Tire recapping. Removing a recapped passenger car tire from a curing mold. Before the curing process the tread surface had been ground down evenly and had a strip of reclaimed camelback rubber attached to it. The plan to recap passenger tires with reclaimed rubber camelback, approved by rubber director William M. Jeffers, was put into effect in February 1943 to reduce the demand for replacement tires and still keep civilian cars in service