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Ran over a large truck tire fragment, what damage to look for?

40996 Views 48 Replies 19 Participants Last post by  BodhiBenz1987, 
BodhiBenz1987
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I hit a large chunk of truck tire on the highway today, nothing I could do, the guy in front of me swerved last minute to avoid it but I had someone in either lane beside me so I had no choice but to hit it dead on. It damaged my spoiler and bottom of the grille which really stinks, I can't even pop it back into place. Going to take it to a body shop but the biggest concern I have now is potential damage under the car since I ran over it ... my guess would be it broke up or flipped when my spoiler hit it and was kind of flat for the rest of the runover because there are barely any scuffs anywhere under the car. What else should I look for? Is there any serious protection of the oil pan or anything or is it just that kind of cardboardy cover that I assume is for aerodynamics? I'm going to have an actual shop look at it Monday but I was hoping to jack it up and look myself yesterday just because it's really bothering me, plus I want to know if I can drive it to the body shop. I drove it about 8 miles home after the incident, drove fine, no lights, no leaks, or anything. Only thing out of sorts I can see underneath is the fastener in the photo ... it looks like it holds the cover panels together but it's loose and just wobbling there.

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If you file a claim. Could make your rates up.

BTW. Those tire pieces are called gators. :)
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BodhiBenz1987 said:
I thought I'd heard that term before but wasn't sure. I'm surprised it's taken me this long to hit one considering how often I see them. Though they were not usually much of a concern in my Jeep!
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You only have to worry about gators in the summer time. Companies that haven't realized the smarter side finances yet. Will still use recap tires. They only save a few dollars but in the end actually cost more because they blow quite often. Hot summer roads are hard on recap tires. Causing glue to fail causing an air leak to the point pressure gets low enough that the pressure heats up and blows the tire.

Gators usually aren't an issue in the winter.

This year. I bet has set a record. Can't drive on the freeway anywhere without seeing blown up rubber.
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As an experienced truck driver. I'll have to disagree with that article.

Drivers DOOOOO know when they lose their tread. Think. Shotgun sound.

As for Tire Maint. All the proper inflation in the world won't keep the glue from breaking apart in the summer heat. ON recaps. Recaps could also blow if the sidewalls are old or not in the best shape.
Virgin tires can run pretty low before they blow. IF they blow.

Recaps are pretty safe in the winter. For the most part.
Virgins are recommended in the summer but some companies are just too darned cheap and think it's smarter to buy 10 recaps over buying 1 virgin. Recaps only save a few dollars over virgins per tire but don't last. So in the long run they end up costing more money.
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Z71 said:
Those recapped tires have a speed limit of 60 MPH I believe. In reality trucks equipped with them run 80+ MPH all day long and in warm weather the tires just fall apart. I bet none of those trucks use recapped tires on the tractor front wheels.
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No. They don't have a 60 mph limit. They blow because of the hot summer sun on the ground and the fact they don't hold air sometimes. They get low enough and BOOM. Drivers don't take the time to thump their tires. And Most companies are too cheap to buy new. For whatever reason it's cheaper to keep buying recaps every week then virgins which will last a year or more.

And it's illegal to have recapped steers. Not a shop in the country will install recaps on steers.
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boraz said:
crazy talk

ive had tires that were recapped 5x

thats called savings.
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I didn't say anything about number of times a tire could be recapped. And it's highly unlikely you went in and waited for however long it takes to recap and throw tire back on. Probably over a day.

And NO. Recaps are not used on steers. They're illegal and recaps are generally a traction type tread.
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I'd like to see the federal regulation for commercial vehicles. Not a standard regulation for all vehicles.
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boraz said:
you said its cheaper to buy new

no its not

yes, ive been nowhere near a recapping facililty...but when i had a blowout changed in utah, the carcass had the stamps/brands inside it from each time it was recapped.

and yes recaps are used on steers and its LEGAL

and no theyre not generally used with traction tread, theyre used with w/e tread the customer desires.

we take our drives, recap them as trailer tires because we are heavy haul, theres lots of scrubbing, and a drive tire has the lateral strength for that, throw a trailer tread on it cuz we dont need traction from it

when i was straight highway, the company recapped the drives to use as drives.
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$250 for a recap. It blows in a week. $250 for another recap. That's $500 in 7 days.

$350 for a virgin. Lasts a year. YES. virgins are cheaper then recaps.
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