I needed some tyres for a trip away, and decided to take a gamble on the cheap retreads often advertised on eBay and Gumtree.
I bought a set of 5 x 265/75R16s on BF Goodrich cases (strong sidewalls) and proceeded to head off on the camping trip. I got maybe 150kms before I heard a "thunk" from the rear. I initially put it down to something on the road, right up until we stopped for some of the convoy to refuel. I noticed that I had lost a tread block from each rear tyre.
We proceeded with the rest of the trip, covering about 500kms all up. Over that period we did some gravel tracks, rocky hills and two water crossings (depth was about 2/3rd tyre height). I didn't lose another tread block until we hit the highway going home. On the highway I lost another 5 tread blocks, so a total of 7, split 3-4 on the rears. Fronts were fine.
The tyre dealer did give me a full refund and put my old tyres back on my wheels (inc balancing) at no cost. He claimed it must be due to a bad batch or a heating problem during the mould, but either way I'll never buy them again.
Pics to come.