News-Record.com

What difference does it make what tire company that is used? If DOT would set the rules and make the counties use what is on state contract their would not be an issue. Safety first. A tire that is recapped- retread half of the tire can not be safe especially on a school bus that carries our precious cargo. You can look all over the highways at the recap tires that come off of big trucks. It makes more since to me to have the whole tire recoved for safety reason because the tire is not under warrenty if it is time to recap or retread anyway. No company is going to warrenty a tire that has been recapped or not if it has lots of miles. Tires wear out just like everything else. It is time to settle this and publish the correct findings of all the test that have been done and the reporter who has been reporting needs to tell the whole truth; people believe what they want to anyway. But DOT is the one responible and needs to step up to the plate and make decisions on what type of tires and if only one or more than one companies will have the contract. All counties should be able to purchase tires from whom ever they see fit and who they feel is offering them the best deal. The news really is not the news anymore because we are not telling all the facts; it is only one person opinion that that is not the way that it should be.

Guildford County should do the right thing and use the test results provided by the Smither's report. The $110,000.00 study presented the facts in an unbiased manner. Smithers indicated that there are other retreads in the market that run 40% lower cost per mile and are as safe as other products. A statewide 40% cost reduction for retreads is $1,200,000.00 a year. Smithers indicated that dot retreads averaged 9 spots per retread, on a lug retread costing $95.00 for DOT trucks, the average spots billed to that retread is 9X$12.07 or $108.63. That puts the cost of a retread at $204.00, a new tire costs $235.00 on the state contract. This is absurd and an insult to NC Tax payers.

Skeeter Hawk may mean well, but he has his facts wrong. The rubber on the road (also known as tire debris and "road alligators," is not caused by retreaded tires. The true cause of rubber on the road is improper tire maintenance, mainly underinflation. Retreads, whether or not they are bead to bead, have a safety record as good as the best new tires, and this is proven daily by vehicles worldwide using hundreds of millions of retreads on all types of vehicles from school buses to large airliners.

To blame retreaded tires for rubber on the road is the same as blaming a vehicle for an accident caused by a drunk driver. The blame is simply misplaced.

For any reader of this message who wants more information about the true causes of rubber on the road, as well as information about the economic and environmental benefits of retreading, we will be happy to send a complete Retread Tire Information Packet and 2 CDs. Our materials are non commercial and there is no cost. To order, please call toll free 888-473-8732, or send an email to info@retread.org.

Harvey Brodsky
Managing Director
Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau
An industry association

I think people should wake up and wonder where all the money is going when the State is at the end of the year for them and they still have money left and they go ahead and ask to be billed for the remaining of the money before getting the tires. If you ask me that is a waste of money. White's bill and later on deliver so State can use all of the money they get from the tax payers.
I mean Look at White's Lights in Wilson, NC. He owns White's Tire, Wilson NC and is always improving his home. He has a mansion and if he doesn't have the State then he would have to lay off the people who works for him in Retread plant and at his home all day long. He lives in a mansion and he used to have a Representative but he retired so he didn't have an insider to help him along the way in the past. He had to pay a lobbyist to try to get the contract.
He has a great tire and no problems with them but if there's a cheaper way but still safe and the State stop wasting funds when it's at the end of the year then it would be more fair.