Many people often assume that all the rubber they see on the side of the road is from retreaded tires and they also assume anytime they see a tire failure that it is a retread, which simply isn't true.
In fact, there have been a number of State and Federal studies in which rubber on the road has been collected and analyzed to determine the source and cause of those tire failures. Most recently, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a study in 2008 (Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study - Report No: DOT HS 811 60) in which they collected almost 1,500 pieces of tire fragments from the roads. The study concluded that the fragments they found were from
NEW and retreaded tires in equal proportion to their service on the roads and had little to do with the manufacturing or retreading process.
The top 2 types of damage they discovered from the tire debris studied were the result of road hazards (39%) and excessive heat (30%) from improper inflation or other abuse.
If all the retreaded tires on the road today were replaced with new tires, we would still have the same amount of tire failures and rubber on the road.
Retreaded tires are used safely every day on airplanes, school buses, fire engines and ambulances, trucking fleets, taxis, Postal Service vehicles, military vehicles and by millions of motorists.
Lastly, retreading is very environmentally friendly. The manufacture of a new medium truck tire requires approximately 22 gallons of oil, but it takes only seven gallons to retread the same tire. Every year in North America, the use of retreaded tires saves hundreds of millions of gallons of oil and keeps millions of tires out of landfill. More information can be found at
www.retread.org.