Solid and retreaded tyres from China

Rates and trade remedies

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, solid or cushion tyres and interchangeable tyre treads carried 2% on goods from China, retreaded car tyres and most other retreaded or used pneumatic tyres 4%, and tyre flaps 4%.

Retreaded tyres of a kind used on buses or lorries with a load index over 121 (4012 12 00 10) carried 4.5% plus an anti-dumping duty of £45.71 per tyre and a countervailing duty of £64.41 per tyre for all other exporters, running to October and November 2028 respectively; a named exporter group has its own lower rates on presentation of an invoice declaration. Ask your broker how the measures combine before quoting. Used tyres are also flagged for waste import controls, so check with the Environment Agency before importing part-worn or casing stock; a 0% suspension to the end of 2026 applies only to used tyres for retreading in vehicle remanufacture. New pneumatic tyres are heading 4011; see the bicycle tyres guide for cycle tyres.

Rules for road and industrial tyres

Retreaded tyres supplied for road vehicles fall under the [Motor Vehicle Tyres (Safety) Regulations 1994](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/3117/contents), which have a regulation on the supply of retreaded tyres; retreads are normally approved and marked to UN Regulation No. 108 for cars or No. 109 for commercial vehicles, so ask for the approval and check the marking on every tyre.

Solid forklift and industrial tyres are not road tyres, so they are bought on size, load and speed rating for the truck, compound, and press-on or resilient fitting. Check the size designation and load rating against the truck maker's data and the rim, and ask for non-marking compounds where the floor needs them.

Worked duty example

For a made-up shipment of 1,200 press-on solid forklift tyres under 4012 90 20 00, add the £3,500 of freight and insurance to the £42,000 free-on-board price and customs sees £45,500. At 2%, duty on these solid tyres is £910; import VAT of £9,282 is 20% of the value with duty added. Together that is £10,192, but a VAT-registered importer usually gets the VAT back. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

What goes wrong

Tyres fail on casing, bonding and fit. Retreads built on weak or old casings separate at the tread bond; approval markings are missing or copied; solid tyres chunk or crack because the compound is too hard or filled, press-on bands are out of tolerance so the tyre spins on the hub, and non-marking tyres still mark floors.

For retreads, check casing age and approval marks on every tyre and ask for the retreader's approval certificate; for solid tyres, measure outside diameter, width and bore, check hardness with a durometer against the specification, press a sample onto the buyer's hub, and run the truck on the site floor before the full order.

Cambridge China Bridge sources solid industrial tyres and tyre components for fleets, dealers and truck makers, and checks factories before an order where approvals matter. See how we verify factories.