Anyone out there running re-treads?

Found this site and they look like a bargain.
http://treadwright.com/Tires-30x9_50R15_MUD-P10.aspx

Thoughts or suggestions???

D

They are cheap, but I have never had good luck with retreads.

The popular misconception about retreads is that they are somehow inferior to brand new tires.
They are not. At least they're not if bought from a reputable company.

Back in the late 70's - mid 80's I ran retreads a lot with no issues at all locally.

The reason I don't run them now is that there aren't a lot of places (if any) offering them.

The fact is, brand new tires are built practically the same way as retreads are; the tread of the tire is glued to the body of the tire. Anyone who has taken a Driver Safety Course for employment should get this info.
What is important in a retread is a good, quality tire body.
I think Treadwright can and does offer that. But if you get them and see any kind of damage to the body I'd call TW.

The only issue I think you run might into is tire pressure.
The #1 reason for tire failure is overheating. That's why you see the tracker-trailer treads along the highways. Those were new tires, not retreads, that overheated (because of improper inflation) and separated.
So if you lower the pressure to go wheeling, make sure to inflate them before you hit the road.
Of course, that goes for any tire.

There's my 2¢.
If you buy the tires, keep us updated!   

I was tempted to go re-tred for a while. I opted not to because:
* The popular online re-tread company of the time (can't remember who) had a bad reputation for warrantying their product.
* There were reports of people saying "I purchased XYZ re-tread and it separated". Either they were lieing, or these tires do fail (no way to determine real failure rate).
* If buying tires online, they still need to be shipped, mounted & balanced. My local shops charge more to mount & balance tires not purchased at their shops.

After pricing everything, I would have saved about 15% ($80). It was worth the extra $80 to have piece of mind & a replacement warranty if anything went wrong. My 29" M/T from Pep Boys were made by cooper (their house brand), and cost $550 installed with no-questions-asked warranty (includes sidewall rips).

Retreads are fine when it's cold out but when it's warm I would steer clear, just look at the sides of the interstate in winter and summer and you'll catch my drift.

What about running them at low psi while crawling? Would that have any effect on separation

The retreads from treadwright actually do fairly well. That is, if they are on your DD, NOT your trail rig. The can go through mud holes and such with no problems. However, it is indeed when people start to air down and rock crawl that they fail on the trail. I have known MANY people to put 20,000 street miles on retreads with no problems at all. But I've also seen people take them out their first day, lower the psi, crawl, and rip the tread off.

Pepatt said the tires laying on the side of the road are brand new. I must disagree. These tires do come from the 18-wheelers. Where your wrong is I dont know a single trucking company that buys NEW tires. In todays world, its all about maximizing profit and in order to do this they have to keep purchase prices to a minumum. Why would they pay twice the price for new if they can get retreads? Plus they order in bulk so they get discounts.

Personal opinion--If its your daily driver buy them, they are worth the money. If its your trail rig, you're better off buying brand new, more expensive, name brand tires. Honestly, best bang for your buck is a Kelly Safari DTR. They arent exactly cheap but they are unstoppable on any terrain. They dont have the highest ratings and are noisy on the highway but you wont get stuck anywhere. They are HIGHLY under rated. Mud, snow, slush, rain, anything, just hit the gas and go. I've had great success with DTR's and recommend them to anyone.

Good example: my buddy has a driveway that is about a 40* angle and was covered in 8" of snow this past winter. His DTRs were about half worn but he didnt even have to lock in the 4x4 to get up the driveway. I have seen several people slip and slide all up and down his driveway in 4x4 in the winter. I myself had to lock in with snow tires. I am sorry to say, I was driving a J**P. However, I wont knock the j**ps capabilities because as far as winter goes, I've never gotten stuck or slid half way through an intersection. Its too "pretty" to ever see a trail though.

Edit: Treadwrights biggest problem is they almost always have to back order things. Mostly the bigger tires but they do tend to run out of the smaller ones too.

Pepatt said the tires laying on the side of the road are brand new. I must disagree. These tires do come from the 18-wheelers. Where your wrong is I dont know a single trucking company that buys NEW tires.

OK, to assume they are all new tires was presumptuous of me. Sorry. Guess I should have said,"Not necessarily retreads".
However, I do know a couple of owner/operators who have had new tires on their rigs that failed just the same.

The point I was trying to make was that tread failure usually occurs due to improper inflation. That goes for most any tire.

Man, I had to read the above four times before I could hit "Post"! I feel like I'm in court.

Pepatt,
I will try and help you get out of court.
I am a Safety Coordinator and hold a CDL "A" with all endorsements (that really only means I can drive a truck).
Retreads are good in the correct situation. It is ileagal to run retreads on the steer tires of any tractor (semi) in the state of Washington. This is because they are somewhat inferior.
When you apply a large load to these tires (50,000 lbs or more), apply heat from driving in the summer months, they tend to come apart.
You are right when you say that the biggest failure in tires is overheating. This typically is caused by under-inflation. When the tire is on a Tractor-Trailer and is not ran at the correct PSI, you cause heat which inturn causes de-lamination of the tread and the cap.
As for running them with low air pressure for off roading? I do not think you are going to create enough heat or have enough weight on the tires to hurt them.
Now you must think about, is there anything else that will hurt the tires when off roading with low tire PSI ? Maybe. Retreads are good tires but the have their limitations.

Hmmm. Never knew that about the steer tires. Makes very good sense. At least in the case of a tractor. Tens of thousands of pounds plowing against them in a turn is probably tough on them!
As for a Trackick, probably not as much of an issue.

Thanks for bailing me out! 

Retreads are good tires but the have their limitations.

In all things you must choose the right tool for the job.

A guy like me who uses his Trackick as a DD and takes it to the trails to crawl around on the weekend (never changing tire pressure) will probably fare very well with the retreads; the guy who runs 15lbs. (just a guess) to crawl rocks may run into issues.

Having access to tire mounting and balancing equipment free of charge, I will probably try a set someday - though the brand new set of Goodyear MT's I just picked up off Craig's List for a cool $200 will likely last me a while.