Green Diamond Tires

[Cloudbringer]

Anyone out there use them or know of them?

I hadn't heard about them til yesterday when my husband had to put four new tires on our old (1993) car and the tire place heartily recommended them.

http://www.high-tec-retreading.com/diamond.html

http://greendiamondtire.com/


The state we're in usually charges a 'waste tire' fee for each tire you buy and in this case, because these tires were environmentally friendly they waived the fees. Apparently a local company of ours is making/selling them so we got a break on the mounting and balancing fees and a few bucks off on each tire, so in all, we paid about half what we would have on the comparable Cooper tires (which were on the car when we got it and were sadly in need of replacement, being over 12 yrs old!).

They have little 'carbide chips' in them that apparently help with traction. An Icelandic company invented them and from what I've seen when I looked them up, they are getting pretty good reviews, so I may be getting them one day for our newer car, especially if the results of the Swedish tests are the norm...it seems they outperformed many other tires with abs brakes too.

[ 12-13-2005, 11:52 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

[Ilander]

Kind of a corny name, dontcha think?

Personally, reading about them, I have to give them mixed reviews...

Retreaded tires have been around for a long while, and while it can be a nice, cost-saving alternative, you also must realize that what you're getting is effectively a refurbished used tire. Tehy take the used tire, scrape off the old tread, and glue on the new. There used to be problems with this process involving the new tread all coming off the tire at once, so there were major saftey issues.

I'm sure that adhesive-technology has come a long way, because I KNOW tire technology has come a long way...and the carbide bead part DOES recommmend the tire...

What was the treadwear rating on those tires?

EDIT: It just occurred to me why the state didn't charge you a fee...it's already been paid once for those tires! It's a waste disposal fee, but in this case, the tire was reprocessed to be used again...a lot less of it is going to the landfill (pretty much just the sidewall, which isn't the majority of the mass.

Overall, Cloudy, they don't sound bad...just be wary for the first set...and if they work out for you, buy 'em again!

[ 12-13-2005, 12:33 PM: Message edited by: Ilander ]

[Mack_Attack]

Never heard of them. I say give them a try. Maybe a real good tire.

I use winter tires called Bliz-axes. And man do I love them. Great winter tire.

[Cloudbringer]

Ilander, the company recommended them because they were getting great reports from their customers last year. I've seen several people post about them on their own sites/car sites so far and it all seems to be good reviews. Best I remember they were waranteed for 40,000 miles which, frankly, I don't see us putting on this car before selling it! LOL!

I was reading that they are doing well in Iceland too so we'll see how they wear for us here. Hopefully they'll be ok and yup, I'm sure that's why they aren't getting the waste tire fees, now that you mention it!

Mack, that's what we figured..we'll try 'em and see what happens, but it was an expense we weren't ready for and four at once was a lot of tires...sigh.. so the less expensive ones seemed the best route at the time.

[Mack_Attack]

Well the way I see it. If the do good in iceland. Where that whole dam Island is either ice or fire. They should work for you.
The big thing with a winter tire is not to run them to long with warmer weather. They wear really fast with the warm weather. I am sure you know this.

*Runs and hides about Iceland comment*

[Cloudbringer]

LOL, I figured they must be good in our snow/ice conditions if they work in Iceland, too!

But the tires we got are supposed to be all season tires, so we'll run them all year 'round.

[Seraph]

Re-tread tires are very common on large trucks. However AFAIK trucks never use them on the front wheels, because they can fail, rather spectaculary. If you look off to the sides of major interstates you can often see the remains of re-treaded truck tires that have failed.

I figured they must be good in our snow/ice conditions if they work in Iceland, too!

The parts of Iceland where most of the people live don't get as much snow as people think. In fact Albany NY tends to have more snow then Reykjavik Iceland.

If you were worried about snow/ice you should have gone with a set of Nokian tires. They make an excelent all-weather tire that has great snow performance, IIRC it is the only all-season tire that carries the Severe Service Emblem. The emblem is given to "Tires Suitable for Use in Severe Snow Conditions".


I also thought I'd point out that the website contains atleast one piece of information that is total BS. "Silicon carbide granules" are not "actual industrial diamonds".

[Cloudbringer]

Actually, we were more worried about putting ANY tires on the car at this point since one of the old ones cracked and went flat and two more had cracks on them as well. The added traction in bad weather is a plus though.

[Winter Wolf]

Hope the tires work out well for you. Putting things to increase traction in slippery conditions is always great. Learned that long ago from me pappy growing up in the Great Frozen North. But he also told me to beware of re-treads, which I'll personally never buy. But if you can use them and they don't bug out on you, that's great! I'd just never trust 'em on long stretches of highway. Last thing anyone wants is tire failure at 70+ MPH. Drive safe.

[Cloudbringer]

That's the good thing about them being on the hubby's car, he only drives about 30-40 miles a week to and from work so the long trips on the highway would be fairly few and we only plan on keeping this car a few years.

So I hope the tires last that long... you're all making me nervous now! *ack*