Should You Purchase Used Tires?

In this difficult economy, spending hundreds of dollars for a set of tires can be frightening.  But purchasing used tires is a compelling alternative to spending a large amount of money.  Reliability and durability are hallmarks of todays used tires.  There are options to be found in used tires that will benefit you greatly.  These options include used tires in general and retreads.

The first category is used tires in general.  These include tires from consumers, dealerships, and tires from rental cars.  Tires should be guaranteed by the seller to have fifty percent tread remaining.

Used tires from cars and trucks have the least remaining tread, while tires from dealerships and rental cars and trucks usually have a substantial amount of tread remaining.  This way you can spend substantially less for your tires, getting the most life.

No matter which used tires you purchase, you need to check for:

Condition Of The Tires --  There can be no damage to the tire beads (the edge of the tire that sits on the wheel) and no cuts in the sidewalls.  Do not accept tires with damage.              

Tire Tread -  A tire with more tread is going to last longer than one with less tread.  Sellers of tires should guaranty no less than fifty percent of tread.  It is not unusual to find guaranties of eighty or ninety percent .

The second category is retread tires.  Although safety used to be a concern with retreaded tires, technology advances in manufacturing have made this issue of lesser importance today.  Most sales of truck tires are retreads.  But, consumer vehicles also are fitted with retreaded tires. You pay less for a retread tire, but get the benefit of a full tread without paying the full price a new tire would command.