Retreading is a process through which we can use our old tyres. In this method, a worn casing of a tyre that has a good structural quality is taken off and put through a process in which it gets a completely renewed tread and sidewall rubber. After that, the revamped tyre is taken forward for a curing process in which the new rubber is vulcanized to the original casing and hence, the tyre gets a newly made tread pattern. Over the years, a lot of development has taken place in the tyre manufacturing industry across the world. High standard tyres are being manufactured using premium technologies, so that they could perform flawlessly not only in their ‘first life’, but also in their second and even sometimes third life. So, along with that, the retreaded tyre industry is also growing, as stronger tyre casings, enhanced re-manufacturing techniques and high quality rubber compounds are being used.
A retreaded tyre commences its life as a worn out tyre. There is a need for retreading when you find out that the tread is down to 2-3 mm or if it has been re-grooved earlier, or if your tyre has puntures and needs a repair. In these cases, you need to take your tyre to an experienced technician who will check and inspect the tyre to see whether it is in a condition to get retreaded. If the expert finds it alright, then you can go for a retreading of your tyre.
Advantages of Retreading of tyre:
There are several advanges of retreading such as:
- Retreads are quite safe and are being used in all kind of vehicles nowadays. May it be taxis or trucks, school buses or military vehicles, retreading is being used in all of them.
- Retreading is highly environment friendly. When the existing tyres are made ready for further use, the manufactures save landfill space. Also, it reduces carbon dioxide emmission and saves millions of gallons of oil which is required to manufacture new tyres. Therefore, when you get your old tyre retreaded instead of buying a new one, you play a major role in saving the precious natural resources.
- There are many economical benefits of retreading as the retreaded tyres are less pricey in comparision with the new ones. This definitely helps you save a considerable amount of money. You can retread your old tyre at least twice or thrice and this helps you save upto 40% of your money every time because if you go for a new set of tyres it will cost you almost double of the price of a retread one.
- Retread process is not responsible for spreading large chunks of rubber on the roads and highways. According to recent studies, it happens due to abuses like tyre failure, caused by road hazards, tyre blasts and overloading to both new tyres and retread ones.
However, instead of all these benefits of retreads, they could not really take off so well as most of the consumers have negative impression about the retreaded tyres.
Disadvantages of retreaded tyres:
- Retreaded tyres are generally a lot less expensive than the new ones, however, after the budget tyres have come into play, the scenario has changed to a large extent. Now, it seems that budget tyres are even less expensive than the retreaded ones and as they are freshly made tyres, they obviously have better quality than the retreaded tyres. Hence, a customer is more likely to prefer budget tyres to the retreaded ones.
- In retreading, a new lease of rubber is put on the casing of a worn out tyre without changing the cords of infrastructure. Hence, the quality of the retreaded tyres always stays a lot down than that of the new tyres. No matter how well it works after retreading, there has to be some issue with a retreaded tyre.
