Do you trust recaps? Please vote in the poll, in addition to offering your input.

[Mike]

Tire technology is constantly evolving, and tire price is constantly increasing. For someone buy an old used truck, tire condition can greatly impact the possibility of a sale simply due to the known cost of fitting the truck with new tires.

That said, and while I don't keep up with it much, where is the technology on recaps? Would you consider recaps as opposed to new rubber on your drives? Trailer?

Sure, upfront cost, recaps can save you money. That said, where is the overall cost? Do you come out ahead at all with recaps these days?

Bonus question, not part of the poll: Are you someone that has their own casings capped? Are you seeing increased savings by doing this, or just more comfort in knowing how the casings have been treated?

 

[Electric Chicken]

I don't know if I've ever run anything but recaps. Maybe Paccar put virgin rubber on at the factory but beyond that I doubt it.

 

[Mike]

I don't know if I've ever run anything but recaps. Maybe Paccar put virgin rubber on at the factory but beyond that I doubt it.

With Schneider, the biggest problem is tire pressure. I'm sure the chassis situation is the same as their trailers in that the tire pressure is never checked by 99% of the drivers. I rarely picked up trailers that had proper pressure, often down to 80 or lower. I also learned to leave it along because airing them up was a guarantee that one or more would blow.

 

[Electric Chicken]

With Schneider, the biggest problem is tire pressure. I'm sure the chassis situation is the same as their trailers in that the tire pressure is never checked by 99% of the drivers. I rarely picked up trailers that had proper pressure, often down to 80 or lower. I also learned to leave it along because airing them up was a guarantee that one or more would blow.

I can't speak for the dry vans but our chassis have automatic pressure filler things.

 

[mndriver]

Has more to do with whether or not casings match. And to tie up that much money in casings isn’t worth it to me.

 

[Mike]

I can't speak for the dry vans but our chassis have automatic pressure filler things.

Many of the vans did too, but nobody ever verified that they were working. Those lines fail, all Schneider ever did once they finally realized it was disable the system.

Problem with disabling the system, they never told anybody about that either. Shit could be turned off under the trailer, and only way to know was to go under and check. Turned many of them on, only to hear air spewing from the lines.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Many of the vans did too, but nobody ever verified that they were working. Those lines fail, all Schneider ever did once they finally realized it was disable the system.

Problem with disabling the system, they never told anybody about that either. Shit could be turned off under the trailer, and only way to know was to go under and check. Turned many of them on, only to hear air spewing from the lines.

Oh yeah well whether they're working is a whole other story.

I did manage to get more than one tire to reseat and air up by driving around the lot though. Those were at least working somewhat. Enough to get the loads back. Or delivered. Or whatever.

 

[Sinister]

Fed Ex and UPS run recaps even on the steers.

Not that they're ever loaded that heavy, but they still know more than all of you people.

 

[Hillbilly Canuck]

Fed Ex and UPS run recaps even on the steers.

Not that they're ever loaded that heavy, but they still know more than all of you people.

More about how to fold up doubles or flop them in the ditch.

 

[Sinister]

More about how to fold up doubles or flop them in the ditch.

They definitely know more about that than anyone...

 

[Mike]

Fed Ex and UPS run recaps even on the steers.

Not that they're ever loaded that heavy, but they still know more than all of you people.

I think many have went this route in recent years, as people began to realize that it wasn't illegal. I also think that is why you see more steer tires blown now as trucks sit on the shoulder of the interstate with their trucks destroyed.

 

[Hammer166]

I'm not fond of the full tread depth caps, too many heat related failures. But the shallow trailer caps, especially if put on anytime other than summer, I've had very good luck with, especially if it's my casings. Getting them heat cycled a few times before getting them really hot in the summer definitely reduces the tread failure rate to almost nothing. Never really had casing issues with my casings, random casings you could figure on 5% or so casing failures.

 

[Mike]

I'm not fond of the full tread depth caps, too many heat related failures. But the shallow trailer caps, especially if put on anytime other than summer, I've had very good luck with, especially if it's my casings. Getting them heat cycled a few times before getting them really hot in the summer definitely reduces the tread failure rate to almost nothing. Never really had casing issues with my casings, random casings you could figure on 5% or so casing failures.

I almost asked why you mentioned not getting them put on in Summer, then thankfully I actually read the entire post....

 

[Duck]

You need a 4th option for "yes but not on a motorcycle".

 

[Duck]

I rarely picked up trailers that had proper pressure, often down to 80 or lower. I also learned to leave it along because airing them up was a guarantee that one or more would blow.

Why does airing them up make them blow?

Unlike Van Wyk, Magnum didn't have that inflation system on their trailers and no cat-eyes on their tractors, so when I was driving their hand-me-down truck and pulling their trailers, I was having to add air to almost every trailer I hooked up to. Quite often I'd find them at 80 or below. Never had one blow up.

 

[Mike]

Why does airing them up make them blow?

Unlike Van Wyk, Magnum didn't have that inflation system on their trailers and no cat-eyes on their tractors, so when I was driving their hand-me-down truck and pulling their trailers, I was having to add air to almost every trailer I hooked up to. Quite often I'd find them at 80 or below. Never had one blow up.

I had the opposite result. Airing up the tires almost guaranteed that they would blow for me. Running them low weakens the sidewall, that is how it was explained to me.

Schneider even had a policy to not air up a tire below 70psi, but to have it replaced before rolling with it.

 

[mndriver]

Unless the casings are identical, the sidewalks give different tire heights.

Guys at Columbus tire and auto gave me a lesson back in 2013 about this.

I had just spread an outside dual all over the interstate eastbound 7 miles out of town. I limped in on a single tire at a reduced speed to have them replaced. They had a list of what casings could go together they’d developed over the year based on how the tire flexed and how the belts are wrapped. It was the last time I’d run recaps.

one tire will carry the load and over heat if the casings aren’t matched. That’s part of the failure. If it’s the shorter casing then you’ll have wear issues and potential blow out from scrub heat.

it would take 3-5 days minimum for me to get a turn around on my own casings to have them recapped. Having two trucks this year, I may try it and run caps on my own casings since I can send in a set to get them capped and run the spares to keep me running.

Up until now, I’ve never had a spare $3000 set of tires hanging around to let me do that.

 

[Mike]

Guys at Columbus tire and auto gave me a lesson back in 2013 about this.

This is why I focus on technology updates in this. 8 years later, it's really possible that the technology in this has been updated.

I still don't trust them, but it's mostly because of my past experience with them.

 

[mndriver]

This is why I focus on technology updates in this. 8 years later, it's really possible that the technology in this has been updated.

I still don't trust them, but it's mostly because of my past experience with them.

So long as you have different tire manufacturers, different model tires etc., you’ll always have different sidewalls. That will never change.

Then it just becomes basic physics.

Like I said, so long as the casings are identical, It shouldn’t be an issue. I just don’t have the resources to have 16 drive tires to Send in as groups For recap

 

[Mike]

So long as you have different tire manufacturers, different model tires etc., you’ll always have different sidewalls. That will never change.

Then it just becomes basic physics.

Like I said, so long as the casings are identical, It shouldn’t be an issue. I just don’t have the resources to have 16 drive tires to Send in as groups For recap

you don't, but I would imagine that the recap folks have figured out the importance of sending out these tires as you mentioned. For the market to be profitable, you have to advance your technology.

For example. When I went to trade on some tires a while back, the michelin dealer flat out told me they would give me nothing for my casings. That told me that they were only accepting specific casings for their recaps/retreads.

I could be wrong, but I think it has gotten to a point where the tires are well identified now at trade in, so we don't end up with a mixmatch mess at resale.

In other words, matching up a Michelin XDN casing with a Yokohama casing is a no go. That said, dealing with a yokohama dealer, they have guaranteed casing values, because they keep their stuff together now in the recap/retread process.