New tires are here.

[Ralph]

My High-Tec retreads arrived today. I'm replacing my 31x10.5R15 BFG AT's with 265x75R16's OTR Muds.

The OTR has not been mounted yet. It measures exactly 32" in diameter.

Side by side with my worn and deflated BFG.
RR3

 

[imma honky]

Are retreads significantly cheaper than new tires? Are they warrantied like many new tires?

 

[Lucas]

Nice, Ive never seen the center paddles before. How much did the stetup cost shipped?

 

[Ralph]

25000 mile warranty on defects. 5 tires for $400 shipped from South Dakota to Central Texas. I was surprised with the central "paddles". They didn't look like that in the picture. I'm going to try them out anyway. I'll let y'all know how they perform.

RR3

 

[Safari Ary]

I read somewhere that the warranty is voided if the tires are used "aired down". Do you have any comments on that rumor?

 

[Kejtar]

that could be potentially true as I could see how it could potentially cause separation between the original tire and new rubber layer..... I know others have ran retreads here: any comments on how they performed aired down? and yeah, Ralph, any truth to the rumor??

 

[RCP Phx]

I still like the idea of dealing with tires locally,one of the local guys who runs a Discount tire will even open up the shop(after hours) to help!

 

[lesslimited]

I read somewhere that the warranty is voided if the tires are used "aired down". Do you have any comments on that rumor?

I bought one for a spare and that's what it said on the warranty.

 

[Ralph]

As I understand, the warranty is only for factory defects. I think what they mean by aired down is if you run it on the highway aired down. This causes a lot of heat due to the flexing of the sidewall as the tire rolls. They do not cover trail damage or road hazard. I figure that at this price, I'll take the risk. If I get 30,000 miles out of them, I'll be happy.

RR3

 

[Kejtar]

As I understand, the warranty is only for factory defects. I think what they mean by aired down is if you run it on the highway aired down. This causes a lot of heat due to the flexing of the sidewall as the tire rolls. They do not cover trail damage or road hazard. I figure that at this price, I'll take the risk. If I get 30,000 miles out of them, I'll be happy.

RR3

Hmmm in that case, I don't know if it's that great of a deal then: a 32" bfg at runs about $125 and that includes full hazard warranty. With all that I get lifetime balance and rotation and so on, so even though five costs 525 + tax, you get a lot more. I know I loked at retread at one time, but now that I think about it I'd swear they cost way less (something like $65 shipped per tire)....

 

[Lucas]

Ive seen a suzuki on 30" MT retreads and it was beastly on the trail. Lots of traction and looked fine aired down.

 

[RCP Phx]

If you just highway this thing then yeah,go-fer-it.I cut down at least 1 tire a year and my friend(w/ the "good luck") cuts down 2 almost every trip.I think he does it on purpose so that he always has new tires!!!!!
BTW:rubber constantly cures over its entire "Life-span",one of the reasons they would not want the tires "aired-down" under any reason would be that the carcass side-wall gets harder and less tolerant to flexing!

 

[Ralph]

Hmmm in that case, I don't know if it's that great of a deal then: a 32" bfg at runs about $125 and that includes full hazard warranty. With all that I get lifetime balance and rotation and so on, so even though five costs 525 + tax, you get a lot more. I know I loked at retread at one time, but now that I think about it I'd swear they cost way less (something like $65 shipped per tire)....

The cheapest I found 32x11.5 BFG MT's were $134 ea not including mounting/balancing or road hazard. All that added up to over $850 with taxes. Too rich for this poor boy.

RR3

 

[RCP Phx]

You also didnt "buy" BFG's.Wheres the Road Hazard Warranty,you still need mounting and balancing?Look at Pep-Boys(Coopers{pro-comp's}),Wal-mart(Big-O's{forget the parent manufacturer}).Service means alot in the tire world,shipping a tire back&forth for any problems would be a major hassle,let alone cost!

 

[Kejtar]

The cheapest I found 32x11.5 BFG MT's were $134 ea not including mounting/balancing or road hazard. All that added up to over $850 with taxes. Too rich for this poor boy.

RR3

I'll tell you this though: when I drove over some piece of metal on the freeway (yeah !!! freeway of all places) and cout out a hole that was about square inch in size, it only cost me $20 (or was it $25... not sure now, but it was one or the other) out the door to leave with a brand spanking new tire. And IIRC, with taxes, and mounting and lifetime balancing and hazard warranty it cost me just over $600 for 31" BFG AT's.

Now don't take me wrong, the price you paid for all 5 is a great deal for the tires, but you still have to figure the cost of mounting and balancing, and potentially rebalancing and any damage and so on..... and that adds up in the long run. Also I am curious on how long the thread lasts on those: with the previous BFG's I had, I had easily surpassed 50K+ miles which is for most part great... with one exception: it's harder to upgrade tire sizes when the tires still have a lot of thread left on them

 

[Apanthropy]

Thanks for posting that, I was wondering what those hi-tec OTR's looked like!

Let us know how loud they are, those are the tires Jill wants for her jeep

 

[WI88XJ]

Ralph, I think you're gonna be happy with your high-tecs. I bought the 31" OTR's (the paddle center didn't come on mine) about 6k miles ago. $270 to my front door here in Wisconsin. I had them mounted and balanced and they feel very balanced at hwy speeds (70+) I will say that in the first 30 miles, I had one in the front develop a bubble under the case the size of a football. I called them up and they sent out a new one that day. Got it 4 days later, no questions asked. I asked them if they wanted the bad one back and they said just to throw it away. That's pretty good warranty. Yes, it does state that airing them down will void the warranty. I've aired mine down to 18 lbs 3 different times and I've never had a problem with them. I air them back up to 38 lbs before I get back on the pavement. Great traction!!! A little noisey on the road, but I've heard worse. If I can figure a way to post a pic, I'd post mine of ol' blue with the new shoes and one of the off road pics. In fact, a bunch of us are going out again this Sunday. One of the local XJ'ers have a farm in their family that has some really good trails cut out on them.

Can I post pics or do I have to be a member?
Steve

 

[OT]

Go ahead and post 'em. You can.

By the way, do they come in 35"ers.

Can you post the web site?

 

[WI88XJ]

http://www.high-tec-retreading.com/index.html

I'm not sure how to post them. Don't I have to put them on a site like Yahoo or something and then link to it?

 

[ZachMan]

And IIRC, with taxes, and mounting and lifetime balancing and hazard warranty it cost me just over $600 for 31" BFG AT's.

Yeah, but he got 265/75r 16 and they are mud tires. What do BFG KMs in a 265/75r 16 cost? I bet its more than $600.