Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 07-18-2020, 08:42 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Troy, Montana
Posts: 32
Year: 1988
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: international s1800
Engine: dt466
Rated Cap: 10 windows
Are re-caps OK?

All of my tires are 10 to 15 years old, so I am shopping for new rubber. The guy at the tire store said he had re-caps for the drivers, and that they are all x-rayed and whatnot and do just fine. Sounds to me like a guy might still end up with 10 year old tires with new tread on. What is the common thinking on re-caps?

obrien creek farm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2020, 09:00 PM   #2
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 242
The schools use recaps (Drive tires only) where i drive, in OHIO. For my school i don't know why, they see them cost half as much and they last half as long. same money per mile.

Most all tire companys will NOT cap a 10 year old casing. in fact in ohio our tires mush be 8 years old or less.

There is nothing inherently wrong with recaps. ask the dealer for the age of the tires. All tires have date codes. THey are easy to read.
Mekanic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2020, 09:16 PM   #3
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 2,264
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: IH
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 14
Recaps are fine for the back. *NEVER* on a steering axle (there may be some obscure exemption for yard trucks or some such).
Brad_SwiftFur is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2020, 09:27 PM   #4
Bus Nut
 
TJones's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Rapid City, SD
Posts: 993
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: CS RE
Engine: ISC 8.3 L 260 hp
Rated Cap: 36
I would stay away from recaps considering the damage they could do to your bus if the tread does come off. Also unless you plan on putting alot of miles on your bus the sidewalls on your tires will get cracked and weather checked long before you wear the tread out. I would start with the freshest rubber you can get and then try to keep them out of the sun.

Ted
TJones is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2020, 10:17 PM   #5
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Palm Coast, Florida
Posts: 10
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas Built
Chassis: IHC 3800, 7-window
Engine: DT 444 E, 215 HP
Rated Cap: 48 pass-29,000 lbs
Federal regulations prohibit recaps on the front or steering axel. They can be used on the rear or driving axel, but they cannot be weather checked more than an inch on any sidewall. The next time you are out on the open road, you will see the recap portion of the tires laying along the roadway. Recaps are good if you can find a reputable tire shop that inspects the used tire being recapped.
harleydoug is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2020, 11:46 PM   #6
Bus Crazy
 
WIbluebird's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 1,259
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: All American
Engine: 8.3 Cummins ISC
Rated Cap: 75
The bus company I drive for uses recaps on the drive axles. I've been driving their buses for 6 years and have never had a blowout occur. Buses don't put anywhere near the same stress on tires that class 8 big rigs do.

Get a high quality recap like Bandag and you'll be fine. NEVER on the steers, but that goes without saying.
WIbluebird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 05:13 PM   #7
Almost There
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Davis ca
Posts: 94
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Bluebird 35 shuttle cng
Engine: John deere
Rated Cap: 36
Recap tires

I use recaps on my heavy trucks because I don't put many miles on them, I am always close to home, I never have critical freight where time is of the essence, if something goes wrong I can limp home or use my Jack and take the dual off right there. When you are running a schoolie rv the risk of something going wrong may ruin your day. A blowout can cause expensive damage to your bus, you could be stuck far away from home and not know who to call. My suggestion depends on your risk tolerance but I think the peace of mind knowing you got new tires that should last 100 k miles and likely more than most of us will ever put on our busses makes it worth the extra expense. I run recaps because my tires get destroyed before they ever wear out so cheap wins out. If you were going to use the bus as a tiny house that doesn't need to move very often then I might suggest retreads for the savings. A lot of retreads aren't even that much cheaper because the retreader wants a good casing to retread again and if yours are 10 years old they have no value to them. Retreads work well for over the road trucks where they put 200,000 miles a year on it so they can retread the same casings several times before they age out.
demoman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 05:30 PM   #8
Bus Geek
 
EastCoastCB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,762
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
Recaps if they're actually priced cheap. If they're the same price as new chinese I'd go chinese.
EastCoastCB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 09:36 PM   #9
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Troy, Montana
Posts: 32
Year: 1988
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: international s1800
Engine: dt466
Rated Cap: 10 windows
Thank you all. Lots of valid points to consider.
obrien creek farm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2020, 10:57 PM   #10
Bus Crazy
 
mmoore6856's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: arkensas
Posts: 1,071
Year: 1997
Coachwork: bluebird
Chassis: chevy
Engine: 3116 catapillar
Rated Cap: 71 now 2 humans 1 cat
Quote:
Originally Posted by harleydoug View Post
Federal regulations prohibit recaps on the front or steering axel. They can be used on the rear or driving axel, but they cannot be weather checked more than an inch on any sidewall. The next time you are out on the open road, you will see the recap portion of the tires laying along the roadway. Recaps are good if you can find a reputable tire shop that inspects the used tire being recapped.
federal regulations only prohibit recaps on steer axles of passenger carrying vehicles registered as buses or limos. they make recaps for steer axles of trucks. a lot of dump trucks will have them. still even tho its legal for trucks i wont run a casing that i dont know if it was cared for such as checking its pressure often
mmoore6856 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-26-2020, 07:57 AM   #11
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Posts: 1,001
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International
Engine: TE 444
Rated Cap: 12
New federal law says they are not allowed to recap tires over 5 years old, and those tire treads on the road come from new tires also, they come apart just like recaps if overheated
Kubla is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-26-2020, 09:14 AM   #12
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Florida
Posts: 41
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Tc2000
Only rear drive. NEVER FRONTS
NavyVet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-26-2020, 09:37 AM   #13
Bus Crazy
 
mmoore6856's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: arkensas
Posts: 1,071
Year: 1997
Coachwork: bluebird
Chassis: chevy
Engine: 3116 catapillar
Rated Cap: 71 now 2 humans 1 cat
dot law 393.75 for commercial trucks and buses states" no bus shall be operated with regrooved , recapped or retreaded tires on the front wheel" i still would avoid anywhere as i have too much damage that i would have to repair under it.. plus all the s*** on the road wont make many friends.
mmoore6856 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-26-2020, 09:38 AM   #14
Bus Crazy
 
mmoore6856's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: arkensas
Posts: 1,071
Year: 1997
Coachwork: bluebird
Chassis: chevy
Engine: 3116 catapillar
Rated Cap: 71 now 2 humans 1 cat
that is commercial law so does a private rv or bus count there ?? i cant find anything on private stuff
mmoore6856 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-26-2020, 11:32 AM   #15
Bus Crazy
 
mmoore6856's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: arkensas
Posts: 1,071
Year: 1997
Coachwork: bluebird
Chassis: chevy
Engine: 3116 catapillar
Rated Cap: 71 now 2 humans 1 cat
this law pertains to commercial use only 393.75 states "no bus shall be operated with regrooved,recapped or retreaded tires on the front wheel" now i dont know why retread and recapped is treated as different in the dot book. also i was in the truck repair business years ago and our shop manager told us to tell truckers to tell them it was illegal to run recaps on the steer as they did not want the liability back then as recap quality was not very good
mmoore6856 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2020, 06:28 PM   #16
Bus Nut
 
Bon Voyage's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 442
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Engine: Cummins ISC 260HP/660Q/MD3060 6spd
Rated Cap: 81
Don’t put Chinese on the steer axle either. They’re all still junk from there and your bus won’t handle as well as a reputable brand like Michelin, bf Goodrich, Goodyear, Yokohama etc... rear axle - who cares - Chinese or retread. I took some junk tires off the front of my old class A motorhome and it made a big difference.
Bon Voyage is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2020, 07:13 PM   #17
Mini-Skoolie
 
rokett's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: nomad
Posts: 12
Year: 97
Coachwork: BlueBird
Chassis: TC2000
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: 22
Wow my first post Hi all you awesome ppl!

On topic: I just put tires on my bus and did tons of research, as well as, asked my diesel mechanic and 2 OTR driver friends....

Heat is the worst enemy of tires.
If you must go recap they are not all equal. Go with Bandag quality.
Never on the steers.
If you lose a cap the bus will likely take some damage. Possibly more than a blowout might. And hits other cars more ccommonly.
Cover your tires when stationary for a while.

Some shops will have good takeoffs from time to time, most often ones that service dealers. But you have to ask.

I spent some hours calling bigger shops in my area for pricing 6 new and, if possible, 4 takeoffs/used tires for my drives.

Recaps were more costly anyhow with the local joint and the bigger shops near-ish me didn't sell them.

I got very lucky and found 4 good used Bridgestone high efficiency drives w/in a 45 min. drive for 175 ea. mounted and machine balanced (local shop uses beads). Plus 2 new steers of course

I personally feel better about 2yr old tires with more tread than I'll wear down before their DOT date expires than I do about recaps that were run down to the minimum before thier new life begins. But that's just my opinon.

With that said each and every recap tire is supposed be checked as opposed to only a ratio with new tires.

Also, my research led me to avoid chinese tires at all cost. However, it's not hard to sway me away from poorly made crap.

We don't push the weight of a semi but with heat being a tires biggest failure factor, a proper reputation of quality was most important to me. Blowouts can be scary and possibly worse.

Good luck 🍀 all the best!
rokett is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2020, 10:51 PM   #18
New Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Indiana
Posts: 3
Year: O4
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Chevrolet
Engine: 6.0 Gas GM
Rated Cap: 26 passenger
I would avoid recaps, and anything Chinese. Heat is a tires worst enemy, but please understand the source of that heat has little to do with the weather. The heat that destroys tires is generated from within. Low air pressure will cause the steel belts and side walls to flex far more than they were designed to. Similar to bending a coat hanger back and forth, over and over. The hanger will become hot, and eventually break. The belts of a tire will do the same, until it, zipper rips or throws the tread.
With the proper air pressure and checked daily, you will probably not have an issue with any tire.
Smokinjsbbq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2020, 06:01 AM   #19
New Member
 
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 5
Hi there
I will add my 2 cents worth to this topic I’m a commercial truck have been for 30 years have driven construction dump trucks logging and over the was an owner operator so here I go this is my opinion I have had very good results with recaps but have always bought first time recaps and also always same brands never mixed up the brands they don’t react the same so keep it either Micheline or BF Goodrich yes maybe little more but you always get what you pay for make sure they are properly inflated keep track of they way they are wearing rotate when need and also like someone mentioned above stick with bandag in all my years I’ve always been able to wear them out and never never put recaps on the steering big no no hopefully this is helpful
Peabus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-03-2020, 05:20 PM   #20
Bus Crazy
 
mmoore6856's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: arkensas
Posts: 1,071
Year: 1997
Coachwork: bluebird
Chassis: chevy
Engine: 3116 catapillar
Rated Cap: 71 now 2 humans 1 cat
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peabus View Post
Hi there
I will add my 2 cents worth to this topic I’m a commercial truck have been for 30 years have driven construction dump trucks logging and over the was an owner operator so here I go this is my opinion I have had very good results with recaps but have always bought first time recaps and also always same brands never mixed up the brands they don’t react the same so keep it either Micheline or BF Goodrich yes maybe little more but you always get what you pay for make sure they are properly inflated keep track of they way they are wearing rotate when need and also like someone mentioned above stick with bandag in all my years I’ve always been able to wear them out and never never put recaps on the steering big no no hopefully this is helpful
yes good advice here even tho the recap quality is really good now im not sure of buying somebody's casing. did they sit long? did they keep the air checked? did it get curbed often? how many nail holes does it have that were patched???? another interesting note here bandag makes a steer axel recap
mmoore6856 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:49 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.