Tyre Retreads

[Disco Bristol]

What is your opinion on retreaded tyres?

I have heard several reasons why not to buy retreaded tyres.

As far as I can tell most people believe they are unsafe and have visions of them shedding their tread at speed. I would find it hard to believe that if it was such a common occurrence they would not be allowed to sell them.

Also apparently balancing can be an issue.

And they wear faster (apparently)?

I am looking to buy 4/5 All Terrain tyres for my Disco 300 TDI. I am seriously considering retreaded tyres. I have seen some by Colway for £38 per tyre. Is there a catch?



Can anyone recommend and particularly good value AT tyres?

[muddyweb]

You'll hear all sorts of stories, good and bad....   balancing can be an issue if they aren't made very well...  as with all types of tyres there are good and bad remoulds.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing when considering tyres is that they carry the correct speed and load rating for your vehicle.   I believe that the Colways do, but a lot of remoulds don't... so BEWARE.

If in any doubt, ask the supplier what the speed rating is... they should give you a letter.


The following should be useful :

Speed Symbol "N"     For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 140 Km/h (88 Mph)
Speed Symbol "P"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 150 Km/h (94 Mph)
Speed Symbol "Q"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 160 Km/h (100 Mph)
Speed Symbol "R"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 170 Km/h (106 Mph)
Speed Symbol "S"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 180 Km/h (113 Mph)
Speed Symbol "T"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 190 Km/h (119 Mph)
Speed Symbol "U"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 200 Km/h (125 Mph)
Speed Symbol "H"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 210 Km/h (130 Mph)
Speed Symbol "V"    For vehicles with a speed capability not exceeding 240 Km/h (e.g. 225.55 R 15 91V)
Speed Symbol "W"    For vehicles having speed capability not exceeding 270 Km/h (e.g. 225.60 R 15 96W)
Speed Symbol "Y"    For vehicles having speed capability not exceeding 300 Km/h (e.g. 275.40 R 18 94Y)
Speed Category "VR"    For vehicles having speed capability over 210 Km/h (e.g. 195.50 VR 15)
Speed Category "ZR"    For vehicles with a speed capability over 240 Km/h (e.g. 205.40 ZR 17)


Now, bear in mind that the above figures are not the speeds that you travel at, but the Maximum Rated Speed for the vehicle.   On something like a Defender it is 87 mph, so you get a lot of choice... on a Tdi Discovery it is (I think) 98mph... but I don't know that for sure so it is worth checking in the handbook.

Hope that helps.

[TimM]

Many people use retreaded tyres, mostly I suspect because they are a lot cheaper.

I'm sure these are 'adequate' or else they wouldn't be allowed to sell them, but is 'adequate' good enough?

Tyres are the only contact with the road (or whatever) and they are vital to ensuring you stay on the track rather than say hitting a tree or another car by cornering too wide, or when stopping - nomater how good your brakes are, the grip from your tyres is a major factor.

I would rather spend more money to ensure I'm safe, than have more money in my pocket when I die in a crash, so when I replace my tyres I will fit quality recommended brands.

[muddyweb]

Just as an addition, the tyres should be 'E' marked too...  I've seen a couple of remoulds being sold in the UK which aren't... so you can't go on the road with them.

[gords]

I used to have Colway AT tyres and found them to be very good on road and reasonable off-road. They do clog up quite easily though.

[TimM]

Just as an addition, the tyres should be 'E' marked too...  I've seen a couple of remoulds being sold in the UK which aren't... so you can't go on the road with them.

Sorry Tim,

This 'E' - is it an E with a circle round it?

If not, what should I/we be looking for?

 :oops:

[gords]

When I was looking for mud tyres, there seemed to be very few makes that had the required speed rating for a Discovery TDi :roll:

I seem to remember it being basically Colway MT or Technic Amazon... not sure if would be the same problem for AT's though.

Most web sites did not display the speed rating of the tyres - you had to phone / email to find out.

[Disco Bristol]

Anyone know where i should go for th best price on BFG AT's or General grabber AT'2s?

[Disco Bristol]

is £75 per tyre reasonable for general Grabber At'2s?

[driftwood]

just to get me out in mud i have got colway m/t's, i payed 30 squid a corner about 9 months ago, soley because i forgot to water the money tree :lol:
my second treck out i got a nail in one so it cost me 30 quid compared to 90 squid ( or whatever ), they are noisy on the road but i havent had asny major mud yet to try them. when they do wear down i'll probabily get better ones like bf etc.
but for the price and performance they arnt that bad.

[driftwood]

oh,  
the balancing i didn't get done, if its a good treck i'll swop them when i've got to my location, every time you get a good pot hole or good bump they'll probabily want doing again as i learnt from phill where a weight on his wheel smacked his window :shock: , and that was on tarmac

[thermidorthelobster]

I used to use them in the distant past, but I found that for the cost saving, I never seemed to get that much life out of them, and that on the whole it was cheaper to buy "proper" tyres.  However, this is based on normal car use, not 4x4 use.

[TUFFTEE]

You can get Camac terras! which are Not remoulds! I have just booted "TUFFTEE" at £45.00 plus vat a corner! as i have used Camac before i knew what i wanted! You can get them Here!

http://www.kingdavidtyres.co.uk/

[Xtremeteam]

You can get Camac terras! which are Not remoulds! I have just booted "TUFFTEE" at £45.00 plus vat a corner! as i have used Camac before i knew what i wanted! You can get them Here!

http://www.kingdavidtyres.co.uk/

i use them on my 90 racer as they are well grippy on the gravel safaris,& also can be run flat & re inflated with no ill affects (yet)

[Bush Tucker Man]

No problems with Colway A/T's on the Discovery.
They've don over 20,000miles & are 'sound as a pound'

I had a set of the Bronco M/T's on the 110Tdi & they were great. Grippy, hard-wearing & superb even at erm.... slightly higher than legal speeds.

On something like a Defender it is 87mph

I've got a copy of a Defender catalogue (300Tdi) & it states maximum speed as 93 ('point' something) mph.
Doesn't say which model it is

[jjsaul]

we were never fans of retreads till we got some

i wanted some BFG AT's but didnt have the money so we got some bronco grip edges instead. excellent tyre so far.

[muddyweb]

I've got a copy of a Defender catalogue (300Tdi) & it states maximum speed as 93 ('point' something) mph.
Doesn't say which model it is

Plenty of conflicting information about....

This robbed from James Taylor...

90 2.5 Petrol : 72mph
90 V8 (3.5)  :  85mph
90 2.5D  :  68mph
90 2.5TD :  75mph
90 Tdi : 85mph

110 2.5 Petrol : 70mph
110 V8   :  78/85mph depending on model
110 2.5D  :  62mph
110 2.5TD :  70mph
110 Tdi : 83mph



And grabbed from rangerovers.net :

RR Classic (US spec, so V8 lumps)

1987 - 1988 : 97mph
1989 - 1995 : 110mph




Make of that lot what you will !

[Range Rover Blues]

We've had this discussion before and those who remember it will know how I feel about remoulds, I'm not their biggest fan.
Thing is they have their place, I run remoulded MTs based on cost/chance of damage but they are my 'play' tyres and I run new AT or road tyres at other times, I even had ATs on to get down to Whaddon this year and swapped on-site.

When cash allow I will be swapping to BFG or similar because, as has already been said, your tyres are the ONLY thing keeping you on the road, they are important and not something that should be economised on.

I've chatted at some length with other emebers and the general opinion is they are fine, if you drive the car accordingly.

[Spooky]

Anyone know anything about 'Black Star' tyres? I know they're re-treads, and have a speed rating of 'N' (84 mph), but what about noise, tread life??

[muddyweb]

Anyone know anything about 'Black Star' tyres? I know they're re-treads, and have a speed rating of 'N' (84 mph), but what about noise, tread life??

Can't say I do.. what are you thinking of fitting them to ?  Not your D2  :shock:

[waveydavey]

Tyres really do come down to what you are happy to pay for and what you are happy to drive on.

Remoulds can use a lot more weights to balance but then I have never been charged to balane a tyre by how much effort it took or how many weights it used.

If you are interested most of the time Jumbo Jets (Etc.) operate on Remoulds, they don't get many landings out of a tyre but remould them time and again.

[Range Rover Blues]

" things there though, firstly it does matter how much lead is used to balance the tyre, I've seen it halfway round the rim and at that stage it's becoming counter-productive and far more likely to get torn off.

And aircraft tyres are designed from the outset to be remoulded, the carcase gets very little use and the wear is mechanical because the tyre is scrubbed so hard on landing.  Car tyres are designed for one life, no way the manufacturer is going to compromise performance so that another company can make/sell a tyre built around one of their old tyres.
Plus aircaraft are designed to function with numerous blowouts!

[karloss]

The other thing to remember of course, Colway's are a good quality remould, I've used them for years on everything from my 90 to race spec road cars. They are a little softer than most of your quality new tyres and so don't last as long. But the point is this, better a *quality* remoulded tyre than a shoddy new one. Some of the tyres offered by the "chains" quite frankly wont be used to replace my remoulds. End of the day it's mostly down to personal preference. If cost is an issue but you really dont want remoulds, buy second hand. Then of course you run the risk of buying something someone else has curbed and damaged!!

[Matt_H]

As people have said, it depends which pub expert you talk to at the time.. AFAIK of all the people who have ha dhigh speed blow outs, none have been due to remoulds.  However I'm hardly a cross section of the community.

I use remould grizzly claws. They don't last long on road, but for such an agressive tyreit's hardly surprising.  I got them for trade price so couldn't refuse! Next time I'll be getting gooyear wranglers after a recomendaton from neil (ok 50k miles on one set of tyres sells it to me!)

I would have no hesitation to run remoulds on the landy, but.... the kit car I wouldn't run remoulds except for a track day (purely becuase I know one set of tyres -goodyear eagle f1- and know how much side ways driving I can get away with).. Well if it's good enough for F1 cars (yes they run remoulds!)

Matthew

[muddyweb]

Just to re-iterate my earlier point....  speed and load ratings are they key factors here... they MUST match your vehicle.

Formula 1 cars and Aircraft do NOT use the same type of remoulds that we are talking about here....   as has been mentioned, they are started from totally different carcasses.

[Matt_H]

..or be better than your vehicle..

I had real trouble getting the F1 tyres to fit onto the disco rims and then they were too sodding wide, plus they were rubbish in the mud!  ;-)

Matthew