From Brodsky's point of view, there is widespread misinformation about the durability and safety of retreaded tires and he is doing everything he can to see those ideas come to a screeching halt. "People may have heard their uncle Louis at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner talking about how retreads came apart and were nothing but junk, but that just isn't true anymore," says the very straight-talking Brodsky from TRIB (The Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau) in Pacific Grove, California.It is true that as late as the 1970s, rubber from retreaded tires was known to rip away and leave chunks of tire or 'road alligators' laying on the highway—but times change and so has the retreaded tire, argues Brodsky. "The technology and improvements in terms of rubber chemistry are nothing short of amazing," says Brodsky. "There is a 1000 per cent improvement in retreaded tires."
If there are 'road alligators' littering the highways it is not from a failed retreaded tire, according to Brodsky. "The 'road alligators' you see on any given day in any climate, hot or cold, on any highway, anywhere, is coming from tires that have been improperly maintained and much of it comes from tires that have never, ever been in a retread factory."
"The real cause of tire failure is improperly inflated tires or nail punctures," adds Brodsky.
Not only are retreads safe and reliable, TRIB believes that its industry is extremely environmentally friendly. "Retreading keeps millions of tires out of landfills every year," says Brodsky. "We like to say, 'we look round and black, but we are very, very green'," says Brodsky.
Retreaded tires are also 30 to 50 percent cheaper than new tires. Over the last 3 decades, many industries looking for cost savings have started using the new, improved retreaded tires. "You can be pretty sure that the tires on the plane you're flying on is using retreaded tires," Brodsky says, "and a lot of people in the trucking industry get it, too, and every taxicab in New York City drives on retreaded tires."
One of the reasons more and more retreaded tires are in use is due the rigorous inspection done by Retread factories. Non-destructive testing methods such as Shearography, Differometry, X-ray and other systems enable retreaders to give a tire the equivalent of a CAT scan or MRI before proceeding with the retread process. This insures the retreaded tire has been carefully inspected and is suitable for another full and productive life. "It has a warranty as good as, and often better than, a comparable new tire warranty and you can feel comfortable that you are not going to crash and kill yourself on this tire," says Brodsky.
READ MORE TRUCKING ACCIDENT LEGAL NEWS
However, Brodsky believes passenger retreads are about to become more popular." A set of four new tires for an SUV or a high performance vehicle can run around $1000. Four retreads will cost about half that. "It looks like a new tire, you can't tell the difference and it will almost always...no--I will say, always outperform a new tire in performance. Safety is not an issue. They are as safe as new tires, the handling and the performance is the same. You wouldn't know the difference when you are behind the wheel of the vehicle."
Harvey Brodsky the managing director and industry spokesperson for The Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau located in Pacific Grove, California.
READER COMMENTS
Christian Wagner Jr
on
This isnt my first time either, the other time was on a week on 2001 Monte Carlo I just got. A pickup literally kicked up another tread, and it hit my car and scratched up the hood, and the front bumper as it folded over my car at 65mph. This is completely UNACCEPTABLE! I have had 2 cars now that have been tarnished because of this crap, and something needs to be done about it
Kenneth Smith
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Steven immer
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Flying tire tread doesn't necessarily stay in the same lane
Close to all road alligators are pieces of retread
dumptires1
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Jeff hinds
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Michael Buny
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Steve Farina
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Eli Carico
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Celia Swender
on
Today my luck ran out when the tractor trailer in front of me threw one directly into my car. It half tore the bumper off and left me fighting to control my car and not involve anyone else. Meantime, the trucker quickly took the next exit. Even had my car been in any shape to follow so I could get license information, I couldn't have gone after him. Now I have almost $2 K in damages that will be recorded as "comprehensive" damage by my insurance company. Rather as if this trucker had beaten my car with a length of retread as it sat in my driveway.
The reason the DOT studies show retreads to be "almost as safe" as real tires is because these incidents go largely unreported by motorists whose priority is just staying alive, and insurance companies who treat them the same as if kids had keyed a parked car, NOT because they don't happen. I can't report this incident today to any regulatory agency or disinterested 3rd party study, and - I am, of course, only speculating here - but I would hazard that that trucker won't report it either. He - and these people who sell retreads as "just as safe" - are getting off scot-free, just like the one who killed those poor people in Kentucky with his cast-off retread did.
They can talk about airplanes all day long, but unlike airplanes, which are alone on runways, tractor trailers are on the road with everyone else. The danger may or may not be to them, but it is exponentially more likely to affect the hapless drivers around them, who never know when a heavy, flapping projectile may be flung at them out of nowhere.
Xiggie
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Mark Miller
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