Here at Tire Reviews, we receive many different questions about tires, but one question that comes up more than most asks if modern retreaded tires, sometimes called "retread" or "remoulds", any good?
While we've not been able to test ourselves, tests from many years ago indicate that retreaded tires don't perform as well as even a budget tire. Car tires typically aren't designed to be retreaded (commercial bus and lorry tires are), so the retreading process can leave you with not only poor performance, but a product that could be classified as unsafe.
Naturally in the past few years there have been improvements in the car retreading process, and one brand in particular, King Meiler, has established a name for itself as "the" retreading brand.
To find out whether a modern retread can match a premium, or even a budget tire, the Polish magazine "Motor" have tested the King Meiler HPZ against the premium Continental PremiumContact 6, and a much cheaper Debica Presto HP.
The results speak for themselves.
Dry
It's been a while since we've seen such huge differences in the dry between a premium tire and a brand like Debica, which indicates that this version of the Presto HP certainly isn't the grippiest tire on test, so for the retreaded tire to be so far behind in both dry braking and dry handling, indicates a serious lack of grip!
Dry Braking
Spread: 7.00 M (19.7%)|Avg: 39.07 M
Dry braking in meters (Lower is better)
Dry Braking: Safety Impact: Best vs Worst Tire
Dry Handling
Spread: 2.40 s (4.6%)|Avg: 53.63 s
Dry handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Continental Premium Contact 6
52.60 s
Debica Presto HP
53.30 s
King Meiler HPZ
55.00 s
Subj. Dry Handling
Spread: 2.90 Points (39.2%)|Avg: 5.77 Points
Subjective Dry Handling Score (Higher is better)
Continental Premium Contact 6
7.40 Points
Debica Presto HP
5.40 Points
King Meiler HPZ
4.50 Points
Wet
Wet was a similar story to dry, except with larger margins. While the Debica stopped the car a pretty sizable 6.3 meters after the premium Continental, the King Meiler took a HUGE extra 24.3 meters to stop the car, again from 100 km/h. This means, where the car on the Debica stops, the car fitted with the King-Meiler tires will still be doing more than 48 km/h!
Wet Braking
Spread: 24.30 M (46.9%)|Avg: 62.00 M
Wet braking in meters (Lower is better)
Wet Braking: Safety Impact: Best vs Worst Tire
Wet Handling
Spread: 13.80 s (15.9%)|Avg: 93.07 s
Wet handling time in seconds (Lower is better)
Continental Premium Contact 6
86.70 s
Debica Presto HP
92.00 s
King Meiler HPZ
100.50 s
The retread tire also performed poorly in straight aquaplaning.
Straight Aqua
Spread: 11.20 Km/H (13.6%)|Avg: 78.50 Km/H
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Debica Presto HP
82.30 Km/H
Continental Premium Contact 6
82.10 Km/H
King Meiler HPZ
71.10 Km/H
Environment
With the retreaded tire both noiser, and less comfortable than the premium and budget tires, its only positive quality was price. However, with the longevity of the tire untested, is a 100 euro saving really worth all the negative qualities?
