What makes a good core?

---

When a customer can provide us with good exchange cores, they receive the best price possible from us. 

As we price our tires for our customers, a big factor in determining price is core viability.

This basically means that your old tire is in good enough condition to be retreaded. In the case of foam filled tires, the value of the cores are greater than air tires on rims because we are reusing the foam, which is in most cases more expensive than the tire itself. Foam filled tires are filled with either a water based or polyurethane foam, which can fail for a few different reasons, and become “soft,” producing a squatted look. The tire often times looks like it’s flat. This is due to disintegrating foam inside of the tire. If your tire is squatted, regardless of the amount of tread or condition of the casing (tire) itself, it’s not viable for retreading. 

(see image 1 below)

Also, any large rips in the tire casing can cause the core to be considered no good as well. 

(see image 2 below)

Bead Burn 

Bead burn is usually a small dark black line around the outside of the rim, usually where the bead of the tire meets the rim. This shows that the foam inside of the tire is soft, and the tire has been driving on the soft tire, exerting pressure on this area of the tire. It’s a subtle sign that the foam inside of the tire is disintegrating. 

Solid tires

Solid tires are a little more straightforward. Usually a guidelines we like to follow is tread wear. When your tires are bald in the middle, but have some tread left showing on the sides, it is time to replace. See image 3 below of a tire that is bald in the middle, and would be considered a good core.  

Once the tread is worn so that the center of the tire looks concave, or sunken in, it is not viable for retreading. Large missing chunks or wear down into the actual core of the tire can constitute bad cores as well. 

Also, if the tread is worn down to where the holes in the sidewalls have been compromised, it’s also very likely that the tires are not able to be retreaded. 

In conclusion, we can refer to image 5 below of a Genie 14.00-28 as a reference for a good core. Evenly pressurized foam, casing in tact with no large cuts or holes, and a small amount of tread for us to buff and use as a good foundation for a new tread to be adhered to. This customer was able to purchase new tires at 70 percent of the cost of new, due to the fact that his cores were viable and he got them replaced in time.