Re-tread tires

[CLynn85]

Avoiding the old stereotypes and heavy truck tires excluded, has anyone here had any experience with modern day retreads? The ones from high-tec retreading are a popular choice among a lot of jeepers and light trucks and seem to be something worth considering. The green diamond thing seems to be a gimic and not worth it but $380 for 5 tires shipped ain't bad.... especially considering you can spec out what sidewall/carcass you want them on. I've heard pretty good experiences with airing down as well.

http://www.high-tec-retreading.com/

 

[Pskhaat]

I've seen those guys before; they've been around a while. I was very close to buying some for a trail rig. I opted out of it, but probably for an uninformed consumer reason; commercial vehicles have been retreading for years, even off-hwy for millions of miles. I'm looking forward to the responses here.

 

[goodtimes]

I'm interested in any actual experience with them as well (instead of the normal "my brothers wifes sisters ex-husbands uncle had some retreads and said they sucked" stories you usually hear). I am close to needing a set of tires on both the Dodge and the jeep.....last I checked 285/75r16's (which both the dodge and jeep have) weren't cheap.

 

[flyingwil]

I'm interested in any actual experience with them as well (instead of the normal "my brothers wifes sisters ex-husbands uncle had some retreads and said they sucked" stories you usually hear). I am close to needing a set of tires on both the Dodge and the jeep.....last I checked 285/75r16's (which both the dodge and jeep have) weren't cheap.

I dare you to get the "Farm Tires"

But in all seriousness, I too would love to hear the final results. Nice find, CLynn85 BTW.

I know that when I had retreads on my KW back when I drove Tractor Trailer, the retreads did not hold up well and after 3 winter months, I regreted every bit of the retreads. But technology has changed since then and could be a different story (sounds like the Green Diamond might have fixed this).

Wil

 

[sacto_patrol]

I ran the 285/75/16 mud's on my XJ for a year, until I sold it. The carcass is either BFG AT or Bridgestone Revo AT's. I had the revo's, the balanced perfectly. They are fairly soft, worked great on the rocks and aired down fine. Never had any chunking. I will say they seemed to wear quick. I would expect around 15,000 to 20,000 miles out of a set.
The company is great and had them to my door in 4 days.

 

[goodtimes]

.... I will say they seemed to wear quick. I would expect around 15,000 to 20,000 miles out of a set....

Wow, that is quick. My goodyear MT/R's have just shy of 50,000 miles on them (20K on the original owners jeep, 30K on my jeep), and still have ~25% tread left. If the retreads only last 33% of the ~60K the mt/r's will eventually have, it puts the price of tire per mile back in range with new tires.

Were your retreads from hi-tech, or somewhere else? How long ago did you have them?

 

[sacto_patrol]

Well I sold the XJ in September or November can't remember. I had them on all of last year. They were from hi-tech, again very good company and very responsive.

I will say one thing for the first 5,000 miles the Jeep need an alignment real bad and I didn't have time to do it. So that could of attributed to the quick tire wear. I think all 4 tires were $300 something to me door. When I get home I will dig up the receipt.

 

[goodtimes]

No need for exact price (that is on the website). I was just curious if the tires you had were the same ones I am looking at (hi-tech), and if it was fairly recently. If you had a set of their tires, say, 15 years ago, it may not be a good representation of their current product. But if it was only a year ago that you bought them, chances are their process hasn't changed much (if at all).

 

[Colorado Ron]

FWIW I burned thru a set in 12k miles. They were Hi-Tech.

 

[goodtimes]

hmmmm...that kind of lifespan is unacceptable given the price. I think I'll skip the re-treads.....

 

[colvere]

I ordered a set of 5 235x85x16's today and will swap them between my 79 crew cab ford and my discovery and see how they do. I have new MTR's on the discovery now but will switch them for the retreads for about 2K miles to see if they are trail and hiway worthy.

 

[flyingwil]

Sorry to bring a thread back from the dead, but anyone have any input on the retreaded tires?

 

[Robthebrit]

Are they legal on normal vehicles? I big tires can be reteads, my mog spare is a retread but I was under the impression 'car' tires cannot and you are not allowed to retread them unless they say 'regrooveable' on the sidewall. Maybe thats just a CA rule.

I have a fair bit of old experience with them as they are 100% legal in the UK but I have not lived there for 13 years and I guess things have changed. In the time that I did use them I never had any problems with them and I drove in the dry, rain and snow and they never seemed any different, however I have never been one to drive fast.

My mog spare is a retread but I have never used it, it looks like the sidewalls are going to fail before the treads.

Rob

 

[bootzilla]

I was just reading a thread over on an Isuzu board about Hi-tech retreads. Of course there was all kinds of debate about the pros and cons, but only one person with direct experience - he is currently running the mud tires on his Rodeo - positive comments from him, no problems so far, and he said the tire shop commented on how well balanced they were from the factory. He uses them both on and off-road. The only thing he didn't comment on was wear.

The price is certianly nice, and they are envronmentally friendly compared to new tires...I have a long way to go until a new set of tires, but if they wear decently, I'd give a set of them a try in the future...

 

[stomperxj]

This is my first post here and I know this thread is a bit old but I'd like to chime in here... I've owned 2 sets of Hi Tec Retreads, specifically the 31" OTR muds. I got about 25k miles out of both sets and they wore great. I know some other wheelers in my area that are easy on the throttle and have gotten 35k+ out of them. I'll never buy brand name tires again. I ran the first set unbalanced for awhile and I couldnt tell the difference between balanced and not so I never balanced the second set....