I'm looking at treadwright.com and their 285/70R17 warden tires to go along with my OEM wheels and a new rough country 2.5" leveling kit. Any thoughts on retreads?

 

Stay away from retreads.

 

For the past couple years Ive heard good things about them. I would get em.

 

I didn't even know you could do this for tires like those . . . What exactly is re-used and what's new? Cause these aren't the same as how the semi tires are done, at least not from what I remember anyway.

 

Tread is new, carcass is reused iirc. Basically taking bald tires, smoothing them out, and gluing new tread on.

 

That's what I thought at first (that's how the semis' are), but they said new sidewalls too and I'm wondering if they take all the braided metal portions and coat them in new rubber instead of just adhering it? Interesting either way

 

Because?

Last I checked, quite a few states have researched the idea and found retreads to be safe. It's the part where the tires are underpressured that really does harm...

 

I assume you see those huge chunks of 18 wheeler tires that are all over our highways? Those are retreads...

 

Personally I would not touch a retread. Why, because yes it has new rubber on the tread but it's wrapped around old rubber that may be dry rotted or soon to be dry rotted. Also, how many tire skins have you seen on the road? I have seen quite a lot, and there are quite a few which are not tractor trailer size.

 

Tires are one thing in life you Do Not Go Cheapo On! If you ride a motorcycle you already know this!

 

The majority of the road-gators you see strewn along the interstate system are not from retread or recapped truck tires believe it or not, what makes these tires come apart is the 80,000 lbs plus weight they are hauling or a driver that thinks he can make it to the next stop when he has a tire go bad.

I've run treadwrights on my last two jeeps and they wear like iron. They will be heavier and my take more to balance so your fuel efficiency will not be near as good, but I have no complaints. Would I run them on my truck ? The truck is allot heavier than my jeeps and solely used for long hauls so probably not.

 

Better check if they are legal to run on the front. I know DOT will not allow them on the front of semi's. Not sure about pickups but I would not run them anyway. Bought them for the back of my $125 car when I was 16 but did not know any better then now I do. I do not know where DOG'EM gets his info but being a truck driver for 20 years I have seen plenty more retreads come apart, I do not ever remember seeing a first run tire loose its tread. That is unless the side wall blew out and the tread went with it, but just loose its tread no.

 

x2!

x2!!! If the tires are a year old or so, I can see it worth while. But it isn't worth your life for a cheaper tire!