Tires for dually pickup?

Btown · Nov 19, 2015

Bird said:
I haven't kept up with the trucking laws in quite a few years, but the last I knew it was illegal to run retreads on the front axle of the 18-wheelers. So it's very likely that a blown front tire on an 18-wheeler was NOT a retread. Yep, tires that are not retreads have actually been known to blow out on both cars and trucks. But yes, I know a trucker could have violated that law, but I haven't personally seen one do that. I once had a right rear tire on a 1956 Mercury blow out when I was doing more than 100 mph. I also had a left front tire blow out doing more than 100 mph on a 1966 Chevrolet police sedan. No power steering on either of those vehicles, neither had retread tires, neither had worn out tread, and neither resulted in any kind of accident or loss of control, so blaming accidents on retread tires without doing a proper investigation is nonsense. But since all retreads are junk (according to Btown), I just don't understand how Bandag has been able to keep selling them to trucking companies for more than 50 years. If an accident occurs as bad as Btown is talking about, the police (state or local) should have had an accident investigation specialist to determine the exact cause. Of course the cause MAY very well have been a blown front tire, and that tire MAY or MAY NOT have been a retread. And of course it's been about 43 years since I graduated from the Northwestern University Traffic Institute's Long Course (9 months), and it's been about 23 years since I worked in a tire dealership, so some of my knowledge is admittedly dated.

I'm sorry to offend you. I have never had a problem with virgin tires on any of my vehicles but a friend of mine with less then 5,000 miles on recaps had a 16.666% failure rate. The tires were not low or high on air pressure. We will wait and see how the other 5 last. Could be another 80,000 miles. Who knows.

Bird · Nov 19, 2015

Btown said:
I'm sorry to offend you. I have never had a problem with virgin tires on any of my vehicles but a friend of mine with less then 5,000 miles on recaps had a 16.666% failure rate. The tires were not low or high on air pressure. We will wait and see how the other 5 last. Could be another 80,000 miles. Who knows.

No problem. I'm not mad at you or anyone else. We ALL have our preferences (or even prejudices) but sometimes need to beware of blanket statements. I don't blame anyone for NOT buying retread tires; shouldn't run something you lack confidence in. I've not owned any retread tires myself now in many years; not because I'd be afraid to use them, but because the last time I checked, they simply were not enough money savings to be practical, especially since the warranty wasn't as good as new tires. And there's one popular tire BRAND that I'd probably NEVER buy because of many experiences in the past with that brand, but I won't say that they don't make a good tire, and I don't blame anyone else who buys them.

foreman Etexas · Nov 19, 2015

I'm running the Cooper HT3 on my dually now.Not much difference in the all-Terrans to the highway few little grooves not much good in the off-road area.

I run the Firestone Tforce ATs last and don't recommend them...

JimRB · Nov 19, 2015

I have the Firestone Transforce ATs on my Dodge 2500. I think they were put on the truck before I bought it. 24,000 easy miles and still a fair quantity of tread. We occasionally get 4 round bales (1,000 pounds each or less) on the equipment trailer and 2 in the bed of the truck. The hay guy is only 5 miles away. Square bales can be 40 miles away. Anyhow I have no other tires to compare to. Sample=1, not lots of value in that small sample set.

I was choking on replacing a tire due to a thorn in a sidewall. $222 new price. The tire store hot vulcanized in a patch for $30. He said they can patch a little problem like that but no gashes on car/light truck tires. The tire store that does vulcanizing patches in big tires. You know the $20-40,000 tires. They patch tires I would call worn out, but at a mine they will get another year or two of use.

BHD · Nov 20, 2015

I have more new or original tires throw treads or blow than my retreads, and just because one throws a tread, usually the tire does not blow, the only tires I have had blow (all over 70% on the front axel, were not retreads)

have had many tires end up with broken cords, do to rock bruising, and either throw the tread or form a bubble on the tread, area,

one thing I like about the retreads for my trucks is the case of the tires are usually of a higher quality than what I would buy new do to affordability, it is hard to shell out $1200 for tires, at least for me, so I get a slightly used high quality tire with new tread,

they work for me in my environment and country roads and off road that tear up tires fairly fast,

Soundguy · Nov 21, 2015

Same here, I've heard no caps on tractor/fronts..

Soundguy · Nov 21, 2015

Bird said:
No problem. I'm not mad at you or anyone else. We ALL have our preferences (or even prejudices) but sometimes need to beware of blanket statements. I don't blame anyone for NOT buying retread tires; shouldn't run something you lack confidence in. I've not owned any retread tires myself now in many years; not because I'd be afraid to use them, but because the last time I checked, they simply were not enough money savings to be practical, especially since the warranty wasn't as good as new tires. And there's one popular tire BRAND that I'd probably NEVER buy because of many experiences in the past with that brand, but I won't say that they don't make a good tire, and I don't blame anyone else who buys them.

We run caps on our trailers, on average we get about the same lifes out of caps as new tires, and we only cap once.

Kind of similar to regrovables, etc.

Todd727 · Nov 21, 2015

Toyo Open Country AT. Excellent tire, I get right at 60K out of the fronts. Great on the road, not to aggressive or noisy. Excellent traction when operating in the fields. The problem on a dually is rotating them requires dismounting the tires from the rims to do it right. I just move them from side to side and replace the fronts at different intervals than the rears.