We picked up good all terrain tires last year for the Tahoe, and I've noticed that they make a noise while on hard pavement. I want something quieter for some upcoming highway trips to Ohio and back.

My neighbor bought a set of retreads for his Yukon 3 years ago, and they still look great. Tire wear is normal as new tires, and he's driven to FL and back once a year since putting them on. He says that the technology has changed over the years, and that they are nothing like the crap they used to put out.

Has anyone here bought or looked at retreads for their DD vehicle?

What are your thoughts on them? Please, only comment if you have actual experience with them, I don't want this to turn out like all the oil threads.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Green Diamond retreads are good tires, ran some on a Ramcharger & a Discovery, no issues.

my experience has only been with truck retreads, I wasn't even aware you could get some for something the size of a tahoe!

Id probably only run them on the rear personally. The rubber may be excellent, but you are still faced with the fact that the original tire structure is an unknown age to you with an unknown history, and you are not sure what belts might have been broken/repaired/snapped/abused, ect, over the years. Ive only ever installed them as traction tires, never steer tires (it might have been law not to, I can't remember), though the perceived safety compromise may be way way less on a much lower psi application like for the tahoe

What do retreads cost for a tahoe?

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My experience is the same as JB3's. I run Goodyear retreads on the drive tires of my tandem axle and have had great luck with them. I didn't know they were available in passenger vehicle sizes either, but I suppose it stands to reason. FWIW-CT DOT laws prohibit retreads on steer tires, although they were written back when retreads weren't exactly known to be safe and reliable. Technology has come a long way since then. I'm going to look into them for my 'burban, though. Then maybe I'll have some experience on a smaller scale.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

About 60% of the price of new.

They would be locally re-done, and the company is known for producing some really good retreads. I've been told that they check the belts on each one, as well as pay attention to the tire date codes on the sidewalls, so they aren't using ones that are too old with bad rubber. The local Goodyear dealer is saying that the retreads are just as good as new, as far as safety, and will last for about 40K miles...other places around here say 30K, but that there are many with 50K on them before the tread is too low.

The savings is very tempting. It's not like we're driving 15k miles per year like we used to, We've put 7k on the Tahoe in the last 18 months.

The tires that are on it now were quite costly, but they have a deeper tread design that I wanted for winter tires. While they look awesome with that tread, they are noisy as hell on dry pavement...you can hear it with the windows up, and feel it over the stereo.

Goodyear Wrangler MT/R LT245/75R16/C is what's on there now...they ran me about $1200, counting spare and mounting and balancing. I can pick up a set of retread for $75 a piece, in the normal Wrangler tread.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

If you can stand the first price, a good light truck michelin will run 100K on the front and 50K on the drive wheels of my 2500 dodge. I rotate them so they come out about 80k each, thats with a lot of towing and running 75 to 80 mph. I suppose they are about twice the price of the retreads.

Can you get a michelin retread?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Yes.

It's been a lot of years, but I've run BANDAG brand cold-cap process hundreds of thousands of miles on my Fleetwood Cadillac, our truck, and Mercedes-Benz diesel cars. Best wearing tire you'll ever find - even better mileage longevity than new Michelins. The BANDAG dealer charged me $35.00 ea. per cold-cap on my skins, that were either originally bought new Michelins or Sears best Roadhandlers.


.....good luck with that.

I rented a Honda with retread snow tires "Green Line" brand made in Spain

Worst tires I've ever had misfortune of using, I can't even imagine how bad. I almost crashed the car driving out of the rental parking lot as I skidded with ABS to the red light. I was just like "really?!"

The car was really twitchy at 75+ mph and the tires would shake around 65-70+

Not all retread the same, but those were absolutely horrible. And they were not old (at least 3/8 inch tread depth) and had no obvious bubbles.

I would probably buy some new budget tires like Champiros

Kuhmo and yokohama are decent brands with lower prices than Michelin.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I think... any brand of tyre is cheaper than Michelin. Except maybe Nokian. But Nokian good.

The best street tires you can run on a truck are Michelin LTX MS2's.

80k mile tires or more, some guys get 100k out of them. Fantastic traction from day one until they are shot; unlike cheaper tires they do not degrade as they age.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

An old silverback I respect greatly, recently told me the following:

Don't be afraid to spend a little bit of money on things that separate you from the ground; shoes, beds, pillows, furniture...cars and tires could pretty easily be twisted to fit that concept as well.

The first time you need to put your money where your mouth is with those tires, the 40% difference in price is going to be trivial.

If you can find a Bandag dealer in your area I can also highly recommend their process. Retreads were a real hit and miss, more an art than a science, sort of thing until Bandag came up with their process.

Let's talk math for a minute. Simple no nonsense numbers.

Even if the only tires I could find for this car cost $300 each...

$300 X 4 tires = $1,200.
$1,200 X .40 = $480

Pucker-factor doesn't stop a car, even a German engineered one.

Not to over-simplify or be repetitive, but don't be afraid to spend a couple of dollars on things that separate you from the ground.

Buy cheap paper towels...but buy good shoes and tires.

I used to run retreads on my 69 AMC Ambassador.
Didn't last for 5hit.

Of course, I was in high school, and I firmly believed that STOP was an acronym for - Spin Tires On Pavement...

Actually never had any trouble with them, never lost a tread, even when I melted them down to the air.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

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