An abnormal tire thread...

[ArmyRover]

Well I was searching around for good prices on tires since I did end up with a small slice in my rear tire from my trailing arm incident. Damn ran had to go and wash the mud away so I would notice lol. Nothing serious at all but got me looking today.

so I found this StoneTire - Retreading tires since 1960

On this page is the tread patterns they list for 235/85/16 these are retreads though and that makes me a bit leary of them. The prices though are awesome. The ones I like are the OTD and they come in at $63.00 a piece. The shipping quote for all 4 was 80 bucks to my door. So $332 to my door. $30 bucks mounting and balancing at Towne Fair Tire and I'm on the new rubber for $362.

Any thoughts on the whole retread thing anyone else found some better deals on a 265/75 or 235/85 new retread or used lol?

[stolenheron]

don't use retreads....

[GreatDivide1]

why not?????? have had them before with great success...... just about every bigrig out there is on them or was at one time..... millions and millions of miles cannt be wrong....but hey thats just me....

[ArmyRover]

Originally Posted by stolenheron

don't use retreads....

Any particular reason Stolen or just a general dislike for them?

[CliftonRover]

I do not think they like being run at lower pressures

[KevinNY]

No reason not to use them, modern retreads are actually remoulds and quite good offroad. Search Hi-tech retreads on Discoweb and D90 source, some good long term reviews.

[ArmyRover]

I had found the ones on dweb earlier today the reviews gave high praise and I looked at that company and with their shipping rates and prices I can get new tires locally. So far I'm thinking this is a pretty good deal for me.

[stolenheron]

i work for a law firm as a paralegal when i'm not in college, i've seen more than 50 cases based on retread tire based accidents caused by the tread seperation and eventual blowout. I realize many of these are cheap and not quality retreads, but its very hard to find a trustworthy retread source. all i'm saying is be careful and know exactly what you are being before you just take it on the interstate or offroad.

i personally wouldn't be caught driving on retreads on the street. maybe on a utility truck driven only at low speeds on a business property or land plot, or even a trailered offroad only car. but if it touchs pavement and goes over 30mph for any extended period of time, i'm not driving it. paying a few more dollars for a set of tires with a warranty and the guaranteed quality would be worth it in my opinion.

[ArmyRover]

fair enough. Mainly the rover is a back up vehicle and trail rig now so really long trips are out of the question now.

[antichrist]

Originally Posted by stolenheron

i work for a law firm as a paralegal when i'm not in college, i've seen more than 50 cases based on retread tire based accidents caused by the tread seperation and eventual blowout.

Hmmm..out of how many millions of miles driven yearly on retreads? Many millions.
If I recall correctly there were more than 50 lawsuits because of the Firestone/Ford tire fiasco, new tires with warranties, BTW.
Not saying there aren't crappy retreads, but a blanket condemnation of retreads makes no more sense than saying "Jeeps suck."

[stolenheron]

i know all about the firestone ford scandal. (the same firm did a few of those too).

i know tons of cars run on retreads. the majority of them are tractor trailers and other commercial vehicles. I know millions of tires on commuter cars use retread tires every year.

...but for a daily driven car, i'd much rather have the piece of mind driving on 4 quality new tires than 4 retread ones. i'm not saying they are all bad, they aren't. retreads have their place in the market and for proper uses. They also have certain quality control standards set into place, however not all shops abide by those standards. all i'm saying is be weary where you buy your retreads and know their limits.

[XtremeMarine]

I got to agree with Stolen. And no good reasoning to back it up, either. Just personal opinion. One of the tire stores I managed in the 90's had an industrial only store. They sold dozens of remoulds, and hundreds of retreads a week. Biggest in Brevard county. They had the utility trucks, county vehicles, fire dept's, ambulance squads, everything, and everybody. Never saw a serious problem with any remoulds, and very few retreads.

But personally, if it was me, there is no way I would put a retread on my own car. Hell no. I was a tire tech and manager for close to a decade, and can see no proof that swayed me over the years, but always lingers in the back of my mind. Besides, the savings to me is not really that much.

You're looking at 63. per tire. I just bought brand new 235/85/16 Yokohama GeoLandar A/TII's for 118. per tire. To my door. For 55 dollars a piece difference, I'll take brand new with expected results anyday. And compared to what I paid for my 35x10.5x16 Boggers for my Hybrid, I feel like I got a steal. lol!

[atvsmurf]

Originally Posted by GreatDivide1

why not?????? have had them before with great success...... just about every bigrig out there is on them or was at one time..... millions and millions of miles cannt be wrong....but hey thats just me....

millions and millions of miles...but how many rigs use a retread on a steering axle??? none of my trucker friends will take the chance...after all how often do you see the little, or big pieces of tread(gators) on the highway from a blow out?
when they blow a tire they usually have one right behind it, after all losing 1/4 is worse that losing 1/18...of anything...
I would rather save the $ somewhere else...

[ultrrunr]

I could not agree more with the above numbers. If you are looking at a semi, losing 1/18 of your contact with the ground may not be entirely too critical. I'm sure we've all seen semi's driving totally oblivious to the fact they just had a blow out and kept right on driving. As with the Rover, losing 25% is a bit more risky......then I've got my motorcycle buddies who swear they are doing a great thing by buying cheap bike tires...........if you ONLY got TWO tires, you better make sure they are good!

YMMV.

ps-Don't judge me by the idiots I ride with.....

[zed]

Originally Posted by stolenheron

don't use retreads....

Use retreads all day.. I love a cheap tire on a truck or slow non performance car. As long as the tire still isn't the weakest point. who cares. Gives you a lot of freedom to have cheap tires.. Alignments are for germans.. "oooh.. that looks sharp.. ha ha ha".. you know.

Sure on semi tractor trailers.. they get re-treaded tons of times.. and travel hundreds of thousands of miles.. they shred on occasion.. but for the miles and amount of them out there.. not often. And i'm sure you've noticed the difference in adhesives and processes that have been invented in the last couple decades. I wouldn't worry about it.


As for retreads on a steering axle.. maybe tire prices have come down since I put on the white collar.. but used to see it all the time. The cost was so different. Not to mention on the front you could feel it going. Never even seen a new tire on a truck unless it was the original tire with which it rolled off the showroom. Different times though.. people seem to spend money like water now a days..