Treadwright or wrong?

[Frobisher]

What’s the current opinion of Treadwright bead to bead tires? I haven’t noticed much in the forums lately on them, so is there any recent experience here? I’m about due to replace my 215/85 pizza cutters, and their prices are very tempting. Thanks.

 

[mgreenspan]

I used them when they were hitec retreading and was pleased with the tires I had. Used on a trail truck with some driving to the trails. I used another set later on a Dodge Ram 2500. The tires were the full wrapped ones. I thought the quality was downhill compared to when the first started. If you’re not doing a budget wheeler set I would personally recommend buying real tires. There was a lot of cracking on 2 of 5 after about a year and the wrap around rubber seemed to not want to stay on.

 

[WILL.TILLERY]

I have had great tires from Treadwright and I have had awful tires from Treadwright..... The last set had 2 fail....The caps ballooned up and came apart. Another issue I found is every time I went to have them balanced they freaked the guys out.... (needed tons of work to get right) There is a lot of competition in the eBay tire arena. I would explore a set of new production tires on there or look to someone like simpletire.com or tirebuyer.com. Call them and they can negotiate a better deal.

 

[kennith]

I'm just going to step in and point out that tires are the only part of your vehicle touching the road, and have everything to do with handling, acceleration, braking, high-speed stability, ride comfort, and the safety of everyone around you.

Eat ramen noodles and buy good tires.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[ukoffroad]

I have had a set on my Series for about a year with no issues. It does maybe 800 miles a year, very light and not at much speed so I do not know if that really helps much. I probably would not buy them for something that got a ton of use, but I have read of others on Pirate or similar with lots of miles and no issues.

 

[kennith]

I have had a set on my Series for about a year with no issues. It does maybe 800 miles a year, very light and not at much speed so I do not know if that really helps much. I probably would not buy them for something that got a ton of use, but I have read of others on Pirate or similar with lots of miles and no issues.

Yeah, they claim they have no issues, but like anything you run into people just brainwashing themselves after spending money, not driving as much as they say they do, thinking everyone is willing to tolerate their acceptable level of discomfort, not understanding anything beyond rocks and mud, and thinking a blow-out on the trail is as bad as things get.

It's like people saying Optima is the cat's ass for overland use, and yet the sum total of their associated experience is a few weekends camping in a national park. They get one, and six months later they're a brand ambassador because they spent the money. When it pops a year later, they're oddly silent about it...

This is a stupid place to try saving money. Eat ramen noodles and be done with it. There's no excuse. I don't want someone next to me rolling on Treadwright tires at 60mph. If someone wants to step in the shower and suck-start a revolver, that's their business; but one's personal foolishness becomes my business when they're near me doing it.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[Blue]

Jesus....tires is not one area where you want to cheap out.

 

[ERover82]

If it's trail dedicated, cheap out. If it's street driven, or overlanding, pay up.

 

[kennith]

If it's trail dedicated, cheap out. If it's street driven, or overlanding, pay up.

I won't complain about a trailer queen hitting a trail on retreads, but the second it's on the road I take notice. If someone wants to run out in a desert by themselves on retreads it doesn't really affect me; but if someone shows up with that crap for a job, they go home on their own dime.

Don't pass go, don't collect two hundred dollars. I'm not dealing with their shit in the middle of nowhere. I've had trouble enough already with the crap cars I've had to use. I don't need more headaches.

They just need to keep that crap off the road and away from me.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[Frobisher]

Those were pretty much my thoughts, maybe not quite so eloquently put forth. I figured it's always good to get some thoughts from people with a lot more experience than me, so thanks. Even putting quality aside, it seems penny-wise, pound-foolish to give up a good local tire shop connection in favor of saving a few dollars. As always, thanks for the straight shooting.

 

[kennith]

penny-wise, pound-foolish

Damn. That's what I was going for at first, but couldn't remember it.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[p m]

This is not to crap on Treadwright or laud them - I have zero experience with these, and no plans to buy the retreads.

However...

In my past life in Soviet Union, tires - as any other auto part - were super-precious commodity, nearly impossible to buy at advertised prices.
We had retreads on the little Lada for many years and many thousands of miles, without a single blowout or delamination.
This is to say the technology is very far from new.

Another consideration - as much as Kennith would love not to see retreads close by, chances are high than a semi in front of/behind/in the next lane to him
will have several retreads. I don't know the DOT regulations for retread individual and commercial use, but the retreads are a nearly billion-dollar business.

Back to Treadwright - Will's and Matt's comments are the most useful because they picture the effective cost of a tire. If you assume about 25-30% rate of tires being unbalanceable or with delaminating sidewall, the price difference with a name-brand tire is going to be a lot less.

 

[kennith]

Another consideration - as much as Kennith would love not to see retreads close by, chances are high than a semi in front of/behind/in the next lane to him
will have several retreads. I don't know the DOT regulations for retread individual and commercial use, but the retreads are a nearly billion-dollar business.

Oh, that's true. I don't like it much at all; but those tires are built differently than passenger car tires. They are more likely to be able to handle it, and they're more frequently and thoroughly tested. I've got opinions, in that regard, but not the energy to get into all of them.

That part of the subject is a bit too deep to get into here anyway, but it's a different ballgame; much like your experience in Russia, where despite the inability to buy a new tire within reason, I would strongly suspect that the retreads were more carefully chosen by the consumer, given the fact that they were as close to a new tire as most would achieve at that time.

Here, they are a cop out. There, they were a requirement.

Big difference. Also, Russians in general seem to have more sense between their ears than the average yuppie here trying to save a buck; and at that time, the average citizen would have needed to know more about how these things work, simply to get through life with reliable transportation.

I'm likening it to a lot of places I've personally been, though; in similar economic environments. If I wanted good tires, I'd go to shop A. If I wanted slightly worse tires, but needed them right now and they only had to handle 45mph on gravel, I'd go to shop B. If I'm selling whatever I ended up with before heading back, and it needs tires...

Fuck the buyer in bumblefuck nowhere. I'm going to shop C and paying in whatever the local drug is. He's probably an asshole, anyway.

So, maybe it's not comparable, after all. That's my estimation, but is it correct?

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[Tugela]

Kennith's pontifications on tires reminded me of this gem of a thread from five years ago. Kennith and his red-letter tires. Too bad the photos aren't displaying, possibly a casualty of the site switchover between then and now.

What's the saying? DiscoWeb never forgets?

 

[kennith]

Kennith's pontifications on tires reminded me of this gem of a thread from five years ago. Kennith and his red-letter tires. Too bad the photos aren't displaying, possibly a casualty of the site switchover between then and now.

What's the saying? DiscoWeb never forgets?

That's the best set of tires I've ever owned, by a large margin, and for any vehicle. So far as I can estimate, they are absolutely flawless, and may well be one of the best tires ever manufactured.

...and they've been discontinued, despite my repeated protest.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[ukoffroad]

I would think if they were just exploding all over the place they would not still be selling tires. They have been around for a while.

I just looked at their website, this was funny.

 

[ukoffroad]

Here is an old thread from Pirate that appropriately runs off track at times about them.
https://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/newbie-general-4x4-discussion/1362353-how-treadwright-tires.html
Again, not pro or against, very little use out of mine so far.I run beads in them so no idea of how they normally balance.

 

[fishEH]

I bought a D1 with what I thought were BFG AT's. Turned out to be TreadWrights. They had nearly full tread left but were cracking where the caps met the carcass. I couldn't bring myself to driving my entire family on a 2 week 4000 mile road trip to Colorado on them. I gave them away and bought a cheap pair of new MT's.

 

[Blueboy]

Kennith's pontifications on tires reminded me of this gem of a thread from five years ago. Kennith and his red-letter tires.

That thread convinced me to try out General Grabber A/T 2s on the Rangie. Had planned to purchase BFG A/T as have them on the Disco. The Grappers are great tires for an A/T and for sure would purchase again. Balanced out with barely any weight and ride really smoothly.

 

[kennith]

I would think if they were just exploding all over the place they would not still be selling tires. They have been around for a while.

I just looked at their website, this was funny.
View attachment 57624

I wish I believed any of those buggers about anything.

May as well be Polygon reviewing Doom, as far as I'm concerned, and it looks a little forced.

Actually, it reminds me of those "New York Times Best-Selling Novels". I always want to get that author in a corner and force him to name ONE book that wasn't ever a best-seller.

You can buy brake rotors that may as well be made of cheese, wobbly ladders, dangerous car seats, unstable vehicles, and drive around in a pickup with a squat that should be outlawed on the road from a safety perspective. Hell, I'm smoking as I type this. The fact that Treadwright is available doesn't surprise me. In a different time or a different place I'd have something different to say.

Not here, though. Not today. Not with all those cars on the road, with all those idiots behind the wheel driving 50-80mph sidewall to sidewall, with every dashboard looking like something out of "The Matrix", and a culture that immediately rewards trends, things educated people don't like, and anything counter to expectation, and doesn't acknowledge the existence of a day beyond tomorrow.

If a 40 ft trailer loses a tire, there are three more on that axle, and at least one on that corner. Yeah, it presents a dangerous situation, but not as bad as a vehicle with only four tires, of off-pavement size, losing one in a catastrophic delamination. You don't want that to happen at all.

May as well buy unrated D shackles. They'll probably work fine for most people, after all...

Cheers,

Kennith