Siping my tires

[Carl2500]

So I'm interested in getting my tires siped, or doing it myself.

Living in Michigan, we get a good 3 months of snow/icey roads each year.

Do siped tires wear quicker? I would think so, but one site suggested they cool your tires better, reducing normal wear.

Can this be a DIY project, or best to have it done by professionals? I mean if understand correctly they're just putting slits in the tread blocks, unless there's more to it.

 

[bugnout]

I had my latest Goodyear MTR's siped by discount tire. It cost about $10 a tire. I siped a couple of sets myself. MTR's with about 15k that I bought used and an old set of Continental tires with 40k.

I took a razor knife and broke off the blade down to the depth I wanted to sipe and used a file to clean up the jagged edge. I Then jacked up the front end, marked the tire with a piece of chalk so I could see where I started. Then pulled the blade across the meat of the tread being careful not to cut the body of the tire.

Made a great difference especially on the 2wd ranger. I just replace those tires at 60k miles. At 40k they were slick as snot until I siped them.

 

[Carl2500]

Cool, I'll check out discount tire. $40 for the set wouldn't be too bad at all.

 

[Grizzlybait]

Here's a nice rundown on how to do it yourself which includes a link to a video clip. It looks pretty easy.
He recommends just doing the inner treadblocks to eliminate the possibility of chunking on the shoulders.

http://www.fordtough.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=4739&highlight=siping

 

[Redline]

Siping has lots of traction advantages in the condtions you want to use them in, maybe all condtions. I have had a few sets siped but most recently had plenty of chunking/tearing/wear on my Maxxis Bighorns that were used heavily off-highway. I don't think I will sipe my next set if they will see hard use, I would rather find a tire with lots of factory sipes for on highway use if possible. Not there will not be some chunking off-highway, but not as much.

 

[NCtrail4R]

I found this article as well. Shows how the guy does it with a utility knife that allows you to set the blade depth.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TireSiping.shtml

 

[Rattler]

Being a fellow Michigander, I had a set of BFG ATs siped several years ago. It made a world of difference on my '91 4Runner. I am debating on having it done to my Kumho MTs. I plan on replacing them in the sprng but I could recoup some $$ out of them now the way they are. I think I will just throw the stockers back on for the winter.

 

[Carl2500]

Thanks for the articles guys.

Sounds like getting them done at a shop would use a machine that uses a 'one-size-fits-all' blade, making perfect parallel slits, regardless of tread pattern. Where doing them myself will take longer, but give me more control on properly placing the sipes on each tread block.

Well that settles it. I'm going to do this. I will just do the center tread blocks for now.

 

[Rattler]

BTW, Discount did mine too for @ $40 and it was almost 10 years ago so at least that hasn't gone up.

 

[bobDog]

I had mine siped when I got them...I have a very capable XJ that has very little traction problems on ice but sometimes in the past I have need cables for steep hills where traffic has polished the ice.....since I got siped I have not had to use cables ever and altho I don't keep track of mileage I expected to buy tires last winter and i still have maybe another 6-8 month left....well worth doing....I'll do it to every tire I buy now. O on wet rainy roads the improvement is amazing! :victory:

 

[NCtrail4R]

Keep us posted on the siping. Interested to hear how it goes and your impressions after you get em finished.

 

[Cackalak Han]

Is buying a second set of tires an option for you? If I had to deal with a lot of ice and such, I'd probably end up getting a dedicated set of snow tires (with studs?). Had some studded Nokian's on my Honda a few years ago and it was unstoppable in snow and had pretty good traction on ice.

 

[bobDog]

Is buying a second set of tires an option for you? If I had to deal with a lot of ice and such, I'd probably end up getting a dedicated set of snow tires (with studs?). Had some studded Nokian's on my Honda a few years ago and it was unstoppable in snow and had pretty good traction on ice.

I can't keep up w/ studs, but my siped tire will beat the crap out of normal snow tires. I know a guy who siped his street tires and last year he never put his snows on.:smiley_drive: