retreads

[Jon]

For the life of me I cannot see how the math works to make caps work unless there is assurance the casings are almost new. Any other scenario and recaps are just a poor investment.

[TomC]

Where recaps make sense is with long distance truck drivers. New tires on the steers and drive axles, then recap the drive axle tires to run on the trailers. On my own motorhome, new tires. Good luck, TomC

[lvmci]

Hi All, I run used tires that are just acouple years old and no less than 50%, that seems to get me thru a few years, for the price of a car tire. From wiens commercial off blue diamond road here in LV. The busses going south in the summer thru the desert heat and north to utah in the winter storms, drop their tires off in LV, my tires always dryout, checker, dryrot before wearing low,

I only use a new tire a 1/4 way down at most, Tom how do the recaps show drying out with two different age rubber compounds melted together like that?  Do you still look for dry checking in the same places? lvmci...

[Van]

Tom (LVMCI), give Ralph's tire pro's a call here in BC very reasonable prices
702-294-8473   even cheaper than ted weins

[TomC]

Interesting that my tire guy said that exterior side wall cracking doesn't mean much. It is the age of the belts that hold the tire together. Good Luck, TomC

[luvrbus]

The Michelin people told me those were Ozone cracks on my year old tires not to worry about unless they were over 2/32 in depth guess what I blew one out coming from Texas still waiting on warranty results from Michelin I have a feeling what they will say since they made me pay for a new tire  lol

[Jon]

Michelin has charts on their web site that show both acceptable and non-acceptable side wall cracking and then they go on to say after 6 years in service tires have to be inspected.

None of the recappers in my area will touch a tire with a 6 year date code regardless of how nice the sidewalls look.

[luvrbus]

LOL you guys that don't believe in recapping when I done the hanger for American Air Lines in Ft Worth they sure used a lot of recaps some had been capped many times they kept tires coming and going to the recap place makes one wonder what he is landing on   

How does one tell the difference in dry rot or Ozone cracks that is what I asked the Michelin all he could say is dry rot comes with age

I think all the tire co's could make a better tire you see tires on equipment 20+ years old with no cracks a operator gets the dozer  blade into one pushing a scraper they cut the section out install another section and you are good to go jmo but I think the tire co's rip us off

[Lin]

Since Michelin is known for early sidewall cracking, it is no surprise that they have come up with this good crack/bad crack thing.  I find it a bit suspicious but will use the same logic when explaining my gray hair to my grandkids.

[TomC]

I have heard that the Japanese tires are more resistant to smog cracking. My tire guy likes Hankook tires. Good luck, TomC

[lvmci]

I agree with you guys,  there is sun damage, hardening of the rubber, weakening and loosening of the belts, plus all the hazards that are faced by all tires, my thinking is if a used tire has just traveled 1/3 to 1/2 of its thread under loads far beyond what I will put on it,  and was taken car e of,  my little ole bus can use a proven tire for a few years. My wife said I was well worn when she got me,  and my belts were expanding, but I seem to have a little more time left after the warentee! Lvmci...

[luvrbus]

We get sold on tires here the military doesn't change tires every 6 years and they don't have the cracking problem or in the mid east least I never saw it there and they have plenty of heat and sun

[Jon]

Our tire compounds continually release agents to prevent cracking as they are used. It is when a tire is not routinely used that it gets damaged.

That is the problem with buses that sit in someone's back yard for months at a time and undoubtedly contributes to shortened tire life.

According to tire manufacturers regular use is the best thing we can do for our tires.

[belfert]

I ended up replacing four tires last year that were seven years old.  I wasn't expecting it, but I got $100 each in casing credits for seven year old casings.  I only really needed one new tire last year, but after no luck finding a decent used tire I ended replacing four tires because they would have needed it in a year or two anyhow.

[luvrbus]

I always used Toyos on my buses never much cracking I always had HWH jacks on every bus when we came in from a trip the bus was in the shop with the jacks down and no weight on the tires it was JMW