[amitk26]

I think all these advices against re-treading can be understood in terms of consumer behaviour.

For most of the middle class people car is largest investment after house and there is a lot of emotional value attached.
As you can see on T-BHP people use terms such as "babying" or "gifting shoes " when they talks about as inanimate and unemotional thing as maintenance or a tyre change.

So there can not be any rational decision or discussion on something which is outright cheap and associated with crude looking commercial vehicles.

It is another matter that technology involved and parameters of operations for commercial vehicles are far more demanding then individual passenger vehicles.

Companies do understand this consumer behaviour and make profit.

No tyre company will tell a car buyer how many times radial can be retreaded and reused safely when they can sell a new tyre easily.
However for commercial operators like airlines or truck fleet operator this is an important parameter for purchase.


Another such example is engine oil , If you look at it engine oil with higher grade marketed to commercial segment from same company is priced lower then lower grade engine oil segmented for individual use.
Compare Shell Rimula R4 ( CI4+) vs Shell Helix HX5 ( CG ) for instance.
It's not just shell look at pricing of castrol / Mobil as well.

Originally Posted by jeepster_chd

http://www.retread.org/#!about-retreading/c1srn

It is the website of Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau.

The website very clearly states (about the safety of retreaded tyres)



I think this discussion should be revived.

Well if you see in road transport also most used / abused vehicles on Indian roads are Trucks and buses and they run far more KM then individual owned cars and the whole industry runs on re-treading.

[saket77]

I remember my dad getting advice for re-treading the tires instead of getting new set for our 1100D. There were 2 techniques used - Hot & Cold resoles. However, that time, a lot of cars that used to run on 'resoled' tires showed signs of the new treads coming out from rest of the tire. One acquaintance of ours was left stranded on a ghat section because one of the resoled tires gave up completely. Needless to say, we went for a set of new tires for our Fiat.

Today, I don't know if technology or workmanship has changed for better, but still when my car's tire will be worn, I will change them, like always. I don't remember if resoling or retreading ever came into my mind as an option.
I am never putting my life on compromised rubbers, as important as tires!

[ramjiramu]

Dear All, I have Honda City 2014 model with 20K run and was planning to change the tyres.
They are not much bald but considering safety I was planning to change them anyway.

So, I was searching online for new tyres and came across few interesting words like pretreads, rebutton & retreading.
Interestingly, big companies like MRF, Midas & Vantech are offering pretreads.
A simple google search in my area is showing many workshops offering the pretreads for tyres.

Further online search suggests that retreaded tyres contribute to saving the environment and cost.
I am not worried about the cost saving part and was more interested with environment saving as long as safety was not compromised.

I searched our forum but didn't find much information about retreading for car tyres.
I wanted to know through our members here if anyone has taken up such process for old tyre revival?

Has anyone given 2nd life to their tyres and were there any bads?

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

Has anyone given 2nd life to their tyres and were there any bads?

This is mostly done now for commercial vehicle tyres, they have thick carcass that lasts long and thread that wears out faster with higher usage. There is a serious cost advantage also is there, so such heavy tires are refurbished with a fresh layer of thread and used couple of times before junked.

For a modern car tyre, this doesn't make sense since the cost is reasonable and safety is of utmost importance due to higher speeds the vehicles are capable of. Add to this a rethread will take away ride comfort and affect suspension parts of delicate modern cars lol.

Coming to the environment, well as long as the tyre is disposed of properly so that it can go into recycling, things are ok. Best bet is to check with the manufacturer or big tyre distributors so that you can help the cause.

[ramjiramu]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

thick carcass that lasts long and thread that wears out faster with higher usage

A very good and valid point made by you Jaggu.

It looks like retreading is only for high usage tyres which haven't aged through their bones.

Growing environmental issues made me to stop and think about reuse but its a good alternative to find distributors who take up recycling. Hope there are such facilities.

[cs_rajesh]

Found a video on retreading

Retreading

How much life and worth can I get by retreading my SUV tyres?
Are there professionals in cities like Bangalore (where I live) who can do retreading still exists in business?

[Kosfactor]

Rethreading is very common for commercial vehicles like Trucks and buses (their tires are meant to be retreaded), however in smaller towns and villages its very common to see smaller passenger utility vehicles to tempo traveler running retreads - which they should not.

Tires that do not have 'retreadable' written on them is to be recycled when they are worn out.

[fighterace]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

...

For a modern car tyre, this doesn't make sense since the cost is reasonable and safety is of utmost importance due to higher speeds the vehicles are capable of. Add to this a rethread will take away ride comfort and affect suspension parts of delicate modern cars lol.

Coming to the environment, well as long as the tyre is disposed of properly so that it can go into recycling, things are ok. Best bet is to check with the manufacturer or big tyre distributors so that you can help the cause.

Passenger car tyres can be reliably retreaded as long as the carcass is in a good shape. The safety and ride comfort is a function of the quality control of the manufacturing processes, be it retreaded tyres or new ones. The biggest issue is that by the time the tread wears out for most private cars, the tyres are already too old and dry rotted.

As for recycling of tyres- and footwear for that matter- it is just a hogwash. They just end up in landfills.

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

...

Tires that do not have 'retreadable' written on them is to be recycled when they are worn out.

Absolutely wrong.

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

...
Growing environmental issues made me to stop and think about reuse but its a good alternative to find distributors who take up recycling. Hope there are such facilities.

Old tyres end up in landfills, like old footwear. Recycling is a hogwash.

Originally Posted by cs_rajesh

Found a video on retreading

Retreading

How much life and worth can I get by retreading my SUV tyres?
Are there professionals in cities like Bangalore (where I live) who can do retreading still exists in business?

Depends on how old the tyres are. If older than 4 years, then not worth the effort. It is not advisable to use dry rotted tyres no matter how good the tread is. The answer to the second question has to be found by you only.

Originally Posted by ramjiramu

Dear All, ...

Has anyone given 2nd life to their tyres and were there any bads?

As an experiment I have run retreaded tyres on the rear axle of my M800 without any issues. If you can find a good workshop that does the job well, I suggest that you give it a try. Rear axle will not be a problem at all. Front I am not sure about. Please make sure that the tyres are less than 4 years old, so that you may run them for a couple of more years at least.

My experience so far tells me that a properly done retread is much better than a bald tyre or a cheap Chinese tyre, or even a JK tyre.

[ramjiramu]

Originally Posted by fighterace

If older than 4 years, then not worth the effort

Totally agreed, my tyres are stock 2014 hence age is a factor here for not considering retreading.
Aged tyres develop structural integrity issues and have bad NVH.

I recently upgraded to Yokohama's and could feel sky & earth difference in driveability & NVH.

Earlier I thought the suspension and steering are worn out on my car but new tyres gave a new life to my 2014 city.

I too will recommend to go for new tyres if tyres have become rigid due to age.

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by fighterace

Passenger car tyres can be reliably retreaded as long as the carcass is in a good shape. The safety and ride comfort is a function of the quality control of the manufacturing processes, be it retreaded tyres or new ones. The biggest issue is that by the time the tread wears out for most private cars, the tyres are already too old and dry rotted.

As for recycling of tyres- and footwear for that matter- it is just a hogwash. They just end up in landfills.

My experience so far tells me that a properly done retread is much better than a bald tyre or a cheap Chinese tyre, or even a JK tyre.

Old thread (about tread) here and don't recall if I may have replied years ago, but seems like some recent interest.

Well, SOME tyres really do get recycled... my high-school running track was paved with shredded tyre bits, as are some of the running / football fields I've seen in Aizawl, Mizoram. And being that kabbadis collect them and (apparent, mysterious) "recyclers" up here actually do buy them and drive off with truckloads of them, vs. seeing them turning up at our landfill/incinerator here makes me suspect SOMETHING is being done with some of them, if not all. True that worldwide they have long posed a serious disposal problem and in some cases even fire hazard where mountains of them have accumulated.

Other than that, fully agreed... besides the "processes" themselves, also a function of the quality (and thus cost) of basic raw materials.

This appears to be one of those realms where it is easy to paint with excessively broad strokes and to make emotionally-driven absolutist statements, some based on a singular personal experience, hearsay, outdated previous-gen tech, gut-feelings, etc
.

In my own experience:

1. I live in a place here where a huge number of neighbors and other locals are running retreads incl. the hospital's continually overloaded oxygen-supply pickup... I interact with drivers, mechanics, puncture-wallahs very regularly and honestly have rarely if ever heard a complaint re: retreads (much less rethreads). And that with so many Sumo's and Traveller vans containing a dozen or more tourists overspeeding up (or more terrifyingly down) cold, winding, often broken roads up to Rohtang Pass, Kaza, Ladakh, etc... From what I see here, I'd say paragliding injures/maims far more people up here than retreads do.

2. Once had a pair of racing retreads on the front of my modded 350-hp (RWD) Oldsmobile... they were not even fresh retreads, and had been put on older Goodyear Eagle GT 215/65-15 street-tyre carcasses, taken from a guy who used to run them, like many others, on his V-8 powered Camaro on serious high-speed road-racing courses like Watkin's Glen, etc... Needless to say I had no problems with them, even driving totally, insanely crazy back in those days. I mean like doing 150+ at points and full-on power-drifting on public roads and etc... (yep, that WAS me)... No horrifying "wobbling" or skidding, they stopped on a dime, were stellar in terms of road-holding and grip, and as on the track, in my street use the sidewalls never disintegrated or blew out. I never even had to balance them, iirc.

3. Have seen rave reviews of tyres supplied by another U.S. company who specializes in superior retread compounds for offroading. People love 'em - and that's in highly demanding, rough use of a certain kind. Nobody seems worried about their sidewalls btw., despite their being up against rocks and abraded all the time... In fact, I think this outfit re-coats/bonds the sidewalls, as well, though the cording/belting structure would of course be original re-used.

4. One of the front tyres on our Marshal is an OEM Bridgestone retread so perfectly done that I didn't know it till later when I saw the "RETREADED" stamped on the sidewall. Actually no visible seam, it's amazing. There are OEM retreading programs and supplied retreads that use pretty much the same rubber as their new tyres do. That's abroad and here in India as well.

5. In short, all retreads are not created equal, and as usual, you generally get what you pay for. That said, done right with good materials, they can be a solid, safe option.

Disclaimer: Not recommending anyone get it done without some prior investigation/ scrutiny / assessment in one's particular context.

Btw I used to work in tyre shops in my college days... Retreads for passenger cars were gone by then and yes, you did used to see thrown treads from trucks littering the shoulders of Interstate highways...

...But that was then and this is now...

...and those were treads, and we're talking about (re)treads, and we're writing all this in a (long) thread.

Just to be clear.

-Eric