Germany’s Rigdon to retread car tyres

Car tyre retreading has been a niche activity in recent years, but on 5 April French firm Black Star presented its ‘Leonard’ line-up and announced plans to make a million of these tyres a year. And it isn’t the only tyre company entering this segment, as German retreader Rigdon says it is also planning a retreaded car tyre range of its own.

Rigdon is one of the largest truck tyre retreaders in Germany, producing some 50,000 retreaded truck tyres last year as well as OTR tyres and rubber tracks. Within the framework of a diversification and modernisation programme that began several years ago and for which parent company Hörger Group has already invested tens of millions of euros, Rigdon is establishing a passenger car tyre retreading facility at its site in Günzburg, Bavaria. This will be a return to a business where it was once active before quitting in 2015, no longer able to swim against the tide of cheap new tyres from the Far East – but times have changed.

Chief executive officer Günter Ihle comments that “today we have a different time.” When asked what has changed, he points out that back in the day hardly anyone spared a thought for resource conservation or sustainability when selecting a new set of tyres. Things are different now, and not just amongst youngsters concerned about the future of the planet. Interest comes from a wide base, including corporate and government customers. A look at the growing mountain of end-of-life tyres also shows there is a fundamental need to avoid this waste – and if this isn’t possible, to at least keep worn tyres on the road as long as possible as retreads.

Rigdon CEO Günter Ihle (Photo: NRZ / Arno Borchers)

Highly automated production

Having financed the “double-digit millions” project from its own and Hörger Group funds, Rigdon is acquiring new equipment for retreading passenger car tyres, including 30 vulcanisation presses. Günter Ihle says production will be “highly automated” and embrace Industry 4.0 technologies and processes.

Production will take place in a building that Rigdon uses to store tyres, and going forward it intends to house these in a new warehouse planned for the Günzburg site. This will accommodate 300,000 retreaded car tyres and 45,000 truck tyres.

The number 300,000 isn’t just the warehouse’s storage capacity, but also planned annual car tyre production during the project’s first phase. Capacity will likely increase at a later date as Günter Ihle is already considering options for further expanding Rigdon’s passenger car tyre retreading.

Production start in 2024/5

Although Rigdon’s car tyre retreading project is progressing well, a risk remains that issues related to construction work may delay the timetable. If everything goes according to schedule, production could start at the end of next year or early 2025. This would make Rigdon, after Reifen Hinghaus, the second retreader in Germany to retread tyres for the consumer segment. The company began retreading van tyres in 2021 using existing moulds and presses.