Tire Retreads with the Goodyear Retread Process

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Initial Inspection: Our Hawkinson NDT electronic nailhole detectors use high voltage electricity to search for nails and damage that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Our ergonomic inspection stations insure that tires are inspected at a height that is comfortable to the technician, because a comfortable worker is a better worker. The initial inspection station is the place where experience counts most. PTT’s certified inspectors have an average of more than 13 years of experience in retreading.

Shearography: Our twin shearography machines use a combination of vacuum and laser photography to detect separations in the belt package of the casings. Unlike most machines in the industry, our equipment has “bead-to-bead” capability, insuring that the all-important sidewall area is scanned for separations and damage.

Buffing: Our twin Matteuzzi buffers use the latest in PLC technology. Unlike older retread shops where an operator uses a joystick to control the buffer head, Piedmont Truck Tires buffers use computer control to make a perfectly round tire every time. In addition, the undertread detectors in the buffer make sure that there is just enough undertread to hold the retread in place without generating unwanted heat.

Skiving: At our inline skiving stations, PTT technicians will repair minor damage to your tires and prepare the damaged areas to receive the new tread. Piedmont Truck Tires views this process as an automatic part of retreading the tire. We do not charge for skiving the tire as some retreaders do.

Repairs: Damage that is too large to be repaired at the skiving station must receive attention from one of PTT’s highly experienced repairmen. Our repairmen average more than 17 years of experience giving you the confidence that our repairs will last as long as your casing.

Cushion Gum Extrusion: Piedmont Truck Tires uses extruders that place a thin layer of hot cushion gum onto each tire. This gum will be cured to form the bond that holds the new retread onto the casing. By using extruders rather than awkward rolls of gum applied by hand, PTT produces the roundest, coolest running, best cured tire possible.

Pre-Cure Tread Building: By applying the tread on a tangent across the top of the tire rather than ramming the tread into the buffed area at an unnatural angle, Piedmont’s pre-cure tread builders minimize the amount of hand work that needs to go into splicing the ends of the tread together. Our computer-controlled tread builders also measure the tread to within 5mm, making a rounder, better balanced tire.

Unicircle Tread Building: Building a retread is all about making a round tire. A round tire rides better, meaning fewer driver complaints. A round tire wears better, because it does not bounce or vibrate while traveling down the road. A round tire produces less heat and is more likely to survive low air pressure caused by nail penetrations or other hazards.

PTT’s Unicircle building process uses bands of pre-cured, pre-stamped rubber to produce the roundest retreads in the market. The process allows the operator to build a tire without a splice, eliminating the most likely “heavy spot” in the tread. The Unicircle process also eliminates all the hands-on work necessary to construct a splice, lowering the possibility of a failure at that critical point.

Chamber Curing

Our Curing Chambers use no vacuum while curing retreads. The result is a retread that has less buckling at the tread edge due to lateral pressure applied during the vacuum process. Our chambers are controlled by PLC computers meaning that human error and judgment are eliminated, making a better, more consistent retread for our customers

Final Inspection: Every tire is subjected to a final inspection before leaving our shop. Tires are then painted for improved appearance.

Pressure Testing: After the final inspection, and while the tires are still hot, every PTT retread with a rim diameter of 20-24.5 inches is inflated to 120 PSI in our G-100 pressure testers. By inflating the tires in this way, we make sure that any “Runflat” tires are identified here. In other words, if it is going to zipper, it should zipper in our shop. This should not prevent any retread customer from following all OSHA standards regarding inflation of truck tires. But it does provide an additional level of confidence in the safety and quality of PTT retreads.

Retreaded tires are safe, dependable, and cost less than comparable new tires. Retreaded tires are safely used on the drive wheels of school buses, fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles. In addition, approximately 80 percent of all aircraft tires in service in the United States are retreaded. In North America, the trucking industry saves more than three billion dollars annually by using retreaded tires.

Using retreaded tires also conserves a valuable nonrenewable resource - oil. Each year, retreading tires saves more than 400 million gallons of oil in North America. While it takes 22 gallons of oil to make a new tire, retreading a truck tire only uses seven gallons of oil. Retreaded tires can also help divert thousands of scrap tires from disposal each year.

Click on the Retread Buttons to read about our Certified Goodyear Retread Process.