The word "retread" is correct and can be used in written English.
It is often used to refer to something that has been used before but updated or improved in some way. For example, "The company retread an old strategy that had been successful in the past."
If we are to retread that ground, we are further regressing.
Mr Howard may be a Thatcherite retread, but nobody doubts that he would be more effective than Mr Duncan Smith.Mr Letwin's palpable niceness would provide a useful counterweight to Mr Howard's chilliness.
Mr Zeman's party, unlike some other Social Democratic parties in Central Europe, is not an ex-communist retread.
An opinion poll last November gave him a lead of 48% to 40% (Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat candidate and another 2008 retread, registered just 7%).
But Disney's recovery has encouraged other studios to join in, notably Warner Brothers with its animated retread of "The King and I", while Disney and DreamWorks have both made computer-generated versions of the imaginary life of insects ("Antz" and "A Bug's Life").
Jack O'Brien's production galvanized all the elements into an entertainment comparable to the Phantom but in no way a retread.
In fact, this film follows so closely the trajectory of the first Fellowship movie, it almost feels like a retread.
New weapons like the Kampfpistol – a flare gun crossed with a grenade launcher – and two new endearingly maniacal villains prevent The Old Blood from feeling like a simple retread.
Murdoch's comments are a retread to the days of scientific racism.
Other than being their first Western, this Oscar-nominated retread of a John Wayne classic is a typical Coen brothers' affair.
The new Fiat 500 is a "facelifted" version of that retread, and thankfully the Italian carmaker has been clever enough not to mess with a recipe that has helped the firm shift 1.5 million dinky 500s in eight years.
