Siping tires who has experience

[john@thepier]

Like the title says, anyone here with experience siping tires. I plan on buying some mud tires and want to do some siping on them for better snow and ice manners. Would like to go with manual siping over the machine siping. Anyone? John

[CG]

I don't know much about tires, but when I go in to Les Schwabs when its time for a new set they always ask me if I wanted them siped. I don't understand if its such a good thing to do why dont tires come siped from the factory?

Sorry I don't have an answer to your question, but I'm anxious to hear what comes up in this thread. Thanks for bringing this up.

[Restrorob]

Living down here I had to look it up to see what it was, this is what I found; http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...view/index.htm

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by CG

I don't know much about tires, but when I go in to Les Schwabs when its time for a new set they always ask me if I wanted them siped. I don't understand if its such a good thing to do why dont tires come siped from the factory?

Sorry I don't have an answer to your question, but I'm anxious to hear what comes up in this thread. Thanks for bringing this up.

Many tires do have factory siping (usually not mudders though). Adding more is a huge cash cow for tire shops, and Schwab is known to be one of the more aggressive dealers in marketing this service. I always decline...

Good question though... I'll be watching this too in case anyone has done theirs manually.

[fine69]

Never even heard of this??? I have bought a lot of new tires and have never had it offered.

[jeffg1010]

I've done it to dirt late model tires. It's really simple. A lot of teams sipe their tires to get the desired "bite" for various track conditions. You use a hand tool that the tip gets hot and it cuts through the rubber ... like butta'. There is different tips you can use that will change the groove pattern. I am sure 4x4 tire companies sell their own versions with deeper groove options

I can't give much advice other than to tell you it's pretty simple. Never done it to 4x4 tires though.

[Sub-versive]

It will cause premature wear, may cause uneven wear(tires can feather).

Personally, I would recommend buying a set of Blizzak's for snow and ice, and save the mud tires for the mud. I would have never thought this before this winter, after running a set myself.



**edit

I forgot to mention, I was driving through 8" of snow with my 2wd Trailblazer. No chains. I never would have believed it.
Some ice in areas, these are the best winter tires I have ever had. I used to run studded tires, but they hydroplane when it rains.

[Axle]

I've done it with a utility knife to a set of mud tires I had. Made a world of difference on hardpack and slippery surfaces. I just cut ~1/8-1/4" deep, whatever I could muster and cut across the threads to get two or three cuts across each block.

I've also since switched to a winter tire. (Arctic Claw--off brand Cooper. Two thumbs up).

Alex.

[Coley]

We used to do this all the time for ice racing in Minden, Ontario.
It is very effective but you had to use new 'sticky' tires for it to be effective. As well the tires were usually pretty aggressive to start with....ie: snows for sure and the preferred victims were Blizzaks because of their soft outer compound.
We used a razor knife and took a whole bunch of time...but it worked like crazy. You have to get yourself a nice comfortable chair and a whole bunch of high quality razor knife blades and tuck in for several hours.
A 2wd car with fully siped (and tractionized) tires on a flat surface would outrun any 4wd with street tires....easy.
My two bits.
Coley

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by john@thepier

Like the title says, anyone here with experience siping tires. I plan on buying some mud tires and want to do some siping on them for better snow and ice manners. Would like to go with manual siping over the machine siping. Anyone? John

Sub-versive has it right. I run a tire shop. We do not recommend siping or do siping. It speeds up wear, increases noise. Its just a service they push to up thier average sale. Its like when they do brakes and recommend replacing the rotors/pads/calipers when they change your brakes.. Just not needed.

[Axle]

I run a tire shop. We do not recommend siping or do siping. It speeds up wear, increases noise.

I siped becuase I had a set of tires not up to my performance standards, and buying a replacement set of tires was not in the cards. So I'd rather improve what I already had.

Noise? Well, they did have an odd screach when I was getting every last cent out of them. =-)
Wear? Nothing out of the oridinary that I noticed. But, I'd rather put up with extra wear and a better performing tire than prolong the agony of a not as grippy tire.

But it comes back to what and why your are siping. Sounds like the OP was in the same boat I was in when I did mine: Had a set of mud tires that needed to get used up.

Alex.