I saw something in your build thread and was wondering if this thread had been posted. Someone had asked about reliability with retread tires and seeing them all over the highway from OTR trucks. Think it was Grumpys. Having driven semis I can tell you the treads you see on the highway, yes some are retread but some are also new tires when you see them like that. You would never, in a car, see anywhere near the same stresses that a semi load or driver go through. The weight, combined with near 1K miles a day being put on each tire causes a lot of wear and tear. The heat is extremely immense on these tires which helps to break down the glues used to hold tires layers together. Depending on types of loads being hauled these drivers have to get out and check the heat level of their tires to make sure it is not to high because it can reach such a high temp it can cause a danger to certain dangerous and hazerdous cargos. If the temp hits that point they have to stop and let their tires cool before they can move the truck at all.

Also, you have to consider, 99% of the time, seeing a retread, you notice you never see the truck? There is a reason for that. The main tires itself, while bald, is still in tact and will allow the driver to continue if they have to. I have personally lost anything from a 1 foot chunk of tread, all the way to the entire tread band, and it will still make it to a service station or safe place to allow you to change it. They are highly reliable tires in general, but as with anything, something can go wrong in the process. The DOT has high requirements for tires being used on OTR trucks and if they were unsafe they would not be allowed to run them at all. The DOT states how much tread has to be on any steering tire and then on a regular tire as well and retreads are a good investment as they do not cost as much as a new tire but do hold up very well. And as stated, if you consider they put 2 years worth of use on tires in the space of a two month period, it is understandable why the tires wear and fail in a more visible way if you consider the amount of vehicles running them vs. the mileage they are all receiving. You also have to take into account the laziness of people who run their own business....owner operators, who try to stretch out the useage of their tires as long as possible in an effort to save money.

All that being said, odds are, buying a retreaded tire for your off road vehicle is a fairly safe bet. Most get a warrenty with them, the price is good, they will never see the same stresses as a semi tire would, no where close to it. And even if there is a flaw in design, you will still be able to make it to a safe place to change it out for the time until you can get it replaced under warrenty. Warrenty usually will only cover manufacturing defects which is what it would be if the tread itself inexplicably came off.

Tested out the "Ultragrip" for the first time in the snow today and it seems to handle only slightly better than the old street tire stockers. I would say save your 10 bucks if you go with these tires and skip the "Ultragrip".

I would say less then a 1/2" but it of course packed into pretty much ice.

Why would you be doing 60 with an air'd down tire?