Retreads, or NO Retreads?

[Capt._Chaos]

Retread tires (known as "re-caps") have been around the trucking industry for years, and in some applications their use is justified.

Do you run "recaps"?

[magicman]

No way. I decided that there was too much chance for damage due to shoddy recapping techniques of some retreaders. The inspection process used by some sucks.

With a truck that has full wheel to wheel fairings, I can't take the chance of a tire failure. It could do several thousand dollars worth f damage.

I run all Continental virgin tires. They've been great.

[SUNSHINE]

No recaps on my equipment. Those recaps aint so cheap when they blow and start taking out mud flaps, batter box covers, air bags , air lines etc.

I run Michelin on steers, Dunlops on the drives and Steelmarks on the trailer. I do have one set of Yokohama trailer tires on and they seem to be doing very well.

[tommy]

I agree totally , re cap tires cost you more in the long run..


[/quote]

[Kranky 1]

I've usually run recaps on the drives on my dump trucks, right now the drive tires are all recaps on the 1 surviving member of the fleet.
However, all my work is basically within 50 miles of the home 20, so tire trouble isn't as much of a catastrophe as it is for you OTR guys when you have a blowout in the middle of nowhere.
Yes, I have had tires blow & damage trucks, tearing off flaps etc., even have seen where edge ofdump body & channel iron ribs under the body have been bent & twisted by grenading tires. Every once in a while when I'd run short of casings, then I'd introduce some new tires into the program, but mainly have always used recaps on drives & lift axles.

:cool: :cool:

[Big_Dave]

From my experience, recaps are ok for short haul or local use only. Never roll enough to really build up the heat like they would running OTR.

Otherwise it's virgin rubber only.

[LSMR]

I run caps on my old IHC but will probably switch to new when the time comes for replacement.

The trick with recaps is to use a good quality recapper,make sure the casings are in good shape and checking & mantaining the air pressure.

When I worked for Ryder all our drive tire & trailer tire replacements were recaps.We kept them aired to the proper pressure and had a good capping program.In 10 years I saw few problems with their use.

[Phantomlord]

I have had only one experience with recaps.

I ran them on my drives. My experience was, when I hauled a 48' dry van with light weight, (62,000 gross), I had no problems. When I started hauling different frieght, grossed at 80,000 + and ran in the FL summer heat, I had blow out after blow out. In fact, it tore my quarter fenders up bad. Now this was back in 2001-2002. I hear recaps are better now. But if I was hauling heavy wgt with a nice truck with any kind of fenders, I would go with virgin rubber myself/

[22_wheeler]

The trick with recaps is to use a good quality recapper,make sure the casings are in good shape and checking & mantaining the air pressure.

.

I do and have recaps on my tractor and trailer I have found the trick is like LMSR said.I run 16 ply Michelin casings only and have capped them up to 4 times.I have had many tires for 5 years.When the casings start to crack by the bead I run the tread off and junk the casing!!! I have run these all year long even in 100 degree heat with very,very seldom having a blowout. :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: I have also have had brand new tires blowout too. :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

[Bikerboy]

I have had alot of recap blowouts.
About 4 blowouts on the drives this year. And also had one steer tire blowout, it was virgin rubber that blew on the steer.

A steer blowout sure makes a mess of the truck. i would really not want to ever have a wide dump truck style 20 000lb axle tire blowout. I hear they are almost impossible to steer when they blow.

[wombat]

Blow outs are almost always caused by inflation problems.

It makes no difference if they are retreaded or new run them at the wrong inflation and your chance for a tire failure goes up considerably

[trashwagon]

Blowouts are due to casing failure.. poor quality casing or low inflation pressures.

I ran 120k miles this year on Michlien caps and the "oncor" cap and had no problems with them.

Most of the time I was in excess of 75k gross. :wow:


If you use a reputable recapper you will not have any problems.

[liner]

I went the recap route once and recapped my original Michelin cases at a reputable retreader.I got more miles out of the retreads than I got on the virgin tires with no trouble at all.Big thing is "reputable"retreader and proper inflation and you won't have any problems.