When I was a teenager and young adult we had a place in town that recapped tires and I remember my dad driving his 56 sedan delivery to the tire shop and having recaps installed on the truck, I also remember looking at the tire molds they used for making the recaps. When I was building my model A pickup in returned to that recapping shop and purchased 2 large profile tires for the rear and 2 smaller profile for the front, as I recall they we both Michelin radial tires. I drove the truck many miles and they were still on the truck when I sold it, I was talking with my pal Rene' and he told me their semi-trucks still used recaps to this day. Anyone ever use recap tires? HRP
Recaps or retreads are still used on transport trucks Up here retreads where banned on passenger cars in the late 70’s early 80’s
Funny you should ask. In 1968 5 of us GI's and the drivers wife took off from Virginia to SoCal after finishing our advanced training. The trip only took 2 1/2 days but that included a blown engine then finding another car (50 Buick). Just outside of Shamrock, Texas we had a flat. Flagged down a semi and a few miles back was a garage. Came back with a $10 recap. Put it on got maybe 100 yards and the recap tread flew off. Another semi and this time we all chipped in for a new tire.......no more flats! Haven't had a recap since!
Used them in the early 60's It was all I could afford. Had a few come apart-one on the front at very high speed almost causing me to lose it, and never bought any more.
I believe the Inglewood slicks I had on several of my cars back in the ‘60s were recaps. No problem. My Dad told me that many commercial airliners used recapped tires back then, idk. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You bet, it was yet one more example of how recycling was common place Long before this so called new Green movement. I grew up in a recycle life style and didn't know it, we just didn't call it that. When was the last time you had a good pair of Boots that were on there 3rd set of resoles? Hell us Old School Hot Rod guys are the Crown Jewel of recycling.
Very common on big trucks to use recap tires. But they are illegal to use as steer tires. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Growing up in Kannapolis NC everyone went to TOWEL CITY TIRES for retreads or tires. Their retread quality was very good and they stood behind them if there was a problem. Today they still make retreads and ship them by the truck loads all over the country especially race tires. Yep I used them and still do on my old s-10 pickup with no problems...…..
Have ran both Towel City ( Kannapolis Kaps) and Diamondback recaps on dirt racing tires. Your buddy Ken, with the blue Deuce sedan, runs diamondback caps, or at least he was the last time I talked to him. One of the big selling points of Michelin, when I worked at the truck tire plant, was that their carcasses would stand up to capping better than some of their competitors. That was 25 years ago , so that may not be true today. I remember the recap store in Wellford very well from when I was a kid. They would let you stand right next to the machine back then, I was fascinated. Somebody would have a stroke if they let a kid do that now. Its still a tire store, but its been years since they sold caps.
Now, that's just a really silly statement. First of all, all tires have to meet or exceed federal government standards. Secondly, while most major tire manufacturers have plants in the US, that doesn't mean the tire you buy was necessarily made here (there are codes on the sidewall if you are really isolationist). Goodyear's an American company, but they make tires in 21 countries. They make Kelly Springfield, too, which are made in the USA Cooper's are mostly US made, but they have 60 plants worldwide,so are you sure? They own Mickey Thompson. Michelin is French, own UniRoyal and Goodrich but have 68 plants worldwide. Pirelli's Italian and own Armstrong. 19 plants worldwide Continental is German. They also own General. Bridgestone is Japanese and owns Firestone Yokohama is Japanese For one brand,there is really no difference between their foreign and domestic production. Same materials,manufacturing technology and equipment, plus the government standards. (Modern Tire Dealer: https://www.moderntiredealer.com/article/312335/made-in-america). This is the 21st century and a global economy. Welcome to the world
I ran mail order recaps in the 70s. Never had a problem. I can afford new tires now, and probably need them.
My dad had a ‘67 Plymouth GTX with a big block in college, but he bought a 6cyl Galaxy as a winter beater. The local garage sold recap snow tires for $5 or $10, with a warranty that they would give your your money back if the recap failed before spring. He bought a set for the galaxy. In the spring just before the warranty was up he swapped the tires on to the Plymouth and let them go up in smoke. Two good burnouts and the caps peeled right off. He then put the recap carcasses back on the galaxy and returned to the tire store to claim the refund. The manager accused him of driving too hard and abusing the tires laying rubber and such. Dad pointed out that the brown moredoor 6cyl galaxy couldn’t get out of its own way never mind lay rubber. The tire shop reluctantly agreed and gave him his $40 back. Or so the story goes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Interesting the brands you used as examples, 5 window. No need to turn political here, but since I sell stuff from all over the world, I can promise that shit products get past "federal government standards". You left out the brands I'd call "Lung One Dow Chou Chee" that are poor quality at best, and dangerous at worst. We all have examples, like my son blowing the shit out of a 3 week old tire from a "reputable" dealer on his OT Mazda, doing lots of damage to the rear plastic pieces, bumper cover, etc. Correct pressure, and at most, a 60 mph road. Federal government standards indeed.
recaps were the go to tire with a low budget - but, one time my pregnant wife was driving what was her Grandfather's '65 Tempest that I had put recaps on - - while driving at freeway speed one front tire came apart - was able to get to side of road - happened in the middle of nowhere - no cell phones then - stood by the car for about an hour before a guy stopped and took her to a place that had a phone to call me to get there and change tire - never bought recaps after that - used to buy recap cheaters slicks, and think that there still is a business that does that now.
Me to. Plus DC-8 6 and 7. Also 720 and 737 aircraft along with Convair 240 and Caravels. Caps can be good. Depends on the carcass and attention to doing it right. Used to be a big Tompson aircraft retreading plant just west of SFO. And lots of Bruce's recap slicks came from just across the bay. All the drag cars ran them then. I have always heard that the caps came off because of low pressure causing flex and heat.
The Yokohamas on the wifemobile, and on my Falcon, were all made in the US, in the Salem Virginia plant.
After. The war, my Dad started racing roadsters dirt then asphalt. He convinced the local recap shop to make him a set of 4 slicks. He was hard to beat before, the slicks put him in a class by himself.
It's my understanding that radials can't be recapped. They flex more that bias ply tires, and the cap comes loose.
Yep, the first guy with slicks is hard to catch. The first two years I raced 1/4 midgets, we ran on only dirt tracks. In '57 the Hacienda Hotel, in Vegas, put in a 1/4 midget track beside the hotel. It was the first paved oval west of the Mississippi. Billy Wilkerson, multi time CRA sprint car champ owned A-1 Tire in El Monte. A-1 had recap equipment as well as selling new tires. Dad talked Billy into capping 4 slicks for my car. I had to learn to drive the car without throwing it sideways in the turns. Once I did, the little car flew! The harder the other kids pitched their cars into the corners, the slower their lap times. That was a good weekend. Fast time, won 4 lap trophy dash, won 6 lap heat race, and lapped 3rd place winning the 20 lap main event. Needless to say Billy was buried with orders for slicks the next week.
It’s relatively common to see 10 foot long black alligators on the interstates in the Midwest. In fact I had one take out the original grille and slap the door and quarter panel on my 5 window when it was kicked up by the car in front of me in OKC rush hour traffic. Anybody that runs recaps needs to understand that they can be fine running under inflated at lower speeds. Granted they are no longer common except on large trucks but proper inflation is critical.
That's not so. I worked for a major East Coast recapper in the late 70's and they were one of the first to start capping radials. It took special molds to do so, bias molds would not work properly. At the time we would only cap Michelin casings as they were the only ones that we found would consistently hold up. They did a very good job for us.
Seems I vividly remember the Firestone tire fiasco which supposedly met all the standards yet caused numerous deaths and injury's, I understand Johns thoughts on the subject, my daughter ended up in a ditch due to a Firestone tire coming apart, thankfully only the car was damaged. HRP
You are correct regarding the use of recaps on all types of airliners. I flew the DC8, DC10, and the Boeing airliners, including the 747, and the company I worked for used recaps on all of them. The cores would be inspected after they reached their maximum wear point, and a good core could be recapped multiple times. As pilots, our only concern was when we had to do a lot of taxiing on new tires because of heat build up in the tire. I only know of one cap separation, and that could have been caused by heat. In automotive use, there were two types of recaps, a full cap, where the new rubber was re-bonded half way down the side of the tire, and the top cap, which just replaced the rubber on the old wear surface and was less expensive. Because of the reduced bonding surface, the top cap type of recap were the cause of most separations. This was a particular problem when the tire was run under inflated, particularly when the the tire surface had little wear. The reason for this, was that heat would build up in the tire, and the inability of thicker rubber surface to shed the heat caused more stress and ultimate failure. One of my friend's dad owned a recapping outfit, so I got to see the whole operation. There was a lot more prep work done on the full recap. The only recaps I ever used, were a pair of 900 x15. I abused the hell out of them and they never failed me. Back in 1964, I was driving a long straight stretch with the top down, on the 4 lane between Fresno and Bakersfield, and even though I was speeding, a tandem axle semi tractor pulled up beside to pass me. He reach the point where his rear wheels were beside me, when suddenly I heard an unbelievably loud cannon shot, and thought I had been shot or something. Then, as I was attempting to figure out what happened, I looked up to see the recap flying up and ahead of me. The truck beside me was destabilized to the point that I thought he was going to take me out. I floored the poor old car in the hope I would get ahead of the big chunk of flying rubber. It was a scary event. Bob
yes I run them. No better or worse that any other type of tire. Like every thing else some give good service and some fail big time. My 301 JD tractor the front tires are White letter Remington Wide Brute Recapped as a three rib front tractor tire.
Mold retreads require that the raw casing, and the built smooth raw tire be a specific OD to fit the mold. There was some leeway with bias tires, but none with radials as the casing is resistant to growth in the mold. If the casing shifts in the mold, the tire is cured out of round. Slow moving industrial tires are one thing, but at highway speeds results are way more critical. Radial passenger tires COULD be mold retreaded IF the retreader wanted to invest in the expensive, segmented mold required, but the return isn't there. $20-30K for one mold. for one size. one OD. Truck tires are retreaded by an entirely different process, called precured, and modern radial casings can be retreaded more than once, providing the parameters are met. Casing size is irrelevant. Unfortunately, all precured tread rubber is too heavy for passenger use. I've retreaded everything from light truck to earthmover, except aircraft, which requires a WHOLE different, highly regulated part of the industry. When I was working, only Michelin and Goodyear did aircraft retreading.
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