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

Do you purchase and run recaps?

  • Yes, the technology is improved and I find it cost effective

    Votes: 3 18.8%
  • No, new rubber is all that goes on my equipment

    Votes: 9 56.3%
  • I run both (please explain in the thread)

    Votes: 4 25.0%

  • Total voters
    16
I had an outside rear dual on that pony pup I was driving last year come apart and hold till I got it dumped then they replaced it with another recap......surprise.

What actually was surprising at first though was this same company that swore up and down they don't use them other than on trailers replaced all eight of my virgin rubber drives with recaps.
 
You're exactly right. Tires do not just blow like some think. Its caused by low pressure or an injury to the tire.

Agreed. Avoid running over stuff, and keeping tires properly inflated are the keys. Under inflation causes tires to run hotter.
 
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 always thought recap steers were outlawed. Crazy I found the fmcsa section that says they're legal.

I wouldn't knowingly run recapped steers. Drives I don't mind since it's rare for more than one to go at a time.
 
You're exactly right. Tires do not just blow like some think. Its caused by low pressure or an injury to the tire.
I’ve also had caps not bond good. It will throw the cap and still be inflated. Like others have said. Casing shape is important in recaps.
 
I’m not defending caps but I saw an ad about caps once that said all the treads you see in the road have wire in them, if it has wire it was a casing failure not a cap failure. We run them on dump trucks and really have no problem
 
Our new bean counter mandated recaps at the beginning of spring this year. Drives and trailers.
1st week we had 9 tire failures. Since then usually 1 or 2 a week..
Way more then before ...
The shop told me because I'm a out of town truck when I need tires to stay away from the yard and they will have me get new tyres at one of our vendors.
Sounds like a good plan to me.
Plus I told them I don't want my hard work scattered on the side of the road.
20200723_204938.jpg
 
I'll run the Encore stuff from Michelin, but I don't trust Bandag any further than the end of the driveway.
 
I always thought recap steers were outlawed. Crazy I found the fmcsa section that says they're legal.

I wouldn't knowingly run recapped steers. Drives I don't mind since it's rare for more than one to go at a time.
During the pre-trip part of the CDL test with the examiner from the state of Illinois, not the instructors but the guy from the DMV who came to the school, we had to say out loud "cannot be recapped or regrooved" while inspecting the steer tires. That was in 2004.
 
During the pre-trip part of the CDL test with the examiner from the state of Illinois, not the instructors but the guy from the DMV who came to the school, we had to say out loud "cannot be recapped or regrooved" while inspecting the steer tires. That was in 2004.
I recall that too. Apparently things have changed.
 
During the pre-trip part of the CDL test with the examiner from the state of Illinois, not the instructors but the guy from the DMV who came to the school, we had to say out loud "cannot be recapped or regrooved" while inspecting the steer tires. That was in 2004.
I recall that too. Apparently things have changed.

That guy was wrong, the language hasn't changed in the green book in years.

There is language about regrooved tires on the steer, but only busses have/had recap restriction.

(d) No bus shall be operated with regrooved, recapped or retreaded tires on the front wheels.

(e) A regrooved tire with a load-carrying capacity equal to or greater than 2,232 kg (4,920 pounds) shall not be used on the front wheels of any truck or truck tractor.
 
Probably jinxing myself but I haven't had a tire failure since training 5 years ago when my trainer said a trailer tire that I questioned would be fine. We made it about 2 hours before it peeled off and wrapped around the ICC bumper. On my own, that kind of tire fails a pretrip and I either don't take it or it gets replaced before rolling.

But I also think the lower speeds and short distances play a huge role in whether a recap will be reliable or not. If you and don't go far or fast, the tires won't really get hot.

I'd most likely run virgins and nothing but if I either had bad experiences or was a long haul high speed driver.
 
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But I also think the lower speeds and short distances play a huge role in whether a recap will be reliable or not. If you and don't go far or fast, the tires won't really get hot.
This is true of cheap virgins, too. When Ohtsu first came here, they sold tires with very deep treads. They'd be fine running short stuff, but after a long day in the summer they'd start hunking tread off the still intact casing.
 
I don't buy the tires and have had very little say on the tires that have gone on the trucks I have driven. I have had about about the same luck with caps as I have had with virgin tires. IMO it's a gamble either way.
I do trust virgins on the steers, I don't much care what's on the drives. As long as they are not Chinese crap.
 
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