Tire tread extension. Should you use retreaded tires? Methods for reanimating old tires

In many of the most developed countries, companies exist and prosper, providing a range of services for the retreading of worn-out car tires. Even worldwide well-known manufacturers high-quality tires have subsidiaries that specialize in high-quality restoration of rubber with worn tread. Thus, retreaded tires return to store shelves, tempting thrifty car owners with their at an affordable price, very different from the cost of similar car tires. However, it appears involuntarily next question— Is it safe to install such tires on your car? More on this later in the article.

As you know, inside the rubber layer there is a tire frame, represented by a large number of layers of metal cord, as well as nylon (or other synthetic) fabric. It very rarely undergoes significant wear, since only the top tread layer is in contact with the road, which wears off with every kilometer of driving. Therefore, when the wheels are completely worn out, you can restore the tire tread.

The essence of the event is quite simple - the worn out tread is replaced with a new one, using different methods for this. The wheels become usable again and provide an excellent level of safety even on wet or slippery roads. But such tires are somewhat inferior to new ones - their service life is reduced by half, and the characteristics affecting handling are most often far from the reference ones.

Methods for restoring tires

Car tires are retreaded in two main ways:

  • By enlarging the tread grooves and then creating a tread pattern.
  • Cold and hot restoration method by building up a new tread:
    — during cold build-up, a new layer of rubber ring is glued over the existing tread.
    — during hot extension, an additional rubber layer is applied using vulcanization.

restoring car tires by increasing tread grooves, pros and cons

In the first method, the used tire is thoroughly cleaned, and then, according to the primary tread pattern, it is deepened further into the rubber layer, which, of course, entails its reduction. This method is not always safe, because the behavior of such tires on the road surface is simply unpredictable.

cold tread building, pros and cons

First, the rubber undergoes diagnostics, during which damage to the tire received during operation is analyzed. In the second stage, the worn tread is removed. The tire is placed in a special apparatus in which it is inflated with air and the top rubber layer is removed from it. The subsequent third stage is called roughening. On it you can determine which tires are very worn and weed them out. Wheels that can still be restored are free from minor defects, such as punctures and cuts.

Restoring a tire's rubber tread requires a number of specific skills. New rubber ring cover liquid rubber, allowing for high-quality and reliable removal of old damage, thereby ensuring sufficiently tight contact between the frame and the tread. The wheel is primed using a manual extruder, after which a tread with a special pattern is applied. Then, on a fully inflated tire, the rubber layer is cut around the circumference of the wheel. Using special equipment, the tire is folded like an envelope and then placed on the rim and tube. After this, the restored rubber is subject to vulcanization in a special automated autoclave, in which the tread ring is securely attached, merging with the frame. Then the rim and camera are dismantled. Next, the retreaded tire undergoes diagnostics again and is equipped with a warranty card.

hot tread extension, pros and cons

This method is similar to the previous one in the following points:

  1. Initial diagnosis.
  2. Roughing.
  3. Perform basic repairs.
  4. Applying a new rubber layer.

However, despite this, such recovery processes car tires vary significantly. Using the previous method you can revive car tires large diameter: tires for large equipment, trucks and SUVs.

The hot method is done in this way: a simple layer of rubber that cannot be vulcanized is applied to a worn tire. Then, at the time of vulcanization, a protector is applied. The new tread pattern is applied to molds operating at a temperature of 140 degrees Celsius under high pressure. Today, this method is used very rarely, but it is optimal for minibuses and passenger cars with tire sizes R13–R16.

Which tires can be rebuilt and which cannot?

Unfortunately, not all tires can be restored. Here it is necessary to take into account the condition of their frames. Lateral and internal sides tires, their crowns and beads must be as intact as possible, since this is the key to subsequent use.

What guarantees do retread tires receive?

As manufacturers assure, tires retreaded using the correct technology can travel no less distance than new tires, and some car services provide a guarantee on their retreaded tires for one hundred thousand kilometers.

How to distinguish retreaded tires

If you are dealing with quality tires, on the sidewall of a retreaded tire you will see a special marking that indicates that the rubber has been given a second life. It usually looks like Regummerat, Remould or Retread, depending on the version, which may be German, American or English. If the restoration was carried out in Ukraine, then you will see a familiar word - “Vіdnovlena”.

You can also find other distinctive properties of tires that were subject to retreading. For example, a peculiar network of microcracks on the side of the tire, which was not affected by the restoration process, or rubber clots located on the inside of the tire indicate that the tire puncture has been repaired or repaired. In any case, it is not difficult to distinguish reconditioned tires from new ones; the most important thing is to carefully inspect the product.

Advantages and disadvantages of retreaded tires

If a car owner is faced with the choice of purchasing new or retreaded tires, he must be aware of all the risks to which previously used tires are exposed. As mentioned above, there are several methods for restoring car tires. A lot of money is spent on such an event, since it requires specialized equipment, high-quality restoration materials and trained personnel.

It’s no secret that most motorists are more focused on products imported from abroad, because worn tire, repaired with our materials, receives questionable reliability and quality. However, using foreign consumables is quite expensive.

It is possible to restore passenger tires only with slight wear, however, as practice shows, this is simply impossible, and only those with optimal external characteristics can be restored. In addition, it is not always possible to balance wheels with retreaded tires, and this is a significant drawback.

So, if this technology has so many negative points, then why is it used? In fact, everything is not as bad as it might seem at first glance. Vehicle with impressive mileage accumulated in a short period of time, it will be great to drive on reanimated tires. Smart craftsmen can quickly, reliably and efficiently restore such tires if they have the required equipment. Retreaded winter tires can save you a lot of money. Professionals can do the following:

  1. Eliminate microcracks using thermal sealing.
  2. Repair the cord by applying new threads.
  3. Most worn areas are expanded using ultrasound or rental.
  4. The new layer is glued to the tire so that the tire looks like new.

Nowadays, such a concept as retreaded or welded tires for passenger cars is becoming a thing of the past, because now there is an abundance of tires of various types - sizes, and most importantly, different price category. That is, you can go to the store and buy a new, albeit inexpensive, tire. However, this concept has not left our lives, and such wheels are still used today. Today I propose to talk about retreaded tires. What it is? Is it worth buying them, and why are they needed? Intrigued, read on...


Restored is a tire with a worn tread that has been restored by welding a new layer on top. Moreover, only the top layer is welded 90%. If it has a worn side part, then such a tire is not always taken for restoration or “welding”. The upper tread pattern will be almost 90% different from the previous tread. However, the frame, breaker and other structures remain unchanged.

How to recognize?

It should be noted that not all rebuilt wheels are of equal quality. It happens that the manufacturer itself carries out this process. This is often common in Europe. If officially restored, it will have special marks that indicate the wheel has been reused. IN different countries various designations Retread(this is the English designation), Remould (American designation), Regummerad(German designation) and "Restored"(Russian designation).

If there are no inscriptions, then such a tire can be recognized by the side surface of the wheel. As a rule, it is not reproduced, and accordingly it will be worn out. This also manifests itself in side abrasions.

Why do you retread a tire?

The answer is banal: tires “revive” because of their cheapness. That is, tires that have expired and are completely worn out are restored (the top layer is welded on) and put into operation again. The difference in the price of such a tire can reach 30 - 70% of the price new tire. But such tires have back side medals. These tires are the same size, but various manufacturers. In simple words The pattern of such rubber, on top, will be the same after welding - restoration, but the manufacturer may be different. How are the consequences lower? specifications, both in and .

When is the purchase of such a tire justified?

Let me note once again that such tires for a passenger car are not always justified. YES, of course, you will save money, but no one knows what to expect from it. How will she behave on the road or high loads unclear. However, if you drive according to the rules and rarely exceed the speed limit, then you can consider buying such tires. But now there is a large abundance of all kinds of rubber, from the cheapest to the most expensive, and new tires, even the cheapest ones, will be much better than reconditioned tires.

However, buying “reproduction” tires makes sense! If you are a driver commercial vehicles, for example a truck, then the purchase of such a wheel will be justified. Rubber for a truck is not very cheap, and therefore a reconditioned wheel, with a difference in price of 5 times, will come in handy. It should be noted that in our country quite a lot of trucks drive on such tires.

Personally, I think that this is not a justified saving, especially for modern and fast car. There is no confidence in this wheel, it can burst (the side part) at any moment. Okay, if you just lose money, but what if the tire bursts at speed, then an accident is not far away.

In any case, it's up to you. Now guys, a very educational film about just such tires, namely how they are made and given a second wind, it’s only five minutes but you’ll understand the whole technological process

This is where I’ll end my article, only useful and educational materials, read our automotive website.

Tires are one of the most expensive consumables on a car. If speak about passenger transport, then their cost is not too high, which cannot be said about trucks. Therefore, the question becomes relevant: how to make tires from old tires? In other words, how do you recondition tires so they can be reused? This is especially true for owners of companies engaged in freight transportation, after all, what more cars, the more you spend on each of them. How to not only save your own money, but also be able to earn it?

Where to start

Equipment for cold tire retreading is quite expensive to purchase only for personal use, so it is necessary to think through a competent business plan from the very beginning. Each stage is very important, but the success of the entire enterprise, as a rule, is determined by a good start. A business on how to make tires from old tires will work even in a crisis, because it saves money, so the idea itself is quite tempting and promising.

Business plan

First, an entrepreneur needs to understand whether his location is suitable for such a business. As a rule, such offers are in demand in cities with a population of fifty thousand or more. The abundance of freight transport, for example, the presence of any logistics companies, is also important. It is also worth making sure that there are no similar offers in the area.

Even in the most severe crisis, people do not stop using by automobile means. And they require constant expenses, even just for a change summer tires.

Tire elements

To better understand the specifics of the process, it is necessary to know the structural elements of tires. The main power base on which the strength of the tire depends is the carcass. It consists of several layers of cord - these are textile threads attached to side rings. The latter are presented in the form of several layers of wire or metal cables and give the tire bead rigidity and shape. The board is called the landing part. It is made of hard rubber and fixes the tire on

The carcass cord is wrapped around a solid rubber filler cord and bead ring. The sidewall is an elastic layer of rubber; it has a thickness of one and a half to three millimeters and protects the frame, or rather its side walls, from water penetration and mechanical damage.

The tread is the outer part of the tire where the relief pattern is located. It consists of a treadmill in contact with the road and a shoulder area - a thick layer of rubber that resists wear. It is the treadmill that provides the tire with traction. road surface, and also protects the power frame from damage.

Between the tread and the frame there is a breaker - several layers of cord in the form of a ring; it can be made of either metal or textile.

Tire wear

If we talk about the sidewall, then the cord threads are autonomous carriers of the rigidity and shape of the tire, since along their entire length there is no intersection with other threads.
All cord threads are located in parallel, and this is one of the main problems of such a tire, because if there is damage in the cord on the side surface, the rigidity in this place cannot be completely restored. Therefore even high-quality repairs on the tire will not be able to return the tire to full performance. It is worth remembering that in all other places the characteristics will be different from those shown by the repaired puncture site. Radial tires have lower rolling resistance and high wear resistance.

Of course, when driving on good surfaces passenger car the difference may not be noticeable, and the retreaded tire, even with side cuts, will perform well on the road. However, it is worth getting into any extreme conditions, whether it is a turn at high speed or sudden braking, it can present an unpleasant surprise. This is worth considering if an entrepreneur decides to start a tire retreading business.

With diagonal tires it is much easier in this regard. Here, the cord threads in different layers of the frame are overlapped at an angle, so even damage to some threads in one place has virtually no effect on the rate of shape retention and load distribution. Diagonal tires can be repaired after side cuts.

Two technologies

Old car tires are reconditioned in two ways: cold and hot. Cold recovery is cost-effective and simple, but it is worth knowing the advantages and disadvantages of both technologies.

Restoring rubber (summer and winter) using the hot method requires molds and a vulcanizer. It's expensive at first, but the material for tire repair - old tires - costs pennies.

Cold way

Cold tire repair technology shows the opposite results. No expensive mechanisms are required, and this immediately makes the option attractive for small businesses, since the investment is truly minimal. However Consumables, namely protectors in the form of a tape or ring that fits onto the tire, are much more expensive than raw rubber.

However, if the question arises: “How to make a tire from old tire? Cold or hot method?" - then we can immediately say that the cold method is really more profitable, even despite the relatively high cost consumables.

One more nuance regarding the difference between the two methods: cold is slower. In fact, if the same tires are flowing, then it is much easier to restore them using the hot method. It is the hot method that most often cleans tires for passenger cars.

Since installing equipment for the hot method requires considerable investment, in the case of small businesses, as a rule, it is easier to start with the faster and more profitable cold method. Equipment for hot restoration can be purchased over time and the types of work can be combined in one tire shop.

Trucks and cars

The advantage of the cold method is that the entrepreneur does not need molds, which means he will be able to service different kinds transport: both trucks and cars. The circle of clients instantly expands.

Why is it more profitable to serve freight transport? The fact is that the owners of logistics companies also make money. Cars are a source of income for them, so during a crisis the question is especially relevant for them: how to make a tire from an old tire?

Preparation

The very fact of restoring a tire can be called major repairs. The tread is being completely restored, the side part is also being repaired. This is not dangerous, since the manufacturer initially focuses on reusing old tires during production. Such products, brought back to life using modern methods, are practically no different from new ones. Here we can voice another advantage of the cold method: with a hot restoration, repeated repairs are no longer possible, the tire will need to be disposed of, and with a cold restoration there can be many more such restorations.

Examination

Cold welding of tires should begin with full check. For this they use ultrasound scanner, allowing you to find out whether the rubber has peeled off from the breaker. You can also use shearographic machines, which, using laser technology, perform the same work more modernly and accurately. However, their main drawback- high price. Small businesses cannot afford this.

The next step is to inspect the tire. A special stand equipped with backlight lamps helps with this. On it, the master spreads the sidewalls of the tire and rotates it. Old car tires should be carefully checked for any areas that are unsuitable for retreading. If there are any, the master marks them on the tire and processes them manually using a pneumatic tool. Such damage could be, for example, cracks on the sidewall of the tire.

Recovery

After the check is completed, it’s time for the most important process, which is called roughening. The master installs the tire on a roughening machine, with the help of which the remnants of the old “frame” are removed, and the tire is given the correct shape. After completing this stage, you can begin vulcanization. Damage can be removed using tire repair adhesive suitable for cold vulcanization.

Economy

What can you say about money? The cost of restoration does not exceed twenty percent of the cost new tires. A retreaded tire is sold to the market at a price reduced relative to a new product by approximately thirty percent. Retailers say that with a good approach and making the right choice In place, the equipment pays for itself within a few months. There are about twenty similar enterprises in Russia, and they are physically unable to supply the entire country’s market even by a tenth of the possible volume.

When changing tires, car owners often encounter tire deformation. Cracks in the tires are a good reason to think about replacing or restoring them. Small cracks sometimes cover the entire radius of the wheel, but it is still possible to move around the city on it, especially if the tires are tubeless, but driving outside the city limits is not recommended. Large cracks with delamination coming from the cord itself require special care. And if such a phenomenon as bedsores should be determined by a medical specialist, then the “treatment” of car tires for cracks is the job of automobile “medics”.

Features of the rubber restoration process

It is worth taking therapeutic and preventive measures for the tires of your car in a specialized center. A way to restore rubber is to melt it or weld it. But here you need to take into account two points that any motorist should know. Firstly, it is necessary to take into account the wear of the rubber, because restoration - no matter how much we would like it, is not a cheap pleasure and sometimes it is simply not worth it. Secondly, when it comes to tires and, especially, brakes, savings are excluded.

      Rubber cracking factors:
      • use of low-quality raw materials for tire production;
      • tire mileage;
      • storage of rubber not in compliance with established rules;
      • less often, incorrect “re-shoeing” of tires.

In addition to rubber, wheels can also crack rubber elements body kit and trunk and door seals. And if the most effective remedy for bedsores, for example, “Proteox-TM” is a thin wound covering with the main components intended for the treatment of various bedsores, including infected ones. A professional product for caring for rubber elements could be at least “Gummi - Pflege Stift”, developed by Sonax and which looks like a marker pencil. The product is aimed at restoring the elasticity of rubber, cleaning its surfaces from dirt and imparting a characteristic shine. The tip of the pencil moves, actively introducing the so-called silicone component into the surface of the rubber coating, which forms a stable film that prevents cracking and aging of the rubber. Carry out preventative maintenance on your tires, have a pencil marker in your glove compartment and may your journey be successful!

Repairing damaged truck tires is much more cost-effective than purchasing new ones. This is especially true for companies with their own vehicle fleet, where this service allows you to save about 30 thousand per car. The production company "CHAMPION" is restoring truck tires pneumatic sizes R16-R22.5 are performed on modern equipment using Bandag technology (tread welding) allows you to achieve excellent results.

  • Retreading tires using vulcanization gives the tire almost the same properties as a new one.
  • Tire repair costs trucks much lower.
  • You can retread the tires provided by the customer, or you can also purchase ready-made retreaded tires.

We provide 12 month warranty on all tires, which were restored, subject to the weight and operational standards, as well as requirements from GOST R 51709-2001.

Prices for retreading tires for trucks


Check with consultants for exact prices!


Tire rubber retreading scheme

There are different technologies for the rehabilitation of tires. CHAMPION specialists perform retreading truck tires cold way.

  1. First, the tire is roughened. The used tread is removed - it is cut off using rasp knives. At the same time, hidden defects are detected. When restoring the cord, the tire frame is formed for further work, it is given right size and texture.
  2. The preparatory stage of cold tire retreading includes renovation work. Restoring the cord involves restoring the rubber composition of the undertread layer, making the rubber more wear-resistant.
  3. The protector is applied to the frame, for which a special layer is used, consisting of a tread tape with a pattern applied to it, and rubber, which serves as a gasket. The protector is glued to the frame under high pressure.
  4. Next, cold retreading of truck tires involves processing the product in an “envelope.” First, the tire is placed between two chambers from which air is pumped out, which allows for maximum tight fit of the glued layer.
  5. At the vulcanization stage, the envelopes with tires are sent to the autoclave. It creates a pressure of six to eight bars and a temperature of about 115ºC. Under the influence of these factors, there is chemical reaction, during which the chemical components of the tread and carcass are firmly connected to each other, the tire cord is restored.
  6. After repairing truck tires, the finished product is carefully inspected and the tires are pressure tested. If defects are detected, the products are sent for recycling.

Tire repair and retreading shop





The difference between repairing winter tires and summer tires

Restoring truck wheels for summer and winter requires different approaches. First of all, the tread height in them is different. For summer tires the figure should be at least 1.6 millimeters, for winter tires – at least 4 millimeters. This must be taken into account when restoring winter tires. Besides, winter tires has a specific tread pattern. In many cases, restoration requires a studded tread.

Modern equipment for cold tire retreading, precise adherence to technology and extensive experience of CHAMPION specialists allow us to guarantee customers high quality refurbished products. To order repair of large-diameter truck tires, you just need to call the company employees at