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They tend to fail at high speed in dramatic ways. On a truck with 18 wheels it’s ok. If it’s your front tire on a SUV going 80 Down the highway? Someone is dead

They tend to fail at high speed in dramatic ways. On a truck with 18 wheels it’s ok. If it’s your front tire on a SUV going 80 Down the highway? Someone is dead.

mc32 7y ago
That’s a good reason. Is the failure rate higher than say blowouts by ordinary under inflation? Never the less, it was my impression that re-vulcanizing tread doesn’t affect the integrity of the tire structure (wall, casing, belts) Maybe they would be okay on things like kei-cars?
- bluGill 7y ago
  Yes, but that isn't fair. From what I can tell a well done replacement should be slightly more reliable. However the real world is not kind. In the real world retreads are more likely to be under inflated because they are likely to be used on a trailer not the truck, which is in general not inspected as often as a truck. Truckers use the same truck for the most part so they take care of it, while they hook up to different trailers all the time. Retreads are also older tires. Retread doesn't affect the integrity of the tire structure, but sunlight, air and water does. (water only once there is a small track to the steel belts). These are all a function of time, and retreads are always older. The above is what I can gather from a search, but it does seem like most of the information is written by retread marketing so take it with a little salt.
  - mc32 7y ago
    I looked further into this following bluedino's mention of TreadWright. Doing a bead to bead retreading will eliminate the issue of rubber rot due to sunlight or wear and tear.[1] "... when we make the remolded tire we remove the existing rubber down to about 3-6mm remaining on the recycled casing. The rubber is removed from the inside bead, across the sidewall of the tire, across the tread of the tire, all the way to the outer bead. We then replace the rubber from "Bead-to-Bead" applying 6mil rubber on the sidewalls and multiple plys of rubber on the tread." They probably do some kind of scan to determine the structural integrity of the tire structure, I imagine. [1]https://www.treadwright.com/pages/faq https://www.treadwright.com/pages/faq
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Retreads don't fail any more often than normal tires. Retreads have an unwarranted reputation for falling apart and as the GP comment indicates that is pretty well ingrained in consumer beliefs. Google "nhtsa retread study" if you want to learn more. It covers truck tires but (other than cost) there's nothing fundamentally different between those and smaller road tires.
  - sokoloff 7y ago
    Airplane tires are also regularly re-treaded and it's not viewed as a negative or "cheapskate" action in any way. For road car usage, I'd be more concerned about dry rot and aging tire issues from age than anything else. New car tires are cheap. We drive about 5-6K miles per year per car. We change tires based on calendar age about as much as treadwear.
EADGBE 7y ago
Best part, a retread flying off can still kill you. Only not the driver driving the truck.

They tend to fail at high speed in dramatic ways. On a truck with 18 wheels it’s ok. If it’s your front tire on a SUV going 80 Down the highway? Someone is dead.

mc32 7y ago

That’s a good reason. Is the failure rate higher than say blowouts by ordinary under inflation? Never the less, it was my impression that re-vulcanizing tread doesn’t affect the integrity of the tire structure (wall, casing, belts) Maybe they would be okay on things like kei-cars?

bluGill 7y ago
Yes, but that isn't fair. From what I can tell a well done replacement should be slightly more reliable. However the real world is not kind. In the real world retreads are more likely to be under inflated because they are likely to be used on a trailer not the truck, which is in general not inspected as often as a truck. Truckers use the same truck for the most part so they take care of it, while they hook up to different trailers all the time. Retreads are also older tires. Retread doesn't affect the integrity of the tire structure, but sunlight, air and water does. (water only once there is a small track to the steel belts). These are all a function of time, and retreads are always older. The above is what I can gather from a search, but it does seem like most of the information is written by retread marketing so take it with a little salt.
- mc32 7y ago
  I looked further into this following bluedino's mention of TreadWright. Doing a bead to bead retreading will eliminate the issue of rubber rot due to sunlight or wear and tear.[1] "... when we make the remolded tire we remove the existing rubber down to about 3-6mm remaining on the recycled casing. The rubber is removed from the inside bead, across the sidewall of the tire, across the tread of the tire, all the way to the outer bead. We then replace the rubber from "Bead-to-Bead" applying 6mil rubber on the sidewalls and multiple plys of rubber on the tread." They probably do some kind of scan to determine the structural integrity of the tire structure, I imagine. [1]https://www.treadwright.com/pages/faq https://www.treadwright.com/pages/faq
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Retreads don't fail any more often than normal tires. Retreads have an unwarranted reputation for falling apart and as the GP comment indicates that is pretty well ingrained in consumer beliefs. Google "nhtsa retread study" if you want to learn more. It covers truck tires but (other than cost) there's nothing fundamentally different between those and smaller road tires.
- sokoloff 7y ago
  Airplane tires are also regularly re-treaded and it's not viewed as a negative or "cheapskate" action in any way. For road car usage, I'd be more concerned about dry rot and aging tire issues from age than anything else. New car tires are cheap. We drive about 5-6K miles per year per car. We change tires based on calendar age about as much as treadwear.

EADGBE 7y ago

Best part, a retread flying off can still kill you. Only not the driver driving the truck.