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Frank The Tank
Well-Known Member
Hello all.
Havent posted in a while. Wanted to let you all know about a company called Towel City Tire and Retread.
http://towelcityracingtires.com/14__Ice_Racing_Tires.html
This past fall i was driving my work car (Mazda Protege') 32mpg nearly 40 miles one way back and forth to work and was needing a tire that could get down and roll in the snow and ice on a front wheel drive.
My truck is a 4wd with 33x12.50 Treadwright Guard Dogs with kedge grip... optimal in deep snow and it gets about 15mpg so i cant afford to drive it even in winter.
After a great deal of searching around for my tire size through all the ice and winter tires.... Blizzaks etc i came across a (NON-DOT) legal tire that looked awesome for about 70 bucks apiece shipped.
185/70r14 they are a studdable ice racing tire. The tires I tested were too soft to stud, however after speaking to the people at TCR they agreed to mold tires in a firmer studdable version next time upon request. they also have a 225/70r14 also 15 and 16in sizes
They arrived in about a week with matching cases. I ordered 2 tires for the fronts. They looked amazing (if you like mud tires on a car) the compound was so soft you could squish in the treads with your finger. i was ready get them on my spare rims. The rears were also oversized 185/70r14 Firestone Winterforce (a great tire in all conditions but i love tires and wanted to try something new) the other two tires were absolutely shot so i went ahead and put them on in September.
One tire took a quarter ounce to balance the other tire was slightly out of round so we balanced best we could, drove it about 20 miles did a burnout and it zeroed with less than an ounce. After that i could drive about 70-80 with no shaking or shimmying on highway and the ride was comfortable.
The tires were absolutely amazing in the corners and the wet weather traction was by far better than my old setup in the dry. We finally got some ice and although i had to use due caution i cld really feel the traction improvements. We had a deep snow and they performed wonderfully up to about 6in depth (car was running out of clearance) tires slung snow and performed flawlessly for me all winter. They also cleaned surprising well in the little mud i saw. Even with about the 10k miles of hard winter driving and hwy miles the tires were just finally beginning to show signs of wear. The sidewalls held up, the balance never faded, traction was just as good and the tread was still soft.
A few weeks ago I drove the car to Nashville (300 mile round trip) set the cruise and knocked down 32mpg like usual and got a lot of interesting looks with the aggressive looking mud tires on my car.
Upon installation the tires had somewhere north of 10mm depth. After all those hwy miles and hard spinning on icey they both still had 8mm tread. Best 140 dollars ive ever spent on 2 tires. I had a blast with them and they performed flawlessly after the second balance.
Well the car is now gone and the tires as well.......... i told the people to use them as spares because of DOT liability issues.
I just wanted to write a review on these tires and let everyone at TRS know about some "extremely" alternative tire options that proved to actually be rather viable.
I'm pretty sure I had the only set in Kentucky and i will have another set if i get another small car or truck, perhaps next time with tungsten carbide studs.
Let me know if you guys have any questions.
Also i have a set of Hurst Pie Crust Retreads on my BB Ford
and have ordered 3 sets of Treadwright Retreads (even studded one set, which were just absolutely sick on my brothers truck this winter)
btw-in no way shape or form do I recommend anyone violate any DOT regulations with studs or non-approved tires
Havent posted in a while. Wanted to let you all know about a company called Towel City Tire and Retread.
http://towelcityracingtires.com/14__Ice_Racing_Tires.html
This past fall i was driving my work car (Mazda Protege') 32mpg nearly 40 miles one way back and forth to work and was needing a tire that could get down and roll in the snow and ice on a front wheel drive.
My truck is a 4wd with 33x12.50 Treadwright Guard Dogs with kedge grip... optimal in deep snow and it gets about 15mpg so i cant afford to drive it even in winter.
After a great deal of searching around for my tire size through all the ice and winter tires.... Blizzaks etc i came across a (NON-DOT) legal tire that looked awesome for about 70 bucks apiece shipped.
185/70r14 they are a studdable ice racing tire. The tires I tested were too soft to stud, however after speaking to the people at TCR they agreed to mold tires in a firmer studdable version next time upon request. they also have a 225/70r14 also 15 and 16in sizes
They arrived in about a week with matching cases. I ordered 2 tires for the fronts. They looked amazing (if you like mud tires on a car) the compound was so soft you could squish in the treads with your finger. i was ready get them on my spare rims. The rears were also oversized 185/70r14 Firestone Winterforce (a great tire in all conditions but i love tires and wanted to try something new) the other two tires were absolutely shot so i went ahead and put them on in September.
One tire took a quarter ounce to balance the other tire was slightly out of round so we balanced best we could, drove it about 20 miles did a burnout and it zeroed with less than an ounce. After that i could drive about 70-80 with no shaking or shimmying on highway and the ride was comfortable.
The tires were absolutely amazing in the corners and the wet weather traction was by far better than my old setup in the dry. We finally got some ice and although i had to use due caution i cld really feel the traction improvements. We had a deep snow and they performed wonderfully up to about 6in depth (car was running out of clearance) tires slung snow and performed flawlessly for me all winter. They also cleaned surprising well in the little mud i saw. Even with about the 10k miles of hard winter driving and hwy miles the tires were just finally beginning to show signs of wear. The sidewalls held up, the balance never faded, traction was just as good and the tread was still soft.
A few weeks ago I drove the car to Nashville (300 mile round trip) set the cruise and knocked down 32mpg like usual and got a lot of interesting looks with the aggressive looking mud tires on my car.
Upon installation the tires had somewhere north of 10mm depth. After all those hwy miles and hard spinning on icey they both still had 8mm tread. Best 140 dollars ive ever spent on 2 tires. I had a blast with them and they performed flawlessly after the second balance.
Well the car is now gone and the tires as well.......... i told the people to use them as spares because of DOT liability issues.
I just wanted to write a review on these tires and let everyone at TRS know about some "extremely" alternative tire options that proved to actually be rather viable.
I'm pretty sure I had the only set in Kentucky and i will have another set if i get another small car or truck, perhaps next time with tungsten carbide studs.
Let me know if you guys have any questions.
Also i have a set of Hurst Pie Crust Retreads on my BB Ford
and have ordered 3 sets of Treadwright Retreads (even studded one set, which were just absolutely sick on my brothers truck this winter)
btw-in no way shape or form do I recommend anyone violate any DOT regulations with studs or non-approved tires
Last edited:
i was getting to the point of wanting to punch his guts out..
