Recaps, yes or no?

[Jeremiah]

I just turned 60,000 on my '03 3500 SRW and will need my third set of tires in 4-5,000 miles. I am considering recaps as there is a very good truck recapper in Colorado Springs. I also like the tread designs that are available.



In the past, I've bought the BFG OEMs that came on the truck and have been quite satisfied with the ride and mileage. But I understand that recaps last longer than OEMs (but may have a harsher ride) and was wondering whether anyone else has used them and what their experience has been.



Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[Reb.B]

my thoughts on recaps are that they should be only used on big truck tire and only on the trailer or rear. If you feel the need to put them on your truck then i would only run them in the rear and not in the front.

 

[JayWm]

I have never seen retreads last longer than new tires. The other issue is that most retreaders will not retread passenger and light truck tire casings unless the casing was intended to be retreaded by the tire manufacturer. Examples would be Michelin XPS series, Goodyear G159, G647, G133, G124. All these tires are built like medium truck tires with steel sidewalls. I don't know of any 17" tire casings that are all steel construction. Also retreads that are to be used on the front (steering) position require special certification which few retreaders are willing to do. The cost of retreads is usually very close to the cost of mid price point tires. Hope this is helpful info to you.

 

[Reb.B]

believe it or not, but i've seen BFG's recapped with Hoosier quicktimes at the drags, go figure.

 

[JayWm]

believe it or not, but i've seen BFG's recapped with Hoosier quicktimes at the drags, go figure.

That does not surprise me one bit. Care to guess how many recaps are used on airliners?



My comments would apply more to your average commercial truck tire dealer/retreader as opposed to the specialty market.

 

[Carlsummers]

My father worked for Goodyear for 33 yrs. He started working in a retread plant and ended up a store manager. I worked for Goodyear for a few years. I would NEVER put recaps on any vehicle of mine, no matter who capped them. I think semi recaps are even more dangerous that passenger size... . jmho

 

[GWBourne]

check craigslist.com, i found a FEW stock sets of tires and rims for my dodge for 100 to 200 dollars. almost all of them were brand new or 5k miles

Grant

 

[Cattletrkr]

Kiss your Fiberglass dually fenders goodbye if you blow a cap. Tried a few on my trailer a few years ago. 17. 5" rims and heavy duty trailer tires. Two of them blew in less than 2K each. Somehow managed to not wreck anything. I'm thinking the 19. 5's on the truck would be OK to be capped, but I'll let some other sucker try them out instead.



If you want a tire that wil last longer, go with 19. 5's. I've got 61K on mine and probably about 45-50K left. Stock General crap lasted 35K.

 

[Smokey 01]

I just put recaps on my 03. They balanced well and seem to be doing fine so far. My dad had them on an 92 CTD and he got 30000 out of them without problems.

 

[Okie-Go]

I was the manager of a tire shop for five years. In that time I never pulled a recap off that was wore out. The tread came off or pulled loose. I think a less than premium new tire is better than a recap. There may be good ones out there but I haven't seen one. All the gators in the road on the interstates are retreads that came loose or came off. jmho

 

[Jeremiah]

In response

These are good points. One recommendation out of the group gives me pause to wonder whether it would be a good idea. Cost would be about $80 per tire, I think, which is less than half the cost of a new BF and G. I will check the web site mentioned and see what is available there.



I also like the mention of gators on the highway . Didn't think about them being recaps, but now I realize that OEMs wouldn't come apart like that. Of course, OTR truck drivers beat tires to death on the theory that if one flies apart they have 17 more to keep them going until they can get another one.



I would LOVE 19. 5" Ricksons, which would give me the precise ratio my truck application needs. But $3500 for wheels and tires would be tough to explain to mein frau. I can hear her now. "You spent WHAT? Our neighbor bought a set of tires for $800!" And then she'd go out and spend $3500 on a dress, just to get even. :{

 

[JFaulkner]

UPS uses caps all the time on their small delivery trucks. I'm not sure if it's cost effective to use them on a pickup though. My family owns a small trucking company and we use caps all the time. We get more mileage out of a cap than the original tire, and in most cases you can cap them twice as long as the casing isn't more than 5 years old. Of corse this is only true if you have a tire shop that is reputable, some will recap just about anything and some are a little more picky. Oh yea most of the caps that blow out are the result of lack of proper air pressure. If you see a cap laying on the side of the road and it has wires hanging out of it, it wasn't the cap that failed it was the casing since the caps themselves don't have cords. A new Michelin truck tire is about $300. 00 and a cap is around $100. 00. You do the math.

 

[Jeremiah]

UPS uses caps all the time on their small delivery trucks. I'm not sure if it's cost effective to use them on a pickup though. My family owns a small trucking company and we use caps all the time. We get more mileage out of a cap than the original tire, and in most cases you can cap them twice as long as the casing isn't more than 5 years old. Of corse this is only true if you have a tire shop that is reputable, some will recap just about anything and some are a little more picky. Oh yea most of the caps that blow out are the result of lack of proper air pressure. If you see a cap laying on the side of the road and it has wires hanging out of it, it wasn't the cap that failed it was the casing since the caps themselves don't have cords. A new Michelin truck tire is about $300. 00 and a cap is around $100. 00. You do the math.

I visited the shop in Colorado Springs (they do mostly big trucks) a year ago and they wouldn't recap my tires ... they said the side walls were cracked. These were the BFGs that came on the truck. So I trust 'em to do a good job. Now my second set of BFGs is close to being worn out (I'm getting 30-35,000 out of 'em). As I recall, they cost around $200 apiece new. You're right: Michelins are expensive. Recaps are around eighty bucks. I can do that much math in my head.



I appreciate your response.

 

[bmoeller]

No one could pay me enough to put caps on ANY vehicle, unless it never saw the highway.



The tread does last longer, only because the the new tread is harder than the OEM rubber. Have to make sure the tire pressure is high enough to keep the tires cool and reduce the sidewall flexing. Otherwise you run the risk of tread seperation.



The phrase, "Pay me now, or pay me later. ", comes into play here. If the tire were to come apart, they can do major damage. One of my boss' friends had the insurance company buy him a brand new Wilson hopper bottom grain trailer when he lost a cap. It ripped the whole subframe apart.

 

[Jeremiah]

Rickson wheels

No one could pay me enough to put caps on ANY vehicle, unless it never saw the highway.



The tread does last longer, only because the the new tread is harder than the OEM rubber. Have to make sure the tire pressure is high enough to keep the tires cool and reduce the sidewall flexing. Otherwise you run the risk of tread seperation.



The phrase, "Pay me now, or pay me later. ", comes into play here. If the tire were to come apart, they can do major damage. One of my boss' friends had the insurance company buy him a brand new Wilson hopper bottom grain trailer when he lost a cap. It ripped the whole subframe apart.

I just did a comparison between the cost of new BFGs ($800 plus install and balance - another $100 probably - rounds out to $1000 pretty easily). Rickson wheels and 19. 5 Yokohamas, plus speedo correction and all the other stuff comes to $3500 or so. Gee, that's only 2 1/2 times what I would be paying for another set of BFGs. Now if the Yokos would only last 2 1/2 or three times as long ...



It also makes me wish I'd gotten a 4:10 rear end. The 19. 5s would reduce the ratio from 4:10 to 3. 57, which is precisely where I'd like to be. They would reduce my 3. 73 rear end to 2. 25, which means I couldn't use 6th gear under Interstate speeds. Somebody talk me into this ... PLEASE!

 

[Grizzly]

If you value your life and the lives of your family, don't get recaps. Buy only the best tires you can afford, keep the proper air pressure and don't overload your truck more then the tires are rated for. I have had bad experience with recaps in my younger stupid days. That's why I feel so strong on the subject.

 

[Cattletrkr]

I just did a comparison between the cost of new BFGs ($800 plus install and balance - another $100 probably - rounds out to $1000 pretty easily). Rickson wheels and 19. 5 Yokohamas, plus speedo correction and all the other stuff comes to $3500 or so. Gee, that's only 2 1/2 times what I would be paying for another set of BFGs. Now if the Yokos would only last 2 1/2 or three times as long ...

$3500 - $1000 = $2500. That's what the Rickson's would be costing you since you need tires anyway. Figure the EXTRA cost, not overall cost. My Michelin XDE/MS are lasting 2. 5-3. 0 times as long as my factory Generals. Better snow/ice traction to boot.



As far as the ratio calculator goes... don't go with bigger tires thinking you're going to get better mileage. I went with 245's vs. 225's for that reason. My mileage went down a hair. Too much weight in rims and tires. Next set will be 225's.



Back to the topic at hand. I really don't think recapping a TRUCK tire is all that bad. 17" tires are NOT TRUCK tires. UPS uses a lot of 19. 5's.



Racaps claim many a grain trailer. Thin Aluminum is all that surrounds them under there. If you're lucky you'll only loose an air line or two. Everybody runs 'em though.

 

[WilsonT]

NO RECAPS. They are good on semi-drives,and trailers. But they still come apart quite often. I have 73000 miles on my 2003, and have almost 1/2 tread.

 

[Jeremiah]

WilsonT, if you have 73,000 miles on your tires and have half the tread left, you MUST be running 19. 5s, right?

 

[DBazley]

I just did a comparison between the cost of new BFGs ($800 plus install and balance - another $100 probably - rounds out to $1000 pretty easily). Rickson wheels and 19. 5 Yokohamas, plus speedo correction and all the other stuff comes to $3500 or so. Gee, that's only 2 1/2 times what I would be paying for another set of BFGs. Now if the Yokos would only last 2 1/2 or three times as long ...



It also makes me wish I'd gotten a 4:10 rear end. The 19. 5s would reduce the ratio from 4:10 to 3. 57, which is precisely where I'd like to be. They would reduce my 3. 73 rear end to 2. 25, which means I couldn't use 6th gear under Interstate speeds. Somebody talk me into this ... PLEASE!

OK, Jeremiah, let me try to 'talk you into this' - my experince may help !



I got Ricksons 19. 5 steel wheel / simulators 5 years ago, with Bridgestone M724 LRF's. Very satisfied with them - the whole conversion in general that is (the tires were terrible in terms of M+S traction, though) - way, way safer ride & handling - confident when grossing 20,000 # even though I'm a 2500 SRW ('97 4by).



Anyhow, I left truck to sit a couple years, sidewalls got badly cracked due to high desert dryness here - I didn't like the M 724 wet traction remember, but did get 45 k miles (still 40 % tread remaining), so I went to TCI tire centers in Santee, CA and got some 'Michelin Factory Retreads' in the 245/70 R 19. 5 LRG with the Michelin highway / Mud'n Snow tread design "XDC" - for just $ 125 ea (w/o trade ins- would have been only $ 90 with them).



What helped convince me was the process that modern retreaders like Michelin go through is very thorough, and much improved over prior methods. I'm told UPS uses this exact 19. 5 tire design in Minnesota winters by the boat load.



I've enjoyed the XDC performance, huge improvement over the M724's in wet, snow & mud. They have a nice 'sing' to them at highway speed, but are not a noisy tire. Wearing like iron (typical for 19. 5's) after 12,000 miles I've just scuffed 'em a bit.



BTW, my truck is a SRW and yes, I'm using them at all four corners - steering position is legal and no problem. (the only legal prohibition for steering positions is for passenger carrying buses)



I even had America's Tire sell me lifetime balancing on them (they dont' sell 19. 5's but they'll balance them) and they balance up very nicely.



Just think of the economy and your gear ratio, you can't go wrong. Once you amortize the cost of the rims (and now you can go to Vision Wheel for aluminum 19. 5's a sweeter unit than I have... ) if you use Retreads, you'll be miles, safety and big money ahead of all the Ram truck guys who keep burning up the 'stock 10 plys' every 20 k miles or so !



Hope this helps ! David B. Oo.