Make Recap Tires Illegal

CCC Transportation out of Auburndale, FL uses recaps on drives/trailers. I've had dozens of blowouts in 6 years with the company, a lot of times when it was cold in the middle of the night. Doesn't seem to matter when those things blow up. The company said they're "just as good" as virgin tires, meanwhile they don't use recaps on the steering axle. If they're "just as good", wonder why they don't?

edit: also the company governs the trucks at 57 mph. They still blow up at that speed.

 

That happens when you run junk casing!

 

A quality recap in an accredited facility done to spec is just fine.
Like they do on the tires of the large jet liners.
This kind of quality assurance is just not available in the trucking industry to my knowledge.
Some facilities are better and you will get better results.
There is a reason the Michelin facilities get better results.
The argument that recaps work out more economic should rather be can work out more economic.
The fact is that because of the lack of quality standards recaps are often a disaster.
Just read the posts , the guys that have success with recaps have some form of quality management.
I have not read one post where someone is pro recaps that just buys recaps from any vendor.
They all go on about knowing the history of the casing and the facility that does the cap.
There is no reason why recaps cant be very good , there are however many reasons why they often aren't.

 

air pressure of lack of air pressure causes more tire failure than anything. A lot of drivers go by the old 100 psi without ever reading how the tire is rated. If a tire says 110 psi cold that is where I will run it. If it says 105 I run it 105. I think the tire companies have done more research than all us drivers combined. Recaps should NOT be run at a pressure lower that the virgin because useing lower pressure creates more heat.
Recaps are used on passenger aircraft

 

You need to read the sidewall again, and pay attention to what it actually says. MAXIMUM pressure in order to haul the MAXIMUM load. Lighter loads can be hauled with lower tire pressures, and running the recommended tire pressure for the load you're hauling will give the best tread wear. Most of the manufacturers have charts on their websites (or at least Michelin does) with the recommended pressure at various loads. If you're running around with maximum pressure and not consistently loading the tires to their maximum rating, you are over-inflating your tires.

 

If you're checking them once a week, you clearly haven't had to buy too many tires, virgin or caps, or road service calls with your own money.

 

I love internet ballpark facts.

How many of you who refuse to run caps have aero trucks, or other "fuel saving" devices to "save money"? (i.e. air tabs, side skirts, plastic bubble trucks ect)

If you don't like caps fine, I don't like plastic trucks. I'm guaranteed to save money with a caps and have been doing it for over 20yrs. More than I can say for gimmicks like "air tabs"

For those who claim to have had endless trouble with caps you always leave out the details.
1.What brand were the casings.
2.What brand were the caps
3.How old were the casing (assuming you can read the date code)
4.What shop capped them (or are they the infamous truckstop caps)
5.Were you the original owner of the casings?

Seems the people who don't have the trouble
1.Buy good virgin tires and maintain them
2.Only run your capped casings
3.Only use a good shop, not the cheapest guy on the block
4.Don't cap anything over 4 yrs old

The company drivers who bad mouth caps have no idea what kind of life that tire had before they got it. Another steering wheel holder could have ran it flat for months. Some cheap shops don't inspect the casings, it could have broken or rusted cords from a previous puncture.

Sorry I just find it funny how guys will try just about anything to save money when it comes to fuel, even trying snake oil devices in the hopes of saving .004%. But when a new major brand drive tire is $350+ (last two Continental 16ply 22.5 trailer tires I bought a few months ago were over $900 NOT installed) but a cap installed on your GOOD casing is around $120 and guys think that's stupid. Amazing.

I'll run what I know works from years of experience and you guys keep shopping for the latest fuel saving gimmick.

 

I had generally pretty good luck with caps. Theres good arguments for and against. One thing about gators, if theres wire in them they're virgins.

 

Really?

Recaps are all on casings with no "wire in them"?

If there are cords showing in a blown tire all it means is that the casing failed...
I hear people spouting this BS all the time about "If there are cords in the gator then it's a virgin tire that blew!"

That is simply not the case....It just means that the tire came apart at the cords and that it wasn't a cap peeleing off of the casing that caused the tire to fail.
It is hardly ever a cap peeling that causes a recap to come apart....It is usually a casing failure, Hence the "wires".

 

I stand corrected. It just seems to my admittedly bad memory that most of the ones I lost the tread came off, then they blew.