Truck retreads on the highway

[supton]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
tom slick and Chris142 have it correct....most times the 'gators are from virgin tires that have been damaged in some manner....road hazard, run low on air, curbed, etc. Recaps typically come apart in small sections.


Not an excuse. Truckers know when a tire goes out, and should be on the hook for getting it out of the roadway.


How would they know? Rear of the trailer has (typically) 8 tires; if one goes on the inside...?

Time to mandate TPMS for truckers then? Cars are now required for safety of the occupants; but trucks, which aren't even "private" vehicles could be construed as causing danger to others by these explosive events.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

Not an excuse. Truckers know when a tire goes out, and should be on the hook for getting it out of the roadway.


That simply isn't correct. If one goes on a trailer it's entirely possible that the driver, who may be 70 feet or more ahead of the trailer tires, in a cab dominated by engine noise and designed to reduce that noise as much as possible, with a radio on, may not hear, see or feel a tread separation.

And even if they did know about it, the idea of pulling a semi over to the side of a busy interstate highway, having the driver leave the vehicle and walk back what may be 1/4 mile or more, then dodge traffic trying to pick up pieces of rubber from the highway is utterly absurd.

 

[JHZR2]

What is absurd is that there are $1000+ fines on the books for littering, and you're making excuses for a truck shedding substantially heavy and dangerous pieces of tire on the roadway.

What part of no littering don't you understand?

I see trucks that throw tires stopping all the time on the side of the interstate. Maybe not every single one but it does happen quite often. For something as dangerous as a truck tire tread, which likely weighs nearly 100 pounds to be blown off as unimportant is just plain stupidity. Especially in light of some of the comments that others besides myself have put on here.

No place did I say that the truck driver should walk down the highway to pick it up. Maybe in the boonies where nobody wants to live, people just leave trash on the roadways all day long. But we have a responsive state police as well as a truck that goes around helping motorists, and given the illumination and signage on it, could easily be used to safely move this stuff. And the cost should be on the truck driver, because he's leaving garbage on the roadway, which IS totally unacceptable.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Events like this, while unfortunate, are simply hazards of on-road travel. As has been noted before, re-caps or re-treads aren't really any more likely to separate than tread on a new tire is. The tire is not at fault, but there is likely blame somewhere...poor maintenance practices, overloading, etc.

It's also very unlikely that a driver would know of a tread separation event. I have two somewhat related anecdotes. My folks are full-time RVers, and they started their full-timing life with a Ford F-550 with a Carriage Royals 38' 5th wheel. It had three "axles" (although they weren't true axles; each wheel was connected to a rubber torsion spring). They had a problem with one of the right side tires; it completely deflated and they were going down the interstate at 65 mph with this deflated tire whipping around. An alart motorist motioned for them to pull over and they quickly saw the problem. He could have completely lost the tire and would have never known.

They also had a problem on the truck. The right rear brake caliper had a problem, without them knowing it. Over a period of many miles, it wore through the pad material completely and the backing plate of the pads was acting directly on the rotor. The rotor wore down to just before the venting fins would have been exposed, which likely would have shattered something. The only clue that this was happening was black dust on the rear fender...it looked like rail dust. There was no indication of a problem in the truck, even though the rotor was almost all the way eaten through.

Those who say that the driver wouldn't likely know of a tread separation, even if it was with one of the drive tires on the tractor, are correct. There's simply too much noise in the truck cabin, and the ride is rough enough so that a change like that wouldn't be felt. This is simply the nature of the beast, unfortunate as it is.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I see trucks that throw tires stopping all the time on the side of the interstate. Maybe not every single one but it does happen quite often.


Well there ya go. It seems to me that what you are observing is some fraction of truck drivers are aware that they lose a tire, and stop. Some fraction of truck drivers aren't aware that they lose a tire, and they don't stop. Given how difficult it is to feel that sort of thing, I'd say that the percentage of drivers who realize it (and thusly, who stop) is much lower than half.

 

[Fleetmon]

I didn't say it was an excuse and if a trucker realizes one of his tires has come apart, he should immediately notify the police about an obstacle on the roadway. Most truckers will also pull off when safe to do so for a flat or shredded tire as soon as possible to avoid a tire fire or more shredding. It's not like they're running of flats/shreds on purpose!

I've been the victim of a 'gator attack myself on our 528i and it ran about $2500 to repair the damages.

In truckers defense however, there are times when they don't realize a tire has come apart until they check their rig at a rest/fuel stop.....how/where would they begin to track it down? If it's an inner tire on the right side of a trailer and they're traveling on an interstate, it would be very difficult, if not impossible to tell. I would venture a guess that 99% of the truckers out there are much more aware of their tires and condition than automobile drivers any day of the week. It would be a VERY rare automobile driver that would motion to the trucker that there's an issue.

 

[zzyzzx]

I would assume that it's a tire made in China and not a retread.

I had one go out on a truck right in front of me and it flew over my car, doing no damage to my car. The truck then proceeded to go off the highway and into the grass and flip over. It was not an 18 wheeler, just a regular work truck.

 

[apwillard1986]

There are many determining factors but much of it boils down to who owns the rig and how coconscious they are about maintenance and costs.

My cousin owns his own rig and prides himself on running safe tires and replacing them when they the wear to a certain point. It is his livelihood and he takes pride in it. Many drivers are assigned a rig to drive by the company for which they work and don’t have a say in when or how the tires are replaced.

You notice a lot of it on the road here and I have witnessed several separations myself. Perhaps more frequent inspections and a more stringent policy regarding what is or is not acceptable is required.

We had a transport driver arrive at the dealership to pickup a load of cars. His trailer had a passenger car tire on it that was nearly bald. For many, sharing the road safely is secondary to earning a buck…

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
I once saw an entire retread hit a Toyota in the windshield and had there been a passenger, they would have been severely (if not critically) injured.


I saw a Mythbusters episode about this recently. They shot a road gator at a dummy and pretty much decapitated it.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Twice in 2013 now I've run over a truck retread in the road. Both times the belly pan of the car has been cracked.

In my 16 or so years of driving, over 300k miles, other than a dog that ran out in front of me (very sad), I've not run over anything or hit anything (fortunately, knock on wood). Super clean driving record, no tickets, no accidents (though I was rear ended on an interstate when I was stopped in traffic). I'm a very careful driver, don't out drive my lights/visibility. Very safe.

And twice now, actually twice in three months, two different states (GA and NJ), truck retreads have been flung in such a situation and scenario that I had to go over them. Not good.

I also see a lot more of them on the road, and a lot more of them in traffic.

A trucker knows when he throws a tread, and should be held responsible and liable for it. Unacceptable.


No, a trucker usually does NOT know if he loses a tire! If it's a tractor drive tire, it's maybe 50/50 he'll hear or feel it go. If it's a trailer tire, unless he happens to be looking in the correct mirror when it comes apart, he will not know until he stops and checks his tires. I lost a tire on a bus I was driving...heard nothing, felt nothing.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
tom slick and Chris142 have it correct....most times the 'gators are from virgin tires that have been damaged in some manner....road hazard, run low on air, curbed, etc. Recaps typically come apart in small sections.


Not an excuse. Truckers know when a tire goes out, and should be on the hook for getting it out of the roadway.


How would they know? Rear of the trailer has (typically) 8 tires; if one goes on the inside...?

Time to mandate TPMS for truckers then? Cars are now required for safety of the occupants; but trucks, which aren't even "private" vehicles could be construed as causing danger to others by these explosive events.


TPMS IS required on new trailers and I think tractors. The problem being: I have seen tires peel tread, but not lose air! (It happened on my car trailer...the tread came off completely, but it still held 65psi.)

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
tom slick and Chris142 have it correct....most times the 'gators are from virgin tires that have been damaged in some manner....road hazard, run low on air, curbed, etc. Recaps typically come apart in small sections.


Not an excuse. Truckers know when a tire goes out, and should be on the hook for getting it out of the roadway.


While I do not drive the big-rigs for a living, I have a CDL license and you don't always know when they peel off. Quite often it happens very fast and if there is a sharp lip on the trailer, it can cut the tread away from the rest of the tire before the driver knows what happens.
However, most of the time the driver knows that it happened and won't pick it up because he's a half-mile down the road before he can safely stop or exit.

 

[whip]

Tire debris is just one of the many hazards of being on the road. I'm more concerned by people that drive 2 ton missiles at 60+mph and rarely pay attention to the actual driving. That really scares me!

 

[Errtt]

Had a decent size chunk fly off a rig and almost tagged my right right leg while I was on a motorcycle. That could have ruined my day.

 

[JetStar]

Good reason to stay away from semis, especially on hot days. I really stay away if I hear a thumping tire.
I was told that semis do not run retreads on steer axles, is that true? If so why?

 

[GMFan]

The notion they are strictly retreads is false. Virgin tires lose tread too. Usually tires shred when they go flat. When truckers are hauling at 70mph with the hammer down on a 500hp Detroit diesel I highly doubt they can hear or notice a trailer tire flat 53+ feet back. Additionally, retreads are pretty darn reliable. Even school buses and city buses use them. If you want to force long haul trucking companies to use virgin tires expect higher shipping costs.

 

[GMFan]

#1 causes IMHO = overloaded trailers, lazy drivers who don't do pre-inspection each day and check tire pressure (how many car drivers check there tires often?...commercial drivers may be just as lazy), tire picks up nail and loses air over a few days. Truck tires have strong sidewalls and can look fully inflated yet be grossly under-inflated. Team drivers in rigs mean the truck moves 22hours a day...lots of heat, load and under-inflated tires = blowout or excessive heat from under inflation. Some reputable trucking companies have tire pressure inflation systems hooked up to all tires...the tires stay inflated at proper pressure at all times. If tire has fast leak the system will keep the tire properly inflated.

Bandag Retread Videos

 

[Chris142]

I have lost tires( they were properly inflated when I left the yard 3-4 hrs earlier) and didn't know it until a guy told me over the cb. You wont hear or feel it if its a trailer tire.

Pretty unnerving when you stop at a rest area and find 2 sidewalls. And no tread.

 

[andyd]

Yah , I see the 'gators. I also see way more mini gators from car tires.

 

[Fleetmon]

49 CFR 393.75 states buses may not use regrooved, recapped or retreaded tires on the front wheels and further states regrooved tires with a load-capacity greater than 4,920 lbs may not be used on the front wheels of any truck/truck tractor.