rips off. All those "retreads" you see along the highway... Usually contain the belts= whole tire failed.

I would most likely run them...maybe

You will when one comes off as you're passing and does a few thousand in damage to your car.  Happened to a buddies truck.  Smashed the passenger headlight and "totaled" the fender, passenger door, and bedside.

I drive an 18-wheeler LOL





 

No thanks

At first I thought you did, but then I figured you would have said "my 18 wheeler" instead of "an 18 wheeler."  Either way, point still stands.  I imagine the damage if you took one would cost even more to repair than it cost my buddy.  

Do you have reason to believe that the tire in question was a retread, other than "the tire blew, so it must have been a retread"?





As NwG stated above, if you see cords/belts in the remnants of a blown tire, it means that the whole tire failed, not that the cap fell off.



Truck tires blow out mainly due to the heavy weights they carry and the fact that they are usually used in dual setups.
 

I almost got hit by one while on my gixxer. Almost had a coronary.

No reason except all the flats and the one blowout I've had did not result in the rubber leaving the wheel.  I wasn't there so I can't say for certain that it was a retread in that case.  Is it common for the entire tire to come off the rim on an 18wheeler that has a blowout?  You guys ever heard of beadlockers?  

I was curious about retreads and found this video on a factory tour of a retread factory. Interesting.

Truck tires have about 100 psi in them, so when they let go, they really LET GO



Usually the sidewalls are left on the wheel when one blows.



 

I have heard nothing but good things about that company and their tires.  Your probably safe.
My father exclusively purchased retreads up until he couldn't find them local anymore.
Never a blowout....

I ran them on my first car (re tread snow tires). If you're pinched for money, they beat buying used tires.

used them quite often when I was a broke teenager back in the 70's on my Torino......never had a problem with one. I'd wear them out from spinning them before they got old though.

Trusting your life to someone else's retreads, is like trusting your life to some else's reloads.

FAIL.

Why have I never heard of retreads? It beats the hell out of $1.5 k every change of tires on my pickup.

This is a Marine from my unit that was killed when his re-treaded tires came apart on him.  He had not put a lot of miles on the tires.

You get what you pay for man.

There was a study done some time ago, 80s or 90s.  Tire debris on a stretch of highway was collected, identified and cataloged and the results said that 2/3 of the failed tires were new, and 1/3 were retreads.  This statistic was (still is?) used by the retread industry to state the safety of retreads.

What they don't mention is that new tires outsell retreads by a margin of something like 20 or 30 to 1.  More than twice as many new tires are sold each year in California than retreads are sold in the entire country.

When you make up 1/3 of the failures but 1/30 of the market, are you really "safe"?

Retread technology has gotten a lot better lately, but the tread tends to be stiffer where it is bonded to the carcass than a new tire is.



That introduces more rolling resistance, and therefore lower fuel mileage.

The aviation industry uses a double buttload of recaps that go 180 knots.

The price is certainly appealing. My diesel is currenty parked because it needs new tires I and can't currently afford the $800-$1200 for a new set. The truck never gets above 75, mainly because it can't for any extended period of time.

I'm looking at these btw http://www.treadwright.com/p-75-285-75-r16-warden-a-t-e.aspx

I have used them in my teen years when my budget was tight. Never have used them since.

I ran retreads on my '83 Falcon in Australia, because I couldn't afford normal tires.



All of them ended up having problems. If I were to do it again, I'd pony up and get real tires.

Not for steers, good for all other positions.  Also, keep them aired up, and they're fine.  THe causes that make caps blow, also make virgins blow.

I didn't know there were still any for light trucks or cars, I wouldn't have a problem with them if you can get the ring tread type for them.

I used retreads for years when the company that made them was local.

Never had a problem with them. Keep them correctly inflated & you shouldn't have any issues.


FYI: Most airlines use retread tires on their jets http://www.desser.com/retreading.php

I may be wrong, but i swear I remember reading somewhere that they were no go on passenger vehicles.  Only commercial. I think the logic was that if one tire shits the bed on an 18 wheeler, its normally no big deal.  if one tire shits teh bed on a passenger car it could very likely mean accident, injury, or death.  

that being said.  I personally don't think I would ever use a retreaded tire on my car.

eta: i guess they are legal, from what i'm reading from other members who bought them.  you learn something new everyday round here.

dub tap

Actual reviews of treadwright tires http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/treadwright-re-treads-tire-review-5388/

Barring a specialized need, that sounds stupid.



 

They use them on airplanes all the time.





 

Why's that? Good tires are expensive. A set of 285/75's in BF Goodwrench T/A's are $1200 a set.

Same here.  I was a poor college student and they always worked very well for me.

I've never spent more than $400 on tires for any vehicle I've owned, new or used. I've never had a blowout that wasn't directly attributable to poor alignment and only ever had one bad tire (egg in the sidewall).



That qualifies as good in my book.



If you want to spend that much, knock yourself out, but don't complain because you wants to haz opulence.



 

Statisitcs FAIL.

That "1/30th"  of the market is almost exclusively heavy trucks, which roll upteen gazillion miles, usually fully loaded, at 100 PSI, ....and occasionally get regrooved.

If you looked at "miles run per failure", the retreads would whip the new tires, hands down....

I have read alot about treadwright and have only heard like 1 or 2 complaints on them total.

I run 315/17s BFG TA KOs on my Dodge.


It sounds to me like you're saying that anybody who buy's LaRue or Knights equipment is a spendthrift who is just showing off.





Or am I talking apples/oranges?












Edit for highlighting fail.





 

There are things to go cheap on and things to buy the best you can afford.

Tires are in the latter category for me. Your mileage, it may vary.

I don't complain about people spending that much on a LaRue or Knights.



It's more along the lines of a raised eyebrow about somebody *complaining* about having *had* to buy 28" Dubs.



That's why I prefaced my statement with, "Barring a specialized need, that sounds stupid."



I googled that tire you mentioned and the second link in the list was talking about hummers, so I knew you were a douche.



And a cursory googling of the ones jmarka complained about makes me question the shopping skills of the guy paying that much for a set.



 

I run the those on the back of my medium duty wrecker (245/70R19.5).

I paid the extra couple bucks for the crushed walnut and glass in the tread.I am very happy with them-great traction,ride great (quiet),and no issues whatsoever.When my carrier needs tires,I'll be getting another set.

There is nothing wrong with retreads-they have just gotten a bad name over the years due to mostly rumors.Keep them inflated and you wont have a problem.

Are such statistics available?

As for the other posters mention about commercial aircraft, those things are changed every 10 or 20 landings.  Not many miles at all, though they probably don't count for many of the tires used either.

Best I can come up with on short notice...

from  michelin retread site

New and retreaded medium truck tires have pretty much the same failure rates and modes on U.S. highways, according to a survey of truck tire debris performed for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (TRI).

The report was received warmly by the retread industry, which hailed it as a vindication both of the high quality of retreads on the market today and the industry’s consistent position that failed retreads do not disproportionately comprise truck tire “alligators” littering the nation’s highways.

To obtain a representative sample of truck tires, tire forensic scientists at TRI gathered discarded casings at five truck stops in Florida, Indiana, California, Arizona and Virginia, and tire debris along random sections of interstate highways in the same states.

Of the 300 casings examined, the newest was about a year old, the oldest 17 years, according to the survey.  Roughly 60 percent were new tires, with the majority of the retreaded casings on their first retreading and a product of the procure process.  All of this was expected, considering tire industry norms, the report said.

Road hazards, represented the biggest cause of the casings’ being removed from service (32 percent) according to the report.  Maintenance/operational factors were second with 30 percent and overdeflected operation third with 14 percent.

The 1,196 tire fragments ranged from small sections of tread or belt to virtually complete, detached tread-belt packages, according to the study. Of the fragments studied, approximately, 18 percent came from new truck tires and 68 percent from retreaded tires and the rest of indeterminable origin, the report said.

These figures the report continued, closely match the estimates of new and retread truck tires in current service. “Indeed, the OE vs. retread proportions of the collected tire dbris broadly correlated with accepted industry expectations,” it said.  “Additionally, there was no evidence to suggest that the proportion of the tire fragments/shreds from retread tires was overrepresented in the debris items collected.”

Road hazards were to blame in 38 percent of the tire debris collected, the study said.  Evidence of excessive heat signifying underinflation was found in another 30 percent. “These results suggest that the majority of tire debris found on the nation’s highways is not a result of manufacturing/process deficiencies,” the survey said in conclusion.

Acceptable enough.

I'll take retreads out of my 'things i hate' box and just put in 'tractor trailers shredding tires' instead.  Retreads or not, those things are a damn menace and need a more graceful failure mode.

I have only changed them once and it was 1500 for 5 tires. It is about the same for tires on my Ford too. If you don't have mud tires on a pickup that goes into the mud its about as stupid as carrying a gun with no bullets.

I'd like to know how you managed that? Outside of stealing rims and tires off of someones car of course.

I would not use them but i cant back up why. i guess its an irrational fear of them.. I have no proof one way or the other..