Retread Tires... good deal or not worth it?

[chainblu]

Since aircraft tires were mentioned, once upon a time I worked for a regional airline. The tires we used could be retreaded up to 25 times. Once a tire hit it's limit, it was replaced by a new tire... which I believe was bought from the Retreading Company. It was win/win for those guys.

One thing I noticed was that the new tires didn't last as long as a retread. A retread could go maybe a month before it had to be replaced, while the new tires usually didn't make 3 weeks.

On a personal note, back in the late '80s I put a set of retreads on my car, I ran them for about 4 years with absolutely no problems. I finally replaced them because I was worried about their overall age, but they were still 'healthy'. Now that I'm married with children, I wouldn't put them on my car.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

Don't get retreads. Have you ever seen peices of tire on the side of the highway? That's from a retread.

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
Don't get retreads. Have you ever seen peices of tire on the side of the highway? That's from a retread.


Not necessarily, If you see belting sticking out then it was a carcass failure. The pieces you see on the highway are from 1 tire being low on a set of duals causing the other properly inflated to overload and come apart. That can happen regardless of tire construction.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
Don't get retreads. Have you ever seen peices of tire on the side of the highway? That's from a retread.


Not necessarily, If you see belting sticking out then it was a carcass failure. The pieces you see on the highway are from 1 tire being low on a set of duals causing the other properly inflated to overload and come apart. That can happen regardless of tire construction.


^^ +1 ^^

 

[umbg35]

You can buy brand new Starfire tires at treadepot.com. They are made in the usa by cooper tires. Never had experience with this particular tire but better than retreads. I have ordered more than 10 tires from here no problem.

http://www.treadepot.com/tire/A518205.html

 

[Paulson]

Tread depot charges shipping (which came out to $70) making 4 of the tires $322 shipped.

The retread tires are $100 cheaper for 4 tires.

I'm just going to buy 4 9/32nd or 10/32nd tires off of eBay for cheap and throw them on when the time comes.

 

[Cujet]

Interestingly enough, light aircraft retreads can be quite good. They are slightly larger in diameter and can help with clearance, if for example a wheel fairing rubs the ground pulling into the hangar.

 

[Scorch]

Retreads have their purposes, on passenger cars and where you're making power to the wheels is not one of them.

At my shop we run retreads on the trailers of the Gravel trains, 32 tires on the trailers alone. Starting with virgins then we recap them once and from there they are scrapped, they become too unreliable for across state runs.

On the trucks themselves once a tire is worn it is retreaded as a trailer tire. ALWAYS run virgin tires on the trucks themselves, recaps on drive/steering tires is dangerous and a stupid way to cut corners and save money.

From my perspective, get some used virgin tires, or something extremely cheap.

 

[man114]

I know I'm bumping an extremely old thread but I figured I'd give a recent perspective. We were in the midst of a very bad winter last year and I was using a set of rims from my long gone 91 F150 on my 93 Grand Marquis for snows (they fit and work fine, save for being somewhat larger). Well they were in pretty bad shape but the size was kind of hard to find in a snow by then. I stumbled across some retreaded snows in the size for a LT retreaded in an old school pattern with super deep treads. I once actually had similar ones on my F150 and I figured I'd give them a shot.

All I can say is they've been nothing short of excellent. I watch the tire pressure, can't say I drive much over 55 because I primarily drive the car in snow conditions because I drove them for years and they will make it through. I'll tell you they got me through some darn abysmal conditions including several feet of snow last week. I live in a small town and drove through over half a foot on Super Bowl Sunday when no one was plowing. I probably wouldn't hesitate to buy them from a competent source if you're not running them in desert conditions or a lot of highway use. Get them balanced like a new tire. Looks like they'll last the usual 3-4 seasons depending on how far I go.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Are they 235/75R15?

 

[SwampSurvivor]

You sure the wheels were from a F150? F150s were 5x5.5 and the Grand Marquis would have been 5x4.5.

Retreads are fine. I believe tirerecappers has a Duratrac copy which should be pretty good in the snow.

I'm a fan of retread tires - on my second set.