Pete's Road Service has added another Vipal retreading machine, a VOC 760 Cargo extruder, at its retread plant in Corona, Calif. "Vipal Machinery is getting more and more recognition in North America," say Vipal officials.

Amid all the strangeness of 2020, retreaders faced a couple of unusual circumstances that had the potential to shake up their business.

For many retreaders, 2020 wasn’t a year to invest in major expansion. As Michael Berra Jr., president of Community Tire Co. in St. Louis, Mo., put it, “2020 was a survival year.”

Despite enjoying 44% of the U.S. retreaded truck tire market through its Bandag brand, Bridgestone Americas Inc. is not resting on its laurels. In this MTD exclusive, Jason Roanhouse, executive director, Bandag operations, Bridgestone Commercial Solutions, discusses how Bandag pulled through COVID-19, high-growth segments of the market, the evolving demands of retread customers and more.

Canadian Treads Corp. has opened a new Michelin Retread Technologies plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, with an initial capacity to build 350 pre-cure retreads a day.

Purcell Tire & Rubber Co. has produced its first-ever Michelin retread. The product was manufactured at the dealership’s retread plant in Potosi, Mo.

Wonderland Tire of Byron Center, Mich., has acquired Sumerel Tire Service Inc., of Newport, Ky.  The deal gives Wonderland Tire three more retread plants — in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

BestDrive LLC has sold six of its company-owned BestDrive retread locations to Conlan Tire LLC — including one retread plant near Dallas and five commercial centers in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

The late Harvey Brodsky often proclaimed, “Retreading is recycling!” And he was right. Retreading was recycling long before recycling and “going green” were mainstream. But retreading is many other things, too. Here are some interesting facts about the North American retreading market.