But blog readers didn’t laugh (at least for the most part) when back in 2008 we tested environmentally friendly and supposedly wallet preserving retreads from Treadwright. Though I was happy with my first try at using retreads, I made the mistake of only buying four tires. When one was damaged, I couldn’t replace it (due to Treadwright discontinuing that tread design) and thus ended up with a mis-match. That was ok for the old gaser Silverado, but the newer 2009 Duramax is overall more sensitive to tire diameter discrepancies — to the point that if you delay rotating your tires and pair a more worn meet with a newer tire, you get weird behavior such as the truck tending to stay in power mode longer and the steering feeling stiff (not to mention the rear posi diff needing tires of the same diameter to work properly). Not a big deal, as buying 5 tires gives you a compatible spare you can rotate in to get more overall life for your tire set– that is, if you don’t get lazy about those tire rotations!

The numbers worked out this way: I got five Guard Dog M/T tires from Treadwright. They’re built with a rubber compound they call KEDGE (soft, with walnut shells and glass powder, said to be awesome on ice but makes the tires wear quite a bit faster). Since we use this truck for extreme service on icy and snowy roads, the tires were also purchased as ready for studs, which were installed by the local tire shop who did the mount and balance. Here is how the numbers worked out: From Treadwright, the five 265/75 R16 tires totalled to $699.00 including shipping. Having them mounted and balanced here will be an additional $163.00, for a total of $862.00. From Big 0, an equivalent tire is about $1,250 for five, out the door with studs. Initially that saves $388.00. Not bad for getting a set of perfectly good and environmentally friendly tires.Big 0 will rotate a previous customer’s tires for free, even if the particular tires were not bought from Big 0 (a method of bringing in business), but if you need a balance it’s $14 per wheel.

If it’s a Big 0 tire they’ll rotate AND balance for free. Thus, let’s say I get 35,000 miles out of these 5 snow tires, and rotate every 4,000 miles (yeah, I’m lazy). That’s about 9 rotations. Out of those 9, I’ll probably need a re-balance 4 times, meaning I’ll shell out another $224.00 for balancing, making the total cost of running the Treadwrights is $1,086, for a savings of only $164.00 over a Big 0 brand tire with free balancing. Whew, not that great in the end, kind of embarrassing really, considering I could have gotten a totally new set of tires for just $164.00 over the cost of the Treadwrights.I’m betting these are super grippy snow and ice tires, perhaps better than anything I can get at our local tire shops. But mostly, I AM green, baby. Treadwright claims that their tires “save up to 70% of the oil and materials needed to make a new tire.” Summary of bummer: Treadright claims “You can …save 50% or more over the price of a truly comparable new tire.”

In my case not even close, but we’ll take the green benefit and the small money savings in return for the fun of experimenting with these tires Perhaps better deals exist for mounting, studding and rotations so some of you out there could still come out way ahead. Udel T ShirtsAnd I’ll admit, I wish this would have worked out better…Buy Donut Spare Tires (Note, retread tires get a bum rap. 3 Bedroom House For Sale CaerphillyYou can find a number of websites with stories about failed retreads. What such websites fail to explicate is if the failed tires were a. underinflated for their load or rating, b. running with exceeded load capacity, c. running over or near their speed rating. While I’ve got a moderate amount of concern about how well our retreads will hold up, I’m not overly worried about a catastrophic failure any more than I worry about my OEM tires.

In fact, no matter what tire we run I know it’s my job to make sure they’re inflated correctly for whatever load I’m hauling, and inspected frequently. Also, I’ll be honest here and if we do have some sort of failure that seems unusual it’ll be reported immediately.) Added on: December 6, 2010 Part 1/2 of a winter tire test on mom's 2010 Volkswagen Jetta Wolfsburg Edition with the 2.0T engine and 6spd DSG. Tire size: 205/55R16 OEM size: 225/45R17 ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ATV & Trailer Tires Auto Q & A Founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi, Bridgestone or “Stone Bridge” (direct translation from Japanese) was created in Japan. In the 1930’s Japan slowly stated producing automobiles, and in 1932 Bridgestone became the first tire manufacturing company to offer tires nationally. By 1983 Bridgestone purchased a tire plant in La Vergne, Tennessee, from Firestone Tire & Rubber. In the twenty first century, Bridgestone became one of the “Big Three” tire companies in the United States.

Bridgestone now sells tires to six continents throughout the world. Bridgestone Tire stands by their “Passion for Excellence” with their vision; “ Our passion for the very best in technology, quality, and service is at the heart of our commitment to you wherever you are in the world.” Bridgestone’s mission is to “inspire and move you.” The Potenza RE 960AS Pole Position is a premium sports car tire. This tire is a great example of Bridgestone quality with a fantastic racy looking appearance. This all-season performance tire has an Arc Shape Leading Edge that enhances the way the tire performs in snow and dry road conditions. The Potenza RE 960AS is a great tire for wet surfaces with a Hydro Evacuation System that reduces flow resistance of water along the groove walls. Duel-Layer Tread is incorporated in the design to increase wear for wet tire performance, by exposing High-Grip rubber as the tire wears. A superior tire for passenger vehicles that can handle all-season weather surfaces is the HP550 with Uni-T.

This Bridgestone tire features a unique tread design that gives performance looks with performance driving capabilities, at a reasonable price. The Uni-T component of the HP550 is a Silica enhanced tread compound that is molded into a sophisticated tread pattern, delivering all-season traction in wet, dry, and snow surfaces. As touring tires are thought to be, the HP550 with Uni-T provides an exceptionally comfortable and quiet ride, using Veri-Pitch design. The Bridgestone Tire Company offers a Platinum Pact Limited Tread Warranty, and a Buy-and-Try 30 day money back guarantee. Bridgestone offers a unique SUV and Light Truck tire called the Dueler A/T REVO 2. This Light/Medium truck tire has duel layer tread that minimizes the effects of wear for superior performance on wet surfaces, by exposing high grip rubber as the tire tread wears. For off-road capabilities, Dura-Tech, a high durability compound minimizes chipping and tearing of the tread. Semi-Stealth Blocks were integrated into the design for higher tread stiffness for improved handling and water evacuation.