ContiLifeCycle

Choose a new life, instead of a new tyre.

It's time to challenge the outdated myths about retread tyres

Our industry’s misconceptions and misinformation about retread tyres remain widespread across the commercial vehicle sector. That’s why have launched Respect for Retreads – our education and awareness campaign designed to address operators’ concerns about remanufactured rubber.

According to our survey of more than 700 UK-based fleets, only a third (33%) currently fit retread tyres to their vehicles. Among those who don’t, two-thirds (62.5%) admit their decision is based on perceived quality, while almost half (46.5%) cite durability concerns as a reason for specifying only new tyres.

“Experience tells us that retread tyre opinions are often handed down from generation to generation,” said Tony Mailling, Head of Hot Retread Production EMEA at Continental Tyres and Plant Manager of ContiLifeCycle Ivybridge and Stöcken.

“Historically, retreads have been seen as a lesser product and assumptions about their quality and durability are made because they use reused parts. We hear stories of drivers mistakenly believing that retreads are the reason rubber chunks can be found at the side of the road. This simply isn’t the case. We’re here to reassure operators that retreads from reputable brands are just as good as a new tyre. In many cases, retreads offer benefits that new tyres simply cannot match.”

Additional data, collected from our 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 a quality retread tyres from a renowned manufacturer.”

Abstract modern living room style for interior background.

Why choose retreads?

Our retread manufacturing process is backed by significant investment in research, development, and engineering to deliver the highest quality products.
This commitment is reinforced by stringent regulations that set the benchmark for our industry. To guarantee that performance, dimensions, and tyre wall markings match those of a new tyre, our manufacturers comply with the UN’s ECE Regulation 109.
Both of our ContiLifeCycle retreading plants, producing ContiRe and Bandvulc tyres, operate under ISO auditing criteria, ensuring consistently high production standards across every stage.

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, it 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.
Using retreaded truck and bus tyres delivers three times the resource efficiency and consumes four times fewer tyres than using low-cost single-life tyres.
The retreading of truck and bus tyres contributes £230 million to the UK economy every year.

Source: The British Tyre Manufacturers' Association (BTMA)

Bringing used tyres back to life

In our latest video, our UK retreading plant evaluates used tyres from our customers’ fleets and determines their potential for a new life as retreads. By combining the expertise of our people with some of Europe’s most advanced retreading technology, we ensure every tyre receives the most thorough assessment before going on to serve another life.

The retreading process... where the magic happens.

Thanks to a hot vulcanisation process, used tyres (casings) can be remanufactured from bead to bead with an entirely new rubber compound being applied onto the existing casing.

To ensure our high-quality standards, we use the similar technologies as in the production of new tyres and put every retread tyre through extensive durability and safety tests.

Each and every step is crucial to provide the casing it's new lease of life , find out more in the video below