Make Recap Tires Illegal

whether one likes something or not, tires or anything else, we need to lose the attitude that the OP expressed....."make it illegal".....just because you dont like something does not mean it should be illegal. Our govt finds enough stuff to make illegal without us condoning it or giving them ideas.

 

Well done, MrEd! I am always amazed how people can't stand the government giving them an anal exam over everything they do, like elogs or hours of service, but when they don't like something, they holler for the government to come to their rescue!

This is what the legal portion of our society takes care of. If recaps are sooooo bad, then you can be sure that there will be plenty of lawyers that would take advantage of this to make some bucks. Then either they will be forced out of existence, or they will be made better. But, the lawsuits are not flying around, so recaps must not be the terrible thing they are made out to be. And if they were and the legal community didn't step up to the plate, the consumer will. If they are not cost effective, then people will quit buying them.

 

BINGO!! Let the market decide!

 

Friend,
Up until about 9 years ago you would be 100% correct. However in the early 2000's the technology and laws began to change. It became a huge liability for re-cappers to have high fail rates. The industry standard became the practice of utilizing X-ray technology for recapped tires. Virgins are not put up to the same scrutiny. While my logical brain wants to agree with you that Virgins are should be better, when faced with hard data I have to give way to the facts. The data shows that recapped tires have a lower failure rate than virgins. Do with that info as you wish and be safe out there!

 

I have been trucking for 29 years now. I have had 2 virgin tires give me trouble in all these years, and it was because they were a set of double coin chinese tires. These chinese tires are junk! Double coin, saleens and whatever else they want to call them this month, as far as im concerned, if its made in china, its junk. As far as recap tires, ive had so many come apart on me over the years, that i will not run them on any of my trailers that are running long haul. Now i have a log trailer that i do only local work with and the trailer will never see over 50 m.p.h., so i will run caps on that. But if you have a nice tractor with nice stainless fenders, dont even think of running caps, because when they do come apart, they tear your fenders and all the fabricated mounting brackets right off your truck, not to mention the huge dents in your fuel tank also. I know, it happened to me! There are 3 important factors that you need to pay attention to when it comes to running caps: your total gross weight that you will be running, the temp, and your road speed. If your running 130,000 lbs on a 90 deg. day at 70 m.p.h. your caps will eventually grenade. If your running a box trailer or whatever and you typically only gross out at 65,000 lbs. then caps will probably work for you. Even though we are all trucking, we all do different types of trucking, and i think that makes a big difference in the success of your caps.

 

If you have newer casings and keep up your tire pressure, there is no reason you should have more problems with caps than virgin tires. I only ran virgin tires until a couple of years ago. I have had mixed experience with caps. I think the failures were due to the casings used being old. I have had one instance where a virgin tire actually blew and the tread looked just like it was a cap that came apart. I don't think that I had more than 5,000 miles on the tire. Most people I know who run caps have their own virgin tire casings. As far as Double Coin tires are concerned, I have had very good service from those I have purchased. The only problem I have had came from steers. They don't seem to do as well on steers as on trailers or drives. I have been experimenting with various brands for years. I buy good tires for the steers but run whatever I can get the best buy on for my drives and trailers. Tires don't last that long on spread axles, anyway. I can't see paying double for Michelin or another brand made in the U.S. without getting comparable wear. The U.S. manufacturers don't want to stand behind their tires. I have had had a local distributor stand behind the Chinese tires on a couple of instances. I prefer buying American, but when they don't stand behind their products, but want to charge double, I will go with the cheaper brand. I like Michelin, but don't think they are worth double the price. I had a problem with a couple of Bridgestone tires on a step deck. They didn't stand behind them. I paid more for them than the cheaper tires, even with a national discount. So, I see no reason to pay more. If you don't like the Chinese tires there are other options. Japan makes a good tire. Then there are some lower end tires, such as Cooper, that are made in the U.S. Regardless of the type of tire you buy, maintaining proper air pressure is key to longevity. Whether you spend $600 or $300, tires don't last that long on a spread axle trailer.

 

If i had recaps, i would use recapped once and replace it with new.

 

There is one thing else I would add to the low tire pressure problem. You don't fix the problem by simply sticking an air hose to the tire and airing it up. If it is low find out where the air is going and fix the tire. In my experience it isn't the low pressure, it is the nail in the tire that makes a nice little seal on the tread side of the tire but allows the pressure to build between the cap and casing, and as the tire heats up something is going to give. I've driven a truck for thirty eight years, I've been in the truck tire business for the past twenty years, and the problem with retreads is a driver problem 90% of the time. Recaps don't just blow out because they are recaps. They may blow out because an old casing was recapped, and I said old not out of date. The date on the tire has to do with whether or not the cap will run than the age the casing shows because of the life it has lived. The date of manufacture of a tire is a guideline but any cap shop with people who have actually learned how to cap tires rather than just going by the book can tell when a ten year old casing will work and when a three year old casing will not, but most guys simply look at the date and go from there. Next todays drivers are spoiled. When I began driving we ran tube type bias ply tires and you had #### well better stop and check your tires every hour or so or you would never make your destination. Today most companies are lucky if a driver "bumps" their tires once a day. Next, airing up tires in my shop is a no no. If a tire looses 10 lbs over night it has a leak and you find the leak and fix it. Whether you run new tires or cap and casings, your tires need to be visually inspected for separations, cuts, and irregular wear. I am in the truck tire business, and I own several end dumps. We run both new and used tires on all axles other than the steer axles. Last year we mounted and ran around 80 recaps and lost only two of them. One was determined to have had a nail in it, the other was to far gone to tell. We mounted another 44 new tires, and lost five for various reasons, but usually from complications of being run low. I am amazed on a daily basis how little drivers and owners actually know about their third highest expense of running a truck and the one where their cost are easy to control. recaps like every other tire on the truck need to be selected by the type of service the tire will see. No one will mount a logger lug as a steer tire, so don't mount caps on a truck that is going to be grossing 85,000 lbs, running in 105 degree heat and running 80 mph. You don't even run cheap imports under those conditions.

 

Totally agree. The only time I see any appreciable tire pressure changes are during seasonal weather changes. The temps drop and air pressure is down. I don't stick my tires every day, normally, but when there are major fluctuations in weather temps, I will stick them more frequently and make sure they are at the right pressure before starting my day. Not that difficult. That is why I like those Alligator pass thru valve caps. I can just walk around the truck, stick the tires quickly, and be done.

 

I read somewhere tire loses 3 to 4 PSI a month. I check mine once a week, when its cold.