Commercial vehicle fleet operators are avoiding retreads, despite two major benefits – mileage performance and price – proving to be the most commonly used tyre selection criteria. In a Continental-commissioned survey of more than 700 UK-based fleets, over half of respondents (56.7%) said that mileage performance was one of the most important factors when choosing rubber. A similar number (56.3%) said that retail price was a major consideration. Other key decision points for fleets included damage resistance (51.6%) and whole life ownership costs (50.2%).
Key Retreading Data
- Data shows fleets ignore the benefits of retreads to fit new tyres exclusively.
- More than half of respondents prioritise mileage and cost during procurement – two major benefits of choosing retread rubber.
- Two-thirds of surveyed fleets fit brand new tyres, with fears around quality and durability limiting retread adoption.
- Proven, high-quality retreads can be cheaper to buy than their equivalent new tyre, are regroovable and are often suitable for further retreading.
Additional data, collected from the same survey, showed that two-thirds (66.9%) of respondents exclusively fit new tyres, with 62.5% of those doing so because of perceived issues with the quality of retreads. A further 46% also have doubts over their durability. Only 2.1% of those surveyed solely use retreads on their vehicles.
“Our research shows that fleets are actively seeking out tyres that offer value for money,” said Pete Robb, Marketing Director at Continental Tyres. “Retread tyres are a sweet spot for so many businesses, they can provide a lower upfront purchase price and like-for-like mileage capabilities matching that of an equivalent new tyre. However, a historic reluctance to embrace retreads is pushing operators to use cheaper, sometimes single-use new tyres that will likely not offer the same holistic operational benefits as using quality retread tyres from a renowned manufacturer.”
A retread tyre can have a lower retail price than a brand-new tyre, offering excellent value for money and significantly reducing running costs in a competitive fleet market. Not only can high-quality retread tyres be regrooved, extending their overall mileage capability, but they can potentially continue to be retreaded for a second, or even third time. In practice, this means hundreds of thousands of miles of service over its lifetime. With hundreds of truck tyres replaced every day in the UK, retreading not only significantly benefits fleets but also helps to reduce tyre disposals. In a typical retread, up to 85% of the tyre uses recycled or renewable materials, while up to 55kg of waste can be saved during a retread tyre’s production.
Retread manufacturers invest heavily in research, development and engineering to produce the highest quality product. This is upheld by stringent regulations serving as a benchmark for manufacturers to follow. To ensure that the performance, dimensions, and tyre wall markings are comparable to those of a new tyre, manufacturers are required to conform to the UN’s ECE Regulation 109. All ContiLifeCycle retreading plants, manufacturing ContiRe and Bandvulc tyres, operate in line with ISO auditing criteria, ensuring consistently high production standards.
