Tire siping?

[Corban_White]

What do you think of siping your tires? Do you really get the effect that Les Schwab claims? I am mostly wondering about an MT tire on road but any experiences are welcome. Cars, trucks, paved roads, dirt roads, snow, ice, rocks, etc. Better grip? Longer wear? Post up your thoughts and experiences.

 

[LT.]

I have noticed an improvement but really only in the snow. Not too much for the road (wet roads maybe) dirt or otherwise. I don't have any experience with the siping when it comes to off road abuse.

LT.

 

[Medsker]

I've noticed a big difference on ice and snow but not anywhere else. I always get my mud tires done. I only do the inside lugs as I have found when I do the outside lugs they tend to chunk when I am on the rocks.

Medsker

 

[Greg]

I've noticed a big difference on ice and snow but not anywhere else. I always get my mud tires done. I only do the inside lugs as I have found when I do the outside lugs they tend to chunk when I am on the rocks.

Medsker

I think that's dead-on Medsker. I used to sipe tires and people would claim they lasted 2x longer due to better heat dissipation, they would get better gas mileage, etc. They're just cuts in a tire...

 

[Corban_White]

Reading online several people have done their own siping. I know that supposedly the machine at the tire shop leaves connecting "tie bars" between the sipes and doing it myself won't have this benefit which is why it is recommended to only cut about halfway into the tread block and repeat when the tire wears. So, should I do it myself or have the tire shop do it? (assuming I get it done)

 

[Tacoma]

Have the tire shop do it.

Les Schwab has a machine, not sure who else.

 

[Kiel]

Reading online several people have done their own siping. I know that supposedly the machine at the tire shop leaves connecting "tie bars" between the sipes and doing it myself won't have this benefit which is why it is recommended to only cut about halfway into the tread block and repeat when the tire wears. So, should I do it myself or have the tire shop do it? (assuming I get it done)

Whats your plan of attack? One wrong move and it could cost you a tire.

 

[Tacoma]

Tire machine is quick and works for sure.

 

[Jinx]

buy the siping iron and do it yourself,

you can custom do what you want vs a some 16-18year old kid who thinks he knows what you want.

As far as traction goes, before they came out with stickies we used to sipe the tires all the time and really liked what they did on the rocks (comp senario). But that was us using an iron not les swabb and a machine.

good luck...

 

[Slangy]

Les Schwab has a machine, not sure who else.

I had the wifes tires done at Discount Tire wwhen I bought them. Seemed to help on snowy roads

 

[PolarXJ]

I got mine done at discount as well. Like alot of people, I've noticed a difference on snow and ice. Though, I do think that the kid that did them put the cuts to close together.

 

[Corban_White]

Whats your plan of attack? One wrong move and it could cost you a tire.

These are the sites I was looking at:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/sipe/
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TireSiping.shtml

And these are the tires in question:

And possiably in the future, these (along with some grooving):

 

[ID Bronco]

Sipe the goodyears, groove the boggers.

 

[DAA]

I like to get my MT's siped too. Makes a very noticeable difference on slick roads.

The machines at Schwab and Discount are different, too. Schwab does basically straight cuts. The machine at Discount does cuts that look kind of wavy and are supposedly less prone to chunking. Can't really say for sure whether they are, or aren't though. I can say that my current MT/R's that have the Schwab sipes, have chunked massively.

- DAA

 

[SAMI]

Bringing this back up.. I just talked to Discount, and they do a straight cut. I was quoted $12.50 per tire. Is that a decent price?

 

[etbadger]

I did the ones on our rig with an Ideal tire groover. The main concern was traction in snow/ice/rain. It seemed to help, and for the majority I kept the cuts away from the edges of the lugs. I did carry the cuts to the edge of the lugs in a couple places as a test, and those lugs have chunked quite a bit more.

-Erik

 

[Herzog]

That looks good! Should help..

 

[waynehartwig]

We sipe everything up here. Not really any rocks, so we don't notice chunking. But when we run rivers, snow or ice, we can tell a difference. Especially in the car on the roads. Our little Acura used to be all over the place. This set of tires were siped and it sure has helped keep it on the road! Same brand of tires as before, as well.... I think our shops charge $7 a tire?

 

[gijohn40]

we had Sue's Toyo open country MT's siped at les schwab but I didn't do them on mine... we both are running jeeps (hers is a tj mine is cj) with 33x12.50x15... Her jeep does seem to handle a bit better in wet and snow but I just got my tires so can't tell you if there is a difference yet...

Les schwab charges $12.50 a tires. they just do the center section.