New tires or Recaps?

Amazing that Federal Highway Administration studies have shown that of all those casings and alligators all over the highway are caused as much by virgin tires as caps. So many folks just automatically assume that if they see tire trash along the road, it was from a capped tire.

 

Two points.

1) I have been out here a very long time, and during this time I've run my share of both types, virgin, and recap.... I've never, and I'll repeat this, never, I have never blown a new tire. I've picked up stuff that caused them to leak and go flat, run them soft for miles and miles, got the tire repaired and never had an issue... other than to wear the tire prematurely.... Recaps? Whole 'nother ballgame. I've blown recaps that were fully aired up, I've blown recaps that were brand new, I've blown caps a lot, comparatively.... You get on a hot road, AZ, NV, TX, CA, NM, MT, SD, etc.. you get on a hot road in the summer..... caps go BOOM... New tires? I've NEVER blown a new tire.... So the study about those roadside highway casings?? Highly suspect, imho. And I believe that if recapped tires were as good as new, we wouldn't be having this conversation, it would be a given, that there was NO DIFFERENCE other than price, but that's not the case, is it? There's always a caveat when it comes to caps, "you have to have a good casing to begin with, I won't buy a cap with an unknown casing, I'll buy new, take care of them, and then make sure to get my good casings capped", or, "You have to be careful with them, you have to check the air pressure every time you stop...", recapped tires can't possibly be as safe and reliable as new, for if they were then point 2, below, would be a moot point, and be irrelevant...

2) If recapped tires are as reliable as new tires, why can't you run them on the steer axle?

I buy new tires, why? Is it cause I like spending money on new tires instead of saving money? No. It's cause every tire I've ever had that failed due to a blowout has been....a recap.

 

Let's just do a cost analysis, ok?

Let's just say you bought 10 new recapped tires for $2,000 total, that's 2kdivided by 300k miles=.006667 cpm, (I seriously doubt you can get 300k out of a set of caps, btw)

I bought new for $3377 total, 3377divided by 350k, (I actually got 361k out of the old ones), =.00964cpm, (and if we use my actual mileage figure, the real number is .00935)

Now consider, I never had a blowout with new, so there's zero replacement cost, zero downtime, and zero equipment damage....unless you run over a nail, then you gotta get the flat fixed, but a least after it's fixed you won't have to worry about it holding together...lol...)

Kind of a no brainer for me, but I love our system here...we all have the freedom to run our businesses the way we see fit, we'll for the most part anyway. ("we're from the government and we're here to help"..lol..wait, if it wasn't for government regulation we could save money on the steer tires too)

 

I don't run caps. Tried it and hated them.

 

Where does it say you can't run a caps on the steer axle?
I've been driving a good while I've had 1blow out. It was on a trailer that I was pulling as a favor because the truck broke down. It was only going 20 miles. I hooked on to it and popped a tire in 10. I did not pre trip it or that would not have happened. Yes it was a cap but the inside tire was half flat. I had one tire lose it's tread. It still held air it just did not have any tread. It was a virgin! Mfg deffect I guess.
That being said let's talk about the tires that have not blown. I have truck on a dedicated run that pulls heavy often. In Pa you can have a 112000 on a 5 axle trailer with a permit. There are times we push that number pretty hard. This is on a spread axle flat that makes a lot if tight turns. Guess what I run caps on it. Never blown a tire in 8 years of running that route.
If you understand how a tire is made you know how the tread is held on a virgin is not a lot different than the cap. The problem lies in that the casing only has so much life in it. Even if it's abused and its life shorten as a virgin it will mostly likely survive to wear out. But it's life has been cut short by abuse and neglect so it won't survive as a cap. A tire that been properly maintained can last for several retreadings. If you have tire that's been properly maintained and capped it will be as good as a virgin of the same age. The key words are properly maintained. Not trying to pass judgment but if you have had that many failures I would question if you understand proper tire maintenance.

 

I've seen virgin tires fail in more than one form of auto racing. Tossing the alligator on the track.


I know it's not the same.... But they are the best tires, cars and mechanics I mean engineers ......it happens.

 

Im on my 5th set of mega trek caps, maintain 110psi even in summer...not one blowout or malfunction. Local indy shop that does good work.

Aint no way runnin csps is gonna drop 1 mpg, thats bs

 

Let's not forget when you go to replace them virgins tire shops pay good money for them , and for caps they give you nothing

 

i know a guy that runs caps on the steer been doing it for years there is no law saying you cant

 

Recaps I was always adding air. Virgins go a several months without having to add air and if I did it was marginal. I don't mind working but I hate losing time and airing up low tires takes a long time.