[reddy6980]

Hi,

Why is retreading of car and suv tyres not very popular.
Searched on the net and found many good things about retreading.
Mainly benefiting the environment and also it costs only 30% of new tyres and have 80% life (compared to new tyres).

Regards,
Vamsi

Note to Mods:Searched extensively but did not find any similary thread,if thread exists pls merge.

[rajivanoj]

Its because, retreading wont give you right balancing of tyres, it just gives an new tread layer, but without proper balancing. so this will result in decrease in comfort like wobbling, etc.

also these days people are not ready to wait till their tyres get reetreaded, instead they just buy an used one with half tread or an cheap chinese imports,.

Thats my opinion..

[aka_iitd]

I didn't knew about this
One useful link Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association
It shows statistic etc

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Retread or not, the core of the tyre has a specific life - 5 to 8 years. Beyond that, the tyres have to be replaced. (rubber loses its flexibility over a period fo time). Since a large number of people never wear out their threads completely by the time of life time of a tyre, people never care to re-tread.

I have seen taxi wallahs and tour operators retread the tyres - with an average run of 300 KM or so per day, their tyres would wear out pretty fast.

Depending on usage, you can retread a tyre up to 5 times, but 3 is normal maximum for truck / bus cross ply tyres.

[GTO]

I'd never put my life on a retreaded tyre. Despite all the seatbelts, ESP, ABS & airbags that your car can have, your safety is really dependent on that little rubber patch in contact with the road.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

^^ safety IS an issue with retreaded tyres.

Even on trucks / buses, the front tyres would be retreaded only once, since vehicle weight is transferred to front during braking. Long distance / national permit lorries will not retread their tyres more than once. Fleet operators with a mix of long and short distance vehicles will use tyres after the 2nd retread on vehicles plying on shorter routes.

My personal experience (heavy vehicles, cross ply tyres) is that with more retreads, chances of punctures are more.

And with each passing re-tread, the center part of the tread (the part which comes into contact with road) will bulge out when it is not in contact with the road. An experienced eye can make out how many times a given tyre has been retreaded.

As I said, a normal heavy vehicle doing short / medium haul runs (like adjoining districts / city service) can safely without much ado, retread the tyres 3 times. 4 in times of poverty ;-), and 5 when owner is feeling like taking a high!!!. ( I have gotten away with 5 retreads). But, only once retreaded tyres on the front please!!!

So, what about cars? Subject to age of the tyre, and your confidence in retreading, may be once, maximum 2; and I am not sure about radials. I personally would like a retreaded tyre on the car which I drive.

[mkuruvil]

I use my car (Chevrolet Spark) mainly for in-city driving ( I drive to Kerala for Christmas, if I forgot to buy the train tickets on time). It has done some 30000 kms in the last 3.5 years and is shod with tubeless tyres from Apollo. I do take it for servicing every 6 months. Can I expect the service advisor at the service center to inform me about my options about the tyres?

If not, is there a decent place in Bangalore which can give me advice on tyres, such as when would be good time to retread them. I read on the net that I have to retread it when it reach 6/32 nd, whatever that means. How can I find out if it has reached 6/32 nd in bangalore?

Thanks.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by mkuruvil

such as when would be good time to retread them. I read on the net that I have to retread it when it reach 6/32 nd, whatever that means. How can I find out if it has reached 6/32 nd in bangalore?

Please do not re-tread your tyres. Go for new ones. The money saved is not worth it.

1st off, all the retreaded tyres I have seen are very bad on grip. 2nd, almost all of them cannot be balanced properly, and on the long run, it will cause your suspension and steering components to wear out faster. 3rd, they are just not safe.

If the thread is nearing its end of life, just go and buy 4 new sets of some say, A Drives. They are pretty cheap, but very safe compared to retreaded tyres.

Cheers!

[mkuruvil]

Thanks Dhanushs. I appreciate your advice. But could you present the math involved in it as well, if you remember it? Here are the information, based on your posting, that I would need to get by going to various shops (cumbersome and tiring. If only these information were available by simplying asking google for it) :

1) Cost of new tyres
2) Cost of reatreading old tyres
3) Cost of driving around with unbalanced tyres (not sure what an unbalanced tyre is)
4) Cost of replacing suspension and steering components.

Information that answers question numbers 3 and 4 can be answered only by somebody in the auto business. Also, safety is a factor that cannot be directly converted to a number.

So this is the reason why casual users of the automobile makes a blind decision rather than an informed decision on things like retreading a tyre.

[vigsom]

As BSD said,the rubber loses flex over time ; and in this era of hi speed driving,it is not recommended to invest in retreads

It is ok for trucks as most of them still move at the good old 60kmph,clock miles fast, so the tyres are supple enough and are good for one retread or ,at the most, two.

I did a retread from an ELGI rep on my Padmini's cross ply CEAT tyres in 1998 when they were almost bald ; they worked fine 'coz I was doing only City driving and did not feel like spending double for a new tyre(was a poor guy those days) .

The retread cost me 700 then and the cost of a new tyre was 1550

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by mkuruvil

.. But could you present the math involved in it as well, if you remember it? ...
.... Also, safety is a factor that cannot be directly converted to a number...
.... So this is the reason why casual users of the automobile makes a blind decision ...

Hi mkuruvil, my point is that, re-treaded tyres on the whole is not recommended for the above mentioned reasons, especially the safety aspect. If you retread your tyres, only the thread is new, rest of the tyre, especially sidewall, is still 3.5 years old, and will show the age.

Also, the compound used in re-treading rarely match OE tyres and wet grip is pathetic.

Retreading makes sense only to those indica, sumo drivers who drive 150+ of kms in one day. In their case, the thread would be worn out in about a year. Moreover, they think about nothing, than saving.

For me, retreading a tyre is like repairing an accidental vehicle by jugaad. It will serve its purpose neverthless, but the whole point of safety, reliability is lost. If one is not that much bothered about the above, then yes, retreading is a very economical option.

[mkuruvil]

thanks both of you.
I came across the article Living Stingy: Retread Tires (recaps) as well and agree that retreading is not for passenger vehicles owned and used in private households.

So now my next question is, when do I change my tyres? I see nothing wrong in them, other than the front tyres which is almost always looks like it needs a little more air in it, regardless of whether I fill it with 30psi or 32psi.

[sagarpadaki]

Agree totally with what dhanush has said.Its not worth risking your family life by saving a few thousand bucks.

I once had an unfortunate chance of driving a friends maruti 800 that had retreaded tires from mysore to bangalore few years ago.The retreading waas done on Apollo tires .The braking was pathetic.I almost hit a car ahead at the beginning of journey because i under estimated the braking capacity.It felt like i am sqeezing a baloon filled with water.Tires squealing away to glory.And wobbling above 60 kmph.Lots of understeer.Mind the tires looked proper to the naked eyes.perfect tread on all tires.I handed over the steering back to my friend at Ramnagara and caught a KSRTC bus and came back home.

Trust me ,you never want to retread the tires.Dont compromise on safety

[V-16]

Originally Posted by GTO

I'd never put my life on a retreaded tyre. Despite all the seatbelts, ESP, ABS & airbags that your car can have, your safety is really dependent on that little rubber patch in contact with the road.

+1 to this. Actually +100.

Retreading is a process where they change the tread of the car by adding an extra patch of tread around the tyre. Logically what good does that do to the old side wall? None? So the potential danger of a older, weakened side wall remains. I would never put a retreaded tyre on to my car if it were a daily drive and especially if i were to even think of a highway run.

I can never understand the poeple who do math this way:

Car worth say 10 lacs.... put some crappy tyres or retreaded tyres. We buy cars with advanced safety features like airbags and esp (in my opinion they should be made mandatory in a country that ranks one of the highest in highway and road accidents) and we pay extra for that and we skim on tyres. Life is a very perishable commodity.I would never play around with it for a few bucks less.

[jeepster_chd]

I know it is an age old thread, however, the need for a "retread" or may be a new tyre has just arisen, the reason why I am here.

The rear stock tyres of my 2 year old and 40K done Bolero are bald now (it happened due to my negligence). They were in front initially, however, due to negligence on my part and my trusted service station, timely alignment was not done and the tread has now just vanished.

Initially, I was thinking of going for an upsize to 235/70/15 or may be 225 as suggested by Shankar.Balan sir and other experts on another thread. However, my front tyres are in top-notch condition and are of stock size 215/75/15, so up sizing only rear doesn't makes sense. Or if does, please enlighten me.

It is also the reason why I have started contemplating retreading. I have gone through every post here and almost every one is of the view that retreading is not safe and should not be done. Even I thought so until I followed the link given by a fellow BHPian mkuruvil on the same thread

http://livingstingy.blogspot.com/201...es-recaps.html

The information on the link certainly is against going for retreading, however, having gone through the article and other interlinked articles on the website and subsequent comments, I have made a startling discovery. You know you are a TBHPian if you always like to dig deeper for information.
Here is the link

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)

All commercial airlines, as well as military jet aircraft, use retreaded tires. In fact, nearly 80 percent of all aircraft tires now in service in the United States are retreads.
More than 100,000 aircraft retreads are used annually with an average of 270 takeoffs and landings per tread life.

Almost everyone on the thread has been cribbing about safety and reliability of retreaded tires and believe me, I religiously trust the words of fellow BHPians. My decision of buying Bolero was strengthened owning to the revelations made by Spitfire, Shankar.Balan and other informed BHPians about the vehicle's capabilities, though they may not know this but it is true (I confess).

I think this discussion should be revived.

I would like to ask everyone who has posted comments/expressed views on this thread that, what they have said is what they "feel" or something they have in depth understanding about through experience or knowledge or both?