# Great Tire Savings



## cnsper

I know that some of you would never run recap tires on your vehicles, but I have been doing this for years.(when I could find them) I am now into the tire scrapping business and I met these guys the other day.... 
https://www.treadwright.com/default.aspx

I bought some tires for my truck and saved over $200

I have NEVER had a failure of a recapped tire in my life. The failures that you see on the road are normally because of the idiot driving not checking the tire pressure or some road hazard.

For all it is worth, these guys will not take any Michelin tires or the goodyear wrangler tires because they are basically made of a crappy quality and the quality can change from tire to tire within the same plant.


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## cowboyhermit

Good point, I bet a lot of people never even think of this.
I heard that the reason they can't do redo the wranglers has to do with the kevlar :dunno:
I would have to disagree with the quality of the regular wrangler tires, they are used on ambulances and other important applications and I have seen them stand up to ridiculous abuse, treadlife and cost per mile is another story.


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## cnsper

We are probably talking a different model of wrangler tire, different load range etc. The very cool thing is that they are starting to slowly convert to a bead to bead recap/retread. This means that with the exception of the bead itself, the entire tire gets a recap, including the sidewalls. You would not believe how picky they are with the cases as to what they will accept.


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## JustCliff

I used to run recaps all the time. I haven't found any in years. Thanks for the link.


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## Jason

I have recaps on my Dodge Dakota. I forget the exact size but they're 16" rims. I got them last fall and saved a bunch. I remember it was $370 out the door for the whole set, including mount and balance. They're holding up fine so far, and I abuse the truck a lot-overloaded with firewood, bouncing through fields, etc. I'll use recaps again.

Thanks for the link, cnspr.


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## Turtle

cnsper said:


> I know that some of you would never run recap tires on your vehicles, but I have been doing this for years.(when I could find them) I am now into the tire scrapping business and I met these guys the other day....
> https://www.treadwright.com/default.aspx
> 
> I bought some tires for my truck and saved over $200
> 
> I have NEVER had a failure of a recapped tire in my life. The failures that you see on the road are normally because of the idiot driving not checking the tire pressure or some road hazard.
> 
> For all it is worth, these guys will not take any Michelin tires or the goodyear wrangler tires because they are basically made of a crappy quality and the quality can change from tire to tire within the same plant.


Treadwright is a GREAT company! I had a set of 32" Mud Terrains on my last Wrangler and would buy them again in a heartbeat. I did a ton of research before I bought them, and could not find a SINGLE poor experience or bad review of the company. Great product.


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## cnsper

Turtle said:


> Treadwright is a GREAT company! I had a set of 32" Mud Terrains on my last Wrangler and would buy them again in a heartbeat. I did a ton of research before I bought them, and could not find a SINGLE poor experience or bad review of the company. Great product.


Yeah their cases that they will accept are really good. Nothing is more than 4 years old so you do not get the weather checking. They guy we met came out here to specifically show us what they look for in casings. They also come out on the first load to double check what we are sending to ensure that they do not get bad casings.

And the good thing is that it is all done here in the good ole USA!

They are slowly converting their entire line to bead to bead retreading but each mold is in excess of $25k so it will take time.

If you have any questions at all, just pick up the phone and call them. They speak english.


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## Jason

I never heard of bead to bead retreads. I'm looking forward to seeing these.


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## Jimthewagontraveler

I have used retreads many times ( long ago when they were crappy ( my horse will not tolerate the retread process)
I never had a problem and have asked many truckers why they fly
apart ALWAYS SAME 3 ANSWERs
1 hot day
2 overloaded
3 way to fast to far!
I also notice when wandering on horseback they either have very
New tread ( warranty) or very very worn tread( abuse)


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## carnut1100

Having had pieces of tread fly off as well as experiencing case failure I will not put retreads on any of my vehicles unless there is no option and will not run them on the front axle under any circumstances but I will admit I have no experience with bead to bead units as I have never seen them here in Australia.


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## lotsoflead

I ran recaps all thru the 50s,60s,early 70s, then everything became tubless and recaps were scarce except for tire for trucks, 1000X20 ect, but they were mostly Bandag cold caps, I left pieces of them on every interstate in the US. recaps would work for me but I don't know about people who want to drive 90 miles an hr all the time.


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## HamiltonFelix

I bought tires for my 3/4 ton Suburban just before they changed their name from High-Tec Retreading to Treadwright. I'm happy with them, though the Suburban quit before they did. At the time, High-Tec was the only outfit here licensed to make Green Diamond winter tires. I also bought Green Diamond tires for passenger cars from Green Diamond of North America. They worked OK until pretty worn down, then I started to get separations and out of round tires. 

In the meantime, along with the name change, Treadwright continued to make caps with "grit" in them for winter use, but moved away from the silicon carbide used by Green Diamond - probably to get free of that patent. It looks like their latest iteration is "Kedge Grip," a combination of walnut shells and glass grit. 


I see there have been more changes. Green Diamond is a "bead-to-bead remold," but the High-Tec tires I bought are not. Also, I was looking at the parked Suburban last night; all four tires were originally Michelin LTX M/S (exactly what the Suburban's "summer" tires are). If and when I get the Suburban back on the road (bad transfer case) long enough to need new tires, I'll take another look at Treadwright.


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## LincTex

They used to advertise in the 4WD magazines, that was when they were High-Tec Retreading and I always got good tires from them, and never had a failure. Then I needed stuff in sizes they didn't have....I STILL need a lot of 15" rim stuff, but no one does 15" tires anymore!!


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## cowboyhermit

15" rims seemed to work fine back in the day, man what we hauled on 1/2 tons, but I guess I must have been mistaken because now every little suv needs 17" rims at least
Oh well, at least the tires are cheap


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## LincTex

cowboyhermit said:


> 15" rims seemed to work fine back in the day, man what we hauled on 1/2 tons....


Oh yes. When I was young I once asked my dad why we had loaded 4000 lbs of fertilizer sacks on our "half ton" (=1000lbs rated) truck. He said it was because the truck could handle it and the rating system didn't mean anything!



cowboyhermit said:


> Oh well, at least the tires are cheap


Not. No one buys them in quantity anymore... And they are hard to find used as well. I remember when a good used tire was $10 with 30-40% tread left. Now you pay $50 for something with 25% tread left. It's nuts!!!! The only good place to buy used tires anymore is the vehicle wrecking/salvage yard. (also where I get my batteries)


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## cowboyhermit

Used to be tires on the truck were pricy, well that made sense, lots of rubber, high load rating, more plys. Tires for the car were nothing in comparison. Well now the @#* little suvs come with these giant rims and low profile tires that cost an arm an a leg, for what?


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## Jason

Looks are more important than functionality, cowboy hermit. Did you miss the memo?


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## jmcdonald

I bought a set of tires from them a few years ago for my Jeep. I think they have around 40k on them and I've had no problems at all. They were Highteck retreading at the time I bought them. I saved around $80 per tire then.


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## cqp33

cowboyhermit said:


> Used to be tires on the truck were pricy, well that made sense, lots of rubber, high load rating, more plys. Tires for the car were nothing in comparison. Well now the @#* little suvs come with these giant rims and low profile tires that cost an arm an a leg, for what?


That is an understatement! I can get tires for my 2005GMC 3/4 ton for a third of what the rubber bands on my cadillac CTS cost! The tires on the caddy are only 30,000 (200 treadwear) mile tires too at $225 each! I used a different tire on it the last time i changed them, ride is a little bit rougher but they are 60,000 mile tires(360 treadwear) and half the cost of the 30,000 mile soft rubber band (tire)!

I am going to give these "re-treads" a try though, I am in need of new rubbers on the truck now! I will pick up some this fall, I will be sure to post my experience with them as I will be a guinea pig!:surrender:


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## LincTex

I would like to buy some retreads in Texas. Doing a google search came up with interesting results ( "retread tires texas" )

http://www.cooktire.com/ (big trucks only?)

http://www.tci.tdcj.state.tx.us/services/tire.aspx
Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Darrington Unit Tire Retreading Facility

http://txtire.com/used-tires


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## kappydell

JustCliff said:


> I used to run recaps all the time. I haven't found any in years. Thanks for the link.


Ditto. They are not 'high-performance' tires, but for everyday use they always worked for me, and saved me a BUNDLE over the years. Thanks for the link - they are getting hard to find.


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## cqp33

*Purchase made!*



cqp33 said:


> That is an understatement! I can get tires for my 2005GMC 3/4 ton for a third of what the rubber bands on my cadillac CTS cost! The tires on the caddy are only 30,000 (200 treadwear) mile tires too at $225 each! I used a different tire on it the last time i changed them, ride is a little bit rougher but they are 60,000 mile tires(360 treadwear) and half the cost of the 30,000 mile soft rubber band (tire)!
> 
> I am going to give these "re-treads" a try though, I am in need of new rubbers on the truck now! I will pick up some this fall, I will be sure to post my experience with them as I will be a guinea pig!:surrender:


Ok for my GMC 2500HD I bought 4 245/75R16 retreads for $470, the same BFGoodrich tire would have cost me a little over $830, both prices include the shipping to the house via FEDEX. I just ordered them and will be putting in a report in a month or 2, if for some reason I don't meaning that if i forget if anyone wants to know how they are in a few months hit me up with a PM. So what I am looking at is half the price of a new name brand tire, not bad. Mounting and balancing would be the same for both so I am not factoring that into the cost either, will most likely be around $100 for all 4 tires though I would think so add that to both for the final tally.


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## mojo4

Be wary of recaps especially for front tires. They have a tendency to break which is why there are always shredded recap tire parts all over the highways. Which is also why they are not allowed on your front tires on a semi, just the rear 16 so if one fails you don't lose control and crash. On a standard non dual pickup you only have 4 tires and if one fails at highway speeds the resulting crash could be fatal. Just my opinion but the savings are definitely not worth the risk. If I had a semi with 16 rear wheels sharing the load no problem but with only 4 under me? Too risky.


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## cowboyhermit

I am not that up on U.S. regulations but I am 99% sure that recaps and especially remolds are fine on the steering axle of a semi in the U.S.
Regrooved tires on buses were the issue IIRC.

Having worked in the ditch along a major hiway, there are all kinds of tire parts in the ditch, certainly not just recaps. Part of the reason you see a lot of semi tires are because the trailer tires often are not checked for pressure, are run way too long, and also just due to the nature of the tire. When a light tire blows it doesn't come apart in the same way because there just isn't enough tread to hold together, it usually splits, but when you get a 20some p.r. tire (new or redone) there is a lot of rubber on the tread and it comes off in one piece, almost never splitting the tread.


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## carnut1100

Having had recaps blow on me in both light passenger and heavy vehicles, the first thing I do an any vehicle I buy with them on is to swap them out ASAP. 
The blowouts I have had were at reasonably low speeds (under 45mph) but the thought of one letting go up the front at 60mph is terrifying. 

I certainly k ow plenty of people who like them, and if you are running lower speeds then go right ahead, but personal experience as well as seeing what happens to a 4x4 when a front blows at highway speed are good enough for me to stump up the extra cash on this item. 
I'll go for budget brand cleanskins if I need to and deal with the lousy grip, at least I know it's consistent and not likely to blow out (unless they are Pos-A-Traction, everybody I know who has run those heaps of junk have had blowouts and I will never allow one on my vehicles again!)


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## cnsper

for those that are against recaps, you need to do a little more research. Watch some youtube videos of a tire being capped and one being made new and there is not much difference.

They have done studies and there is no difference in blow out numbers between new and recaps. 

The rubber you see on the highway is from semi truck tires and that is a completely different recap process. In the studies that have been done, ALL of the recap failures can be attributed to the driver either running with under pressure tires or over loaded tires.

Recaps are legal to run on steer axles on semi's and is once again a rumor. The only commercial vehicle that can not run recaps on steer axles is buses.

Most of the blowouts, even on new tires, comes from some damage to the tire like hitting a curb and weakening the sidewall etc.


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## helicopter5472

In the 80's when I had a small trucking company, the law stated that it was not legal to run retreads on the steering axle. I did a lot of driving between Colorado and LA Calif. During the summer the desert areas got super hot on the tar and most retreads would not hold up under the weight and heat. Maybe they have gotten better since, but I would still go new or used before a reflap. It's also not fun being stuck out on the hi-way at 120 degree day changing a tire.
Maybe for a car in the city that's just a commuter I can see it, but for lots of hi-way use, or off road use, no way


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## LincTex

cnsper said:


> They have done studies and there is no difference in blow out numbers between new and recaps.


I have to speak from experience... I have never head a recap blow. That's just chance, as I am sure it happens, but it has never happened to me. Of all the tires I have blown, none were recaps. About 300K miles in Semi, 100K+ miles motorcycle, and who knows how many miles in car/truck.

In fact, the all time winner for Ka-BoOm tires were the $10 used 14"s I ran on a '80 Ford Courier. Funny how that works 'cause that tin-can weighed NOTHING, but I know I did roadside tire changes at LEAST two dozen times when I owned it. I used to always carry two spares!!!!



cnsper said:


> Recaps are legal to run on steer axles on semi's and is once again a rumor.


Maybe, unless your insurance requires it. I believe a lot of insurance companies make it their rule, whether it is actually legal or not.


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## carnut1100

Big difference between a recap and a remould. 
Where I am nobody stocks remoulds so I have no personal experience, but the sidewalls are overmoulded as part of the process and it seems a much better result than a recap which I detest. 
Truck recaps are a pre vulcanised strip of tread that is glued on and they regularly come off in a big strip, but the one time I have had one of those go on me it was a big hole that blew with strips of rubber everywhere, almost like the aftermath of a cartoon explosion. 

I have also had passenger car recaps blow, and I have had them start shedding chunks of the tread while driving. 

As I said, from personal experience as well as seeing what has happened to others, I ditch them as soon as I buy a vehicle with them fitted and even my trailer which I bought brand nee they ttied to sell it with recaps but I made them put real tyres on it before I accepted delivery.


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## tom o.

I used to buy retreads in the 70's back when I had Zero dollars to spend. I had one disintegrate on me while driving on the Dan Ryan Expressway. Not where you want it to happen.

I realize this was many years ago and that the process is probably much improved by this time however I still remember that sick feeling when the car started to swerve.

If I had a truck with expensive tires I would consider it since the speeds are likely to be lower.

YMMV.

tom o.


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## Tweto

helicopter5472 said:


> In the 80's when I had a small trucking company, the law stated that it was not legal to run retreads on the steering axle. I did a lot of driving between Colorado and LA Calif. During the summer the desert areas got super hot on the tar and most retreads would not hold up under the weight and heat. Maybe they have gotten better since, but I would still go new or used before a reflap. It's also not fun being stuck out on the hi-way at 120 degree day changing a tire.
> Maybe for a car in the city that's just a commuter I can see it, but for lots of hi-way use, or off road use, no way


Federal Motor Carrier Regulation 393.75e states "A regrooved tire with a load carrying capacity equal to or greater than 4,920 pounds or more shall not be used on the front wheels of any truck or truck tractor"

Just virgin tires on the front!


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## cowboyhermit

Tweto said:


> Federal Motor Carrier Regulation 393.75e states "A regrooved tire with a load carrying capacity equal to or greater than 4,920 pounds or more shall not be used on the front wheels of any truck or truck tractor"
> 
> Just virgin tires on the front!


See, that's what I thought. For anyone who doesn't know, a regrooved tire is not a recap or a remould it is a tire that literally has had rubber cut out of the tread to extend the life.
That reg says nothing about retreads or remoulds.


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## LincTex

cowboyhermit said:


> For anyone who doesn't know, a re-grooved tire is not a recap or a remould - it is a tire that literally has had rubber cut out of the tread to extend the life. That reg says nothing about retreads or remoulds.


Yes, per regs - - - - *however*, the _insurance companies_ of most trucking firms state that in order to be covered by their insurance policy, no tires are allowed on the front but new tires. When the fronts wear out they can be retreaded and put in any of the other 16 positions, just not back on the front again.

I don't know of anyone, anywhere that does "re-grooving". It was common once upon a time... not so much anymore.


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## cowboyhermit

LincTex said:


> Yes, per regs - - - - *however*, the _insurance companies_ of most trucking firms state that in order to be covered by their insurance policy, no tires are allowed on the front but new tires. When the fronts wear out they can be retreaded and put in any of the other 16 positions, just not back on the front again.
> 
> I don't know of anyone, anywhere that does "re-grooving". It was common once upon a time... not so much anymore.


I have no idea about the insurance companies in the U.S, no arguments from me on that. The regulations that I have seen are what is quoted though, no mention of retreads.
With regards to regrooving tires, there are places here that do it and if done correctly on a tire that is designed for it there is no harm done, just most people don't bother. The tire shops send them to India to be regrooved anyways, not actually though because if they are bald it is too late to do them properly.
Regrooving "tyres" is actually quite common in super safety oriented Europe, there has been no evidence there of any problems and they are actually being encouraged because they happen to reduce a lot of waste.

An interesting thing to note is that a lot of these stories of bad experiences with retreads go back a long time to when radials were still relatively new, most likely that regroove reg. goes back that far as well. I have seen several sources state that retreads are on the majority of aircraft in North America including fighter jets so I guess somebody figures they're safe.


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## BillS

I buy my tires from Fleet Farm. They have stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. They have good prices on basic all season radials. I've never bought fancy or expensive tires just like I've never spent more than $7,000 on a vehicle.


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## LincTex

cowboyhermit said:


> I have seen several sources state that retreads are on the majority of aircraft in North America including fighter jets so I guess somebody figures they're safe.


100% true on *ALL* large aircraft (can't confirm the fighter jets though.... I will go look at some F-15's and F-18's in a couple weeks).

Every airliner in the USA runs retreads, and every large military (larger than fighter size) aircraft also runs retreads. I can grab a camera and run down and snap a few pics if anyone wants proof.


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## GaryS

Yep, the C-141s I worked on used mostly retreads. 

Based on bad experiences of friends and relatives, I never used retreads on my cars. The exception being studded winter tires that were used at low speeds and never in hot weather. Even then, I had a couple that began to lose the tread and had to be scrapped long before the tread was worn out.


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## cqp33

I have had retreads on my truck now for over 6 months from the link provided "Treadwright" and i can say i am happy with them so far, no issues and the guy i had mount and balance them didn't even know they weren't "new" tires until I told him. He isn't some high school kid either, he is a 50 year old who has owned the local tire shop for over 25 years, so it is safe to say he has seen a few tires in his time! 
I have hauled loads that are 100% of my trucks rated load rating/tow rating but I do check the tire pressure in my tires often. Here in east TN I do not reach highway speed when towing, usually around 55MPH at best but that would only be for a few minutes before getting into the bad curves at which point I would be in the 20-35MPH range up and down hills. So far I would say that I would have no problems purchasing another set of these tires either. I will update this in another 6-12 months if I remember too! LOL


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## Turtle

cqp33 said:


> I have had retreads on my truck now for over 6 months from the link provided "Treadwright" and i can say i am happy with them so far, no issues and the guy i had mount and balance them didn't even know they weren't "new" tires until I told him. He isn't some high school kid either, he is a 50 year old who has owned the local tire shop for over 25 years, so it is safe to say he has seen a few tires in his time!
> I have hauled loads that are 100% of my trucks rated load rating/tow rating but I do check the tire pressure in my tires often. Here in east TN I do not reach highway speed when towing, usually around 55MPH at best but that would only be for a few minutes before getting into the bad curves at which point I would be in the 20-35MPH range up and down hills. So far I would say that I would have no problems purchasing another set of these tires either. I will update this in another 6-12 months if I remember too! LOL


Treadwright is a good company. I had their tires on my last Jeep for almost two years. I'll definitely buy from them again when I get another 4wd vehicle.


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