Treading tires with a machine

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

When the tread pattern starts to fade from the surface of the tire, the motorist wonders if the wheel will last a season. There is a miracle way to extend the life of worn tires by regrooving tires.

Tread cutter

Indeed, do-it-yourself tire treading is a fairly simple procedure. For her, special devices were invented - machines-regrowers. They are all licensed. You can choose a device that suits the price.

Cheaper machines are equipped with a modest set of blades and are not protected from overheating. Designed to work only with passenger car tires. They are small and compact. They are not used at service stations.

More expensive devices are already considered professional. Naturally, they cost twice as much, have a rich set of blades and a powerful transformer. That's what they use at tire shops.

Make cars in China, USA, Turkey. The most popular are made in Germany and France.

Those who are not interested in keeping up withprogress, use a grinder, chisel or soldering iron. In this way, the protector was deepened on freight transport, when there was simply no alternative to these devices.

When is grooving not allowed?

Rubber for passenger cars (except for specially marked) is not subject to restoration. And here's why:

1. Car tires do not have an additional layer of rubber. Going deep into it with a cutter, you can easily damage the cord. After that, the wheel will become unusable and will not be subject to restoration. The idea of making winter tires out of summer tires could end up with a wheel explosion and an accident.
2. Even with a cut tread, a worn out tire will not remain as soft and supple as before. Cracks and red spots on the side surfaces are a clear sign of the end of its service.

Which tires are being retreaded?

Motorists argue a lot about whether it is necessary to cut the tire tread, or rather, whether it is possible to do it. Here are examples of cases where you really can:

1. The tire is marked Regroovable or U. These marks mean that the manufacturer has made an additional layer of rubber above the cord, into which you can cut deeper.
2. Almost all truck tires have a thick rubber layer that can also be retreaded.
3. Refurbished and vulcanized wheel with normal tread depth. In this case, the drawing is simply restored by the patch. This procedure can be carried out on any wheel.
4. Winter tires are adapted for off-road driving, cutting off part of the patterntypewriter.
5. A layer of rubber is welded onto the worn tread, thereby increasing the thickness of the tire to an acceptable level. Already cutting is carried out on a new layer. Such a restoration will be more expensive, but if the tire has not cracked, it is quite acceptable.

As a rule, after restoration work, the rubber serves another third of the term from the past.

Cutting process

The do-it-yourself tire tread cutter is a very easy to use tool. It just takes a little dexterity. We take a tire that can be restored and proceed:

1. Studying rubber. We make sure that it has the necessary markings (Regroovable or U). Then, using the cutting indicators, we determine whether it is necessary to carry out the procedure.
2. If necessary, then remove the rubber from the disk and thoroughly clean it from dirt, sand and stones. We examine the product from the inside: there should be no damage. Otherwise, only a tire shop will be able to restore the tire.
3. Find the most worn part of the pattern and measure the tread depth. If the rubber is worn unevenly, then we will strive to ensure that the depth indicator is the same everywhere - at least 3 mm.
4. We take a tire tread cutter and install a cutter on it that matches the width of the pattern.



5. Starting cutting. With smooth movements, remove strips of about 15 cm long.
6. Smell of burnt rubber - we accelerate a little or reduce the power of the device (if there is a regulator in it).
7. Remove the cut pieces from the surface.
8. After the tread is restored, we clean all the grooves and sipes (you can use a brush).
9. Install the tire on both the front and rear axles.

In conclusion

Treading tires is very popular. Unfortunately, tires that are unsuitable for this are often restored in this way, endangering all road users. When buying a used tire, it is worth inspecting it very carefully.