I called a friend who is a major recapper in this area and he says retreads are not illegal nor have they been banned and technology continues to improve to the point they as reliable as a new tire, you just hear less about retread tires because of the influx of cheap import tires. HRP
Our local recapper was a Mohawk place on North West South River Dr. Miami Fla. in the 60s could get a fresh recap for about $20 ,and even less if your old tire was good as a trade in. Drag slicks like Towel City were mostly recaps too back then
I used recap tires in the mid '50s thru the '60s. I never had a problem with any of them. The winter recaps with sawdust in them worked great. The more you drove the more sawdust came to surface. You could go any where on icy streets!
In. the 50's and 60's every town around here had a recap shop OK rubber welders now OK tire that has morphed though a couple of more names was a big franchise recap and new tire chain. I ran a lot of recaps when I was young because I didn't have the money for more expensive tires but usually ran used tires that I bought from my neighbor at his wrecking yard. I even broke down a batch of tires for him on his old manual tire changer one time when he let me work to pay for the tires because I didn't have enough money. I think it went "If you break down that stack of tires and mount those four on those rims I'll give you those two tires and let you use the machine to change them. Sweat equity but he was the same guy who sold me a battery fo 5 bucks when I needed one too. When I worked for Firestone in Waco in the early 70's we sold a lot of caps but usually sold them to people who didn't go out of town much. They were there more for bringing in customers to sell new tires to. We had sales that you could get 4 DLC white wall bias tires for 100 plus mount and balance then. If you run into an old timer who calls tires "casings" you know he had his tires recapped when he was younger. Then it was real common to drop your car or truck off at the tire store in the morning and pick it up with your casings having been recapped that day and put back on the car.
Well, we all know what "government standards" mean these days. I probably should have left that part out. Reputable name brand tires will be built to a quality level-and may be from domestic or foreign production. There will always be cheaply made, barely acceptable or safe options you can buy. Like some tools, you get what you paid for. Still, on the cosmic scale, like USPS crushing YOUR package even though they safely shipped 2 billion others, things can occasionally go awry. But, if you bought cheap tires, don't expect quality results-or safety.
All my tires were recaps up until I got out of service and bought my first new tires....Firestone Wide Ovaries as we called them. I don't think recaps are legal here because I haven't seen any in years except for the remnants left on the highways by tractor trailer tires.
You made me curious enough to go out to the garage and check my tires. Obviously recaps since they are wide Whitehall cheater slicks. The back side says Goodyear Eagle. With the Whitehall added, that would make them double recap? Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
“Are retreads still legal?” Fact is, retreaded tires never went away and have never been illegal. While the market was being flooded with cheap imports, retread/ remolding technology continued to grow and develop. Modern retreads are just as safe and long-lasting as new tires and a single retread uses up to 70% less oil than a brand new tire.
Maybe they will make a comeback based on this fact alone. With the new technology and oil savings, surely makes them worth considering once again.
When I was a youngster back in the 70s, everybody I knew bought recaps for snow tires. NOBODY bought new snow tires. Local school district specs new buses with 6 steer tires, then replaces the drives with m/s recaps and uses the new steers on buses that need them
Treadwright, formerly High Tech Retread, has a very good business selling light truck retreads. I have run several sets, and only had one issue, which they addressed quite respectfully.
Maybe I missed it but what did WE learn? I never had money to burn but I never had to buy retread tires, there must have been something else I had to give up by buying new tires. And I've bought a bunch of them!
I remember my dad always buying recaps with mostly good results. I used to buy recap snow tires when I had rwd cars. Once dad bought his “new truck” in 1974 he made the leap to new titles on replacement.
Seen a few like that in 35 years! Retreaders are required by theDOT to imprint a label with their ID code (R***) and the Julian date (WKYR i.e, 3519). Not saying it's on that old dog, but if it is, it should be branded or molded in the sidewall close to the new tire mfg DOT number. That old, the date would be three digits. On mold caps it's usually made with a metal label, embossed in reverse, and screwed to the mold.
I have some rough tread recaps on the rear of my 66 ford F600 that I bought those tires used from my wifes daddy before we where married. and we been married 46 years. They are still holding air. Back in the day the non paved roads where very rough. Most guys bought 16 inch 8 ply tires. They ran a highway tread on the front. and when it got slick they had it recapped as a rough tread mud and snow tire for the rear. and the former recaps from the rear made their way on the front of farm tractors or trailers and wagons etc. Ive heard of guys having a good casing recapped several times.Im sorta in the market for a set of recap racing slicks at the moment. My 301 JD tractor has a set of Remington Wide Brute tires recapped as a three rib tractor tire on the front .
I started as a apprentice recapping semi truck tires when I was 22 years old. I did this for 15 years. Semi truck tires are designed to be retreaded a couple of times. We are talking 1/2 a million miles on the quality casings. Car and pickup tires really are not made to withstand the extended miles a retread will give them. Yeah we did this back in the day ... we also rode in the back of a pickup. Not saying it was wise, we just did not know better. I did retread a set of 31 10.50 x 15 Michelin tires for a ot 4x4. The tread would have lasted 80K miles + on a heavy semi truck. On a little Toyota 4X4, I used them for over 5 years and the tread did not wear at all. The casings would fail before the tread wore out. Back when we did retread car tires, the technology was much less refined then today. We probably got 10k or 15k out of a set of new tires. So retreading them and getting another 10k miles ... whatever. Today a cheap set of tires will go 40k miles, not worth retreading and taking a chance ... and not legal on a steer axle.
Recapped tires are not permitted on the steer axle of a bus but they are permitted on trucks per Federal Regulations 393.75 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&ty=HTML&h=L&mc=true&=PART&n=pt49.5.393#se49.5.393_175
^^^^^ Correct. Not allowed on passenger or haz-mat carriers. OK on anything else, just not accepted by the industry for line haul. I've retreaded many super singles for steer application on dump trucks. Slow moving is the secret.
About 30 years ago, I used to run a cab part-time, and was in aircraft maintenance full time. The cab always got retreads, until the tyre stores started slashing the casings so they could not be re-used, and you had to buy their new (shitty Chinese) tyres. The last time I was in the tyre store, and I asked for a pair of retreads, the fella said "We don't sell them anymore, they're dangerous", and the woman customer said "I would never get in a taxi if I knew it had retreads!' So I said to both of them "Well, don't ever catch a taxi in this town, or fly in a commercial airliner again, cause you'll be riding most times on recaps or retreads.'" , and I left them thinking.
Hurst racing recaps for us in the early 80s... Had a local dealer sold em outa the back of his box van. L 60 15s as I remember . Super soft tread, noisy ass burn outs, Better than street tires at the time but nowhere near as good as a slick.
I run recapped radials on the rear axles of my semi. Have done so for the last 20+ years. Seldom lose one unless it gets a sidewall puncture. About half the price of a new tire, even less than that if you get two cappings out of a casing. I use only virgin casings and cap them once, then turn them in for casing credit, $25-$50, depending on tire brand. Last recaps I ran on a car was a 67 VW Bug I bought that had them on the back. They lasted a while before they started peeling off. Haven't seen any for sale in years around here, last local guy that capped them went out of business in the early 80's. I remember my old man had two of the tires off his car capped for his pickup, they stayed on that truck for probably 15 years or longer. That was in the late 70's-early 80's.
Regrooving cuts in to the undertread, the layer at the bottom of the groove, and renders the casing useless, may expose the steel belt package, and increases the chance of a stone drill cutting through to the top belt. A premium brand, retreadable casing is worth more than the additional potential mileage. Most steers are pulled at 8/32; the ability to pass water through and give lateral wet traction is gone. If a tire can give 500K miles total life, it proves the cost savings using a retread program. I've seen tires that were actually on their 4th retread! But the steer position is the last place you would want tire trouble! New only.
Oh how I ran retreaded tires. Yup I couldn't afford anything else. Now they don't sell them. Too bad. I never had one fly apart or peal. But they didn't last as long as new tires. Heat used to be the killer on bias plied retreads. Highway driving used them up a lot quicker.
Marsh Racing Tires..Recapped virtually anything..Ran a pair of "rain tire" series on rear of my shoebox..Circle track tires but they did well, about 30 years and 40k + miles..Still have about 20k miles left, guess I didn't run hard enough..
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