How often do you retread your tires?

I run my own casings on the drives capped once in the winter only. With a open shoulder tread that I love in the snow....i run much less aggressive drives in the summer.... cost effective probably not. It’s $220 to cap my casing with this patten.....and I’ve got 2 sets of rims.



PATTERN DETAILS
Snow, sleet, ice and rain can’t keep northern fleets from doing business six months out of each year. BDR-W is specifically designed to perform in harsh winter conditions on tandem axle drive applications in truckload and less-than-truckload service.

 

I’ve never ran caps on my own trucks simply for the fact that the cost savings really isn’t there for a single truck guy and if you try running only your own casings then eventually you end up with some old casings by the time they make it on the truck.

The guy I drove flatbed for ran some Bandag retreads similar to the pic above. He sent his casings off to Les Schwab and for the 9 years I was there I never had tire issues. We were at the shop every weekend and our tire guy would give them all a once over and check the pressure.

 

The biggest practice to prevent problems with caps.
Air pressure. ... Keep that tire inflated properly...
Virgin tires can handle less attentiveness to pressure than caps.

 

NEVER...its new tires for me Always.Not much faith in "retreads".

 

Yeah for sure with one truck it’s hard to do unless maybe you recapped 1 or 2 drives and kept them as backups. Maybe could recap 2 as drives and 2 as trailer and keep 1 behind the sleeper and 1 under the trailer.

You might try another tire shop, I got $75/tire credit for mine. I did one time have a guy buy them for $100/tire. Some guys maybe can’t afford to buy new and would be happy to buy 8 virgin tires that they can potentially get another 40k miles on.

 

How do you get tires cheaper if your carrier doesnt offer you discounts?

 

how could you have faith if you've "Never" used them.

Like others mentioned above- I've recapped steers to put into drive position and purchased Bandag retreads on bridgstone casings. One new drive tire is 570+ , and a recap of your casing is 210'ish. You have an investment in a tire(trade AND Casing). Giving those up, even when a dealer is giving you credit(substantially less than there value) can cut into overall margins.
The next time your out and about, find a Bandag dealer, and asked to be given a tour of the facilty. I did this when i first started considering the product, and it gave me comfort knowing how rigorous there process is.

 

And that is why caps get a bad rap. The key to a great cap is paying attention to the virgin.

 

I've ran caps but prefer the heavy Chinese tires with open shoulders. But we replace every year due to drivers chewing on them when they get bored. They claim it's all the off-road driving but I see their teeth

 

I don’t know what discount fleets get. For me it’s about talking to a few different shops. Call and see if their sales rep will give you a call back. Let them know your looking for a consistent go to for all your tire needs. That soon you’ll be buying your own trailer and not long after that more trucks. A lot of shops want to deal. I have found that during bad times these people come out of the wood work and find you. That’s the best time to put your deals in place when they are hungry.

I wasn’t a good year person by any means. Always Michelin. However after the rep coming to see me, he got very competitive on his pricing and invited me to tour their recap shop just 25 mins from me. Their process and the comfort I got getting my own tires back gave the confidence to give them a try. Been happy last few years. This was during 2015 or 2016 when things were bad.

 

you always provide great responses. as usual you are pretty bang on. there is way more scrutiny paid to retread tires in the process than virgin tires are given from new. the failure rate for retreads is lower than that of virgin tires simply because of the high standards set for old casing to be eligible to be re-used. the killer is air pressure, if it is not kept up they will fail, as will ANY tire. low air pressure in the number one cause of tire failure.

for huge fleets this cost saving has been proven time and time again, there wouldn't be a retread industry if this was not the case. I'm just a little fish in the sea, and never use retreads, but I sure get pissed when they won't give me my #### casing credit. crooks...