RECAPS

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by truckman29801, May 25, 2013.

  1. truckman29801

    truckman29801 Medium Load Member

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    should i buy them $100 a piece, 255/70/22.5 its that xgreen tire that Michelin sells but it says..............oh well i forget but i know they are recaps. most i have riding over my axle is 10k pounds, i have an opportunity to buy 4 new recaps for 100 a piece. (selling because no one runs that size or recaps at the tire shop that has them) just spent $550 for 2 new steers (virgin rubber because i dont use recaps on the front period!) I only have 1 recap on the truck now and i dont see anything wrong with it, stands tall and it isnt comming apart. Just give me the scoop on them and why the come apart on the road so i can make this decision before friday lol
     
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  3. 379exhd

    379exhd Road Train Member

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    Believe it or not a lot of the gators on the road are virgins not caps. Caps will run just as long as a virgin if you take care of them monitor your pressures, keep it off curbs, etc etc. I do better with caps than virgins because I'm more careful with them I check them more often and look at them more often because I'm worried about them. And a good Michelin cap will outlast a cheap china virgin. My china drives have about 20k on them my dads virgin fire stones have more than that and I'm lower on rubber than he is. I monitor more than he does and am more meticulous but the china crap just don't last. Just remember some places will not cap a casing a 2nd time. Been down that road before and Bauer built won't cap some virgin casings so casing credits go out the window which is a plus over a virgin. Just check the casing numbers the stuff you should do no matter weather its a virgin or a cap. Just my experience. Only problem I've ever had with a cap is had one that was on my dads trailer that was about 9 years old and it did start to separate but the tire was also 9 years old and that trailer had sat for almost a year before we hooked to it. Don't blame the cap in that sense blame the guy that we rented the trailer from.
     
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  4. truckman29801

    truckman29801 Medium Load Member

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    so caps arent that bad? i have one but i meant virgin by front tire new from goodyear but on the rear im thinking of putting caps.why do i see so much good tread on the side of the road then? what did they do wrong for the tire to pull an onion peel move? lol
     
  5. truckman29801

    truckman29801 Medium Load Member

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    Also i dont go and Cast or Recap with shops, i never did it before, im just buying a recap with the thought that the sidewalls are good and not chewed up
     
  6. MoGooder

    MoGooder Light Load Member

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    From what I'm told tires blow out because of low tire pressure. Heat builds up as the sidewalls flex. The lower the tire pressure the more the sidewalls flex and the hotter the tire gets. Then I would think the tire would blowout at the weakest spot. I think I would take a chance on the recaps if they had decent tread. Just make sure you monitor the tire pressure.
     
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  7. Pedigreed Bulldog

    Pedigreed Bulldog Road Train Member

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    Recaps are only as good as the case that was used, combined with the quality of the process used to attach the new tread to the old case. If you start out with a high quality tire, that has been taken care of and NOT been abused, and the recap facility has high quality control standards and use the latest technology to carry out the process, then the tire you get back will be just as dependable as a brand new virgin tire....sometimes even MORE dependable, because not all new tires are looked at with as much scrutiny as a QUALITY recap facility looks at each and every tire that they process.

    HOWEVER...if you buy a cap from a less-than-reputable facility, the old saying "garbage in = garbage out" comes to mind. Believe it or not, there are places that will wrap new tread around any tire that holds air....and even that isn't set in stone.

    This is why I won't buy caps. I buy quality virgin rubber, and when I've used it up I send it to a quality facility to be capped. I'll run it again when I get it back...then send it in to be capped a second time, and run it again. Then I get whatever credit I can for the case and let somebody else run it.
     
  8. 379exhd

    379exhd Road Train Member

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    This is true. I will buy a Michelin cap from a reputable tire dealer as long as the casing isn't too old and its a Michelin or bfg casing. I will not buy a Michelin cap if its on a casing other than Michelin or bfg or if the casing is over 3 years old. The steers I have will be ran till they need to be capped capped an run as a trailer tire or sent back for a casing credit depends on the size of the trailer rubber and weather its a spread or a closed tandem.

    The xda3 comes with a 7 year 700k warranty and comes with 3 caps during that time on your original casings I believe as long as the casings are usable and pass inspection. I personally don't have a problem with caps. They're cheaper and you get rid of the get however there are only certain caps I will buy. I will NEVER have another set of Kelly caps worthless pieces of crap, same goes for bridge stone. Almost went with a set of bfg 230 caps for my flatbed but decided against that. Caps on a spread I wouldn't recommend could be why the kellys were crap but I don't care for Kelly tires.

    As for the ops question tires blow for many reasons road hazards poor monitoring etc. Most of the time its because of low air pressure tire gets hot and just gives out blows and you get the gator. Don't matter cap or virgin it'll blow. One problem I have seen with caps especially around Texas is warping and my tire dealer has warned me about that as well. They wouldn't recommend that running 75 on a 120 degree day in Texas they have seen caps warp from those conditions. Overall its up to you I don't have a problem with good caps I won't run bad ones but there is money to be saved running caps over virgins specially if you buy 16 caps...even if your only taking off $100/tire there's a $1600 savings right there.
     
  9. truckman29801

    truckman29801 Medium Load Member

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    yeah, the caps have the Michelin stamp on the cap rim right where it meets the sidewall (the puffy white guy) . and the tread has all its tits and no marks on it. i think ill go with caps, jw how much does it cost to cap a tire you already have? and how long and where to do this at? Augusta GA
     
  10. rollin coal

    rollin coal Road Train Member

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    I'm looking seriously at capping my current yoko virgin drives this summer with Goodyear caps. The Goodyear caps on my trailer are really good. The more I look at new tire prices and the significant savings to be had the more tempting it is. I've taken good care of these drives.

    Sent from my droid using Tapatalk 2
     
  11. Charli Girl

    Charli Girl Road Train Member

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    :biggrin_25513: Dang it,just sent a free one away then,where would one find such a company prey tell ?
    Thats a wonderful idea!
     
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