Any of you run caps?

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

A lot of talk about tires on the TV section lately.

I bought some Bridgestones for my Dmax several years ago they are wearing just ok in my opinion. I will know more when they get down to the wear bars.

They have a super good casing on them. I mean like commercial quality. I have never really seen a casing like them except on big rigs.

I was kicking around the idea of getting them capped when they are worn out so I started to read about caps. We ran caps on our race car tires about 15 years ago. They were mandated by the track and I have to admit in all the years of running them and abusing them we never lost a cap and I never seen anybody loose cap while running them.

At first thought, I thought it was kind of a crazy idea running caps in this day and age on my TV. Then I started to read about caps and educate myself about them. Wow, I'm really starting to warm up to the idea now.

Any of you ever run caps on your tow vehicle or would you ever do it?

[Jarlaxle]

Fordlover wrote:
Caps on a race track? I'm guessing only a 1/4 mile not road racing.

The Bandag Bandit ran 150MPH at Bonneville on caps, driven by the company CEO...that's 5+ MILES at high speed!

[benalbert]

I've run caps before, and never had problems. The hard part was getting enough casings to pass inspection before capping. Too many stone bruises and other problems. LT tires have a lot less meat to them than semi tires. At this point, I would be leery of using them on the front, and I have 4x4 so I just don't cap anymore.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Fordlover wrote:
Caps on a race track? I'm guessing only a 1/4 mile not road racing.

Actually they do it all. Here are the tires we ran.

They were good stuff. Never seen a tossed cap in many, many years of abuse racing. We would run those tires at very low pressure and they would get so hot you couldn't touch them for even a second.

Some may not agree but I think I would trust a good American cap over a brand new China tire. But that's just me.

[Fordlover]

Caps on a race track? I'm guessing only a 1/4 mile not road racing.

[_DJ_1]

coolbreeze01 wrote:

powderman426 wrote:
I see alligators all the time when travelling, so somebody is losing them. Kinda reminds me of the question in a motorcycle magazine that asked the question : I have a chance to buy a used motorcycle helmet for $10. Is that a good price. Answer: Only if you have a $10 head.

I wouldn't want them.

The majority of alligators you see aren't retreads.

Overall, where tire status could
be determined, original equipment
accounted for 60 percent of the tire
casings tested, and retreads accounted
for 40 percent. Of the tire fragments
analyzed, 21 percent were from original
equipment, and 79 percent were from
retreads.

http://www.umtri.umich.edu/content/rr40_3.pdf

[jerem0621]

I am seriously considering buying a set of Treatrights for my dually.. For $79.00 a tire with Michelin Carcass'. hard to beat.

[wintersun]

A bit of a difference between the cost of race tires that last a single race and TV tires that are good for 50K or more miles. Big difference too between having a blowout with a trailer in tow while going down a mountain grade or while in heavy traffic on a freeway.

With a set of four E rated tires costing $1000 and lasting even 40k miles that works out to less than 3 cents per mile. Not worth taking the chance in my book.

[coolbreeze01]

powderman426 wrote:
I see alligators all the time when travelling, so somebody is losing them. Kinda reminds me of the question in a motorcycle magazine that asked the question : I have a chance to buy a used motorcycle helmet for $10. Is that a good price. Answer: Only if you have a $10 head.

I wouldn't want them.

The majority of alligators you see aren't retreads.

[Son_of_Norway]

I run Treadwrights on my Suburban. They make an excellent product and I would recommend Treadwrights to anyone.

Miles

[45Ricochet]

Engineer9860 wrote:
"Section E" applies to a regrooved tire, not recapped, or retreaded tire. There is a difference.

My bad, but I'm with you in that I sure wouldn't want to be driving a semi with caps on the steer axle :E A very close friend who passed a couple of years ago use to drive for Vons Markets in S Cali. He was telling me about a steer axle blow out fully loaded at 55 MPH in a cab over back then. Scared the cr*p out of him, said he was lucky it was going to Vegas on I 15 cause he was taking out 2-3 lanes of traffic while standing on the steering wheel.
I would think the DOT would limit them to DRW only, but what the heck Snowden is still running around so nothing surprises me now days.

[Jarlaxle]

I do run caps: Treadwrights on all positions on on my F-350, my Cherokee, and Liz's Blazer and Goodyear circle-caps on the drive axle of my Genesis. No complaints at all, I'll never run anything else.

[powderman426]

I see alligators all the time when travelling, so somebody is losing them. Kinda reminds me of the question in a motorcycle magazine that asked the question : I have a chance to buy a used motorcycle helmet for $10. Is that a good price. Answer: Only if you have a $10 head.

I wouldn't want them.

[Engineer9860]

"Section E" applies to a regrooved tire, not recapped, or retreaded tire. There is a difference.

[45Ricochet]

Engineer9860 wrote:

45Ricochet wrote:

sljkansas wrote:
Semi trucks run them on the drive axles and trailers but can't run them on the steer axles if memory serves me right.

X2

Not sure if DOT allows them anywhere on a passenger bus.

Wrong, and wrong.

You can run them on the steers of any thing except a passenger bus. You can even run them on the drives of a passenger bus. Seen many a school bus with caps on the drives.

Admittedly, I have never seen a retread on the steer of an OTR semi, nor would I want to do it myself, but it is legal.

DOT 393.75

Section "E"

[rhagfo]

45Ricochet wrote:

sljkansas wrote:
Semi trucks run them on the drive axles and trailers but can't run them on the steer axles if memory serves me right.

X2

Not sure if DOT allows them anywhere on a passenger bus.

X4
I think drive axle on a dually, but I will continue to buy new for now.