Would you buy/use recap snow tires?

[SSSVX]

As the title asks, yes or no?

Just want to see ur opinions if you have any.

I have pretty bad experiences with my falken 912s on snow in this winter so I'm thinking of getting snow tires. Would you get recap snow tires? I am not going to do lot of highway drivings, maybe few thousands miles later or end of April, I will put back falken tires on this car. I ain't sure if I am gonna get rid of this car in the summer too so I wasn't planning to get snow tires, either.

[immortal_suby]

Most companies brand new tires are checked only on sampling for blister defects. Recaps are normally checked 100% for blister defects.
Although you are getting a used carcass which will have some wear and tear, you are getting a brand new tread package and you can have a good peace of mind that it was checked for defects.

I still personally wouldn't put them on an svx. Maybe on a truck.

[SVXRide]

If it helps, the majority of tires running on 18 wheelers are recaps/regrooveable tires (i.e., I'm with Matt on this topic....don't think I'd put recaps on a car). Where have you found recapped snow tires for automobiles?
-Bill

[subeman90]

recaps used to be illegal (and may or may not be still) to run on the steering axle of any vehicle. Freight trucks do run them on the rear but the fronts are always (as they call them virgin rubber) new.

I know a guy that had recaps on a Chevelle once and one blew and the result was a badly messed up rear quarter panel.

[ensteele]

I would not us recaps myself. I would not recomend them either.

[Crazy_pilot]

Firestone Winterforce are very good, cheap snow tires. Just buy those and give yourself the peace of mind of not having to worry about the quality of your tires.

[Nevin]

I change tires for a living, so please may I offer some of what I have witnessed?

People come to us quite often asking us if we'll mount recap tires for them on their automobiles. (usually farm trucks) We have no problem doing this, but there are a few things to be expected.

1. Recaps will generally get you no kind of warranty/road hazard protection or anything of the sort.

2. The are TERRIBLE to balance and oftentimes call for more weight than can physically be put on one spot, so the ride is often very rough, which can also lead to premature tire wear.

3. They will not last as long as the original tire because of how they are put together.


Also, I have mounted literally hundreds of recap semi tires, and here's what I think of them: I would NEVER put a recap tire on anything I own. They are MUCH more prone to failure (as their lifespan has already been extended) and seem to cause nothing but headaches for people who put them on semis.

Generally a recap semi tires is around $100 per tire cheaper than a new tire, so yes the price is quite attractive. However, usually once people run them once, they never want to run them again. There ARE some that use them alot and will continue to do so though. These are the people that maintain their stuff very carefully. They are always checking to see the condition of the tires, and it one is in bad shape, they replace it. None of this "it should be ok" kinda thing. And I think Bill said something about a good majority of 18 wheelers use recaps? Well, for us that's not true. Probably like 10% of semi tires I put on are recaps. That's a high guess too. We put on 25 or so semi tires this week and none of them were caps, they were all new. From what I've seen, new tires last MUCH longer in highway conditions.

So, would I run them? No, I would not UNLESS it was some old beater pickup that I used to haul wood or something like that. I would never mount them on a vehicle that is daily driven or regularly sees highway miles. From what I've seen it is too much of a gamble.

The price is VERY attractive on them, but as I always tell people... "You get what you pay for." The choice is ultimately up to you.

For what it's worth I too would recommend the firestone winterforce. I have had them on one car, currently have them on my daily car, and just yesterday ordered a set for my SVX. I can not say enough good things about them. Some others have not had as good of luck with them as I have, but for MY money their is no better bargain for a snow tire.

[SVXRide]

Note to Earl:

Must add a "bowing in the direction of Iowa" smilie to the current collection...

(nice post, Nevin!!)

-Bill

[Nevin]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Note to Earl:

Must add a "bowing in the direction of Iowa" smilie to the current collection...

(nice post, Nevin!!)

-Bill

Haha, thanks bill.

It's still up to him though. I just threw in my experience is all.

And I suppose for lots of "over the road" freight companies that recaps are more common. Most of our customers are private owner/operators who prefer having new tires on, since they are the one who will be driving their truck.

[Blacky]

Recaps are illegal for cars here. I would never trust them.

[dennyo]

i once put on a recap when i was an impoverished teenager. when i hit a pothole(not uncommon in buffalo) the front end would shake until i stopped the car.it was like dribbling a basketball i would have to hold the steering wheel in a death grip. that one fooled me for months.no, i won't buy another.

[SVX_MY_BABY]

I'd buy a used tire from a scrap yard before I'd buy a retread.

[SSSVX]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Where have you found recapped snow tires for automobiles?
-Bill

There's a small town in PA about 10mins driving to north from my area. There's one tire shop specializes in selling recap snow tires.

I called them to ask for a quote. For my tire size, one recap snow tire is ONLY $31.50 cash-and-carry. It's cheap lol. I have to take it somewhere to mount-and-balance.

The recap idea is a friend of mine told me. He bought the recap snow tires from there and they've been on his Impreza for three winters. They're decent and he has no problems with them so far.

I also found a tire store local. The boss sells new and recap snow tires. For my size, he gave me a quote $45 including mount-and-balance plus tax. He said they're reliable to use if you don't always do lot of very long distance highway driving.

Bill, if you're interested, I can give you the numbers.

[SSSVX]

Originally Posted by Nevin

The price is VERY attractive on them, but as I always tell people... "You get what you pay for." The choice is ultimately up to you.

Thanks for everyone's inputs and recommendations. You can't believe that I called 2 super center Wal-marts, sam-club, the Sears, and few big local tire stores. They're all sold out snow tires on my size and not getting any stocks now. For the tire stores, you can order but it will take a couple days.
I'm desperate for snow tires and don't want to wait too long or order online...(getting warmer these few days lol) so I bought my tires from a local tire store near my apartment. He sells New and recap snow tires.

I just went with two brand new generic brand snow tires(not recapped) after everyone's inputs. $75 each with mount-and-balance plus tax. The recap is about 40% cheaper than the new one. As far as I read and some research, the recap might get 80% of the life tread compare to new if you really take care. So I only pay like $15 to $20 more per tire....with all the benefits on new tires everyone said. This is for my daily-drive, sometimes I will drive a little bit long distance on highway...for more safety, without any worries...new ones is the way to go.

Man, the Snow tires do make a really huge difference on my lightweight FWD. I have 60miles on this snow tire now. I take some pics on going up few snowy steep hills(I know I can never make it to the top with my previous tires) and some pics on going thru the deep snow(like 4"+) on some isolated mobile home area without any problems. I AM very, very happy with the snow tires performance. I have taken quite some pics and I will show you guys how much a FWD car can do with two decent snow tires. I'm VERY happy and impressed!!! Wait on my pics when I uploading...

But, in the future, I might give recap tires a try on my old car. After doing some readings and research, I think recap tires are getting better and better than before, long time ago. With the newer technology, they're really better and more reliable. Check out the video, if the recap can pass and withstand that kinda test, I think they should be decent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdO1suXxfJk

[Crazy_pilot]

Good stuff. Just remember that with two snows on the front only your grip is very front biased. Especially when you've got a near empty gas tank, the back end of the car will be very light and have poor traction, which will make it want to swing out in corners all the time. Take the car to an empty snow covered parking lot and drive in large circles, gradually accelerating. You'll see what I mean.