SIPING TIRES: A HIDDEN EVIL

greenmachine89 · Post by **greenmachine89** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:01 am

I just read and article on siping tires. Now I work at Les Schwab Tires and siping has its highs and lows. First off siping cuts up tread that the manufacter has designed to be solid but then there is those who cut up their tires, all good but the cuts on siped tires range from 3 32nds deep to 11 32nds and less than half an inch apart. In order to get the most benifit out of sipe tires you should sipe them only about 3 32nds and use your tires only on snow or ice! In the mud, dirt, and gravel you will have all those little cuts fill full of rocks and dirt and when you get back to pavement all those little cuts are now gaped open and you will throw chunks of rubber. Now no offense to the writer of that siping article but I sipe tires all day and the only tires I recommend to sipe are granny cars, grocery getters, or *gasp* Pavement Princess'. Now unless you have any of the above then I would not sipe. Every big or small rig that has mudders even all terains will start to chunk out. I only say all of this so someone doesn't go out and sipe a new set of 1200 mudders and ends up chewing the shit out of them! Also some say that siping will make swampers run smoother, false again. So for money sakes do not sipe tires it will hurt more than help in the end.

84_4x4 · Post by **84_4x4** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:40 pm

this is really interesting i have never even heard of this before but i looked it up and cannot find anything that agrees with you. now granted that i have not been able to see any of these tires that were siped and used for wheelin after many miles i believe what you are saying would be interesting to run a few test of my own though with used tires so i would have nothing to loose.

Post by **Nobody** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 5:53 pm

Well all I can say is my 13+ years of wheelin has proven the benefits of siping. I've run a number of sets of tires, all siped, and have never had a problem with chunking. Sure you lose a bit here and there, but the same thing happens on non-siped tires. I've lost entire lugs on non-siped tires. Siping loosens up the tire carcus so your tire can wrap around stuff better too. On the wet pavement, it makes a mud tire hook up. In the snow it's often the difference between forward progress and sliding down the mountain.

I'll agree that some tires probably shouldn't be siped, and certain wheelin conditions where there's lots of wheel spin on loose rock...but that will chew up any tire.

Curious which article did you read?

greenmachine89 · Post by **greenmachine89** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:51 pm

I found the article on this site as a matter of fact. I didn't want to anger anyone on the whole siping issue but I also didn't want someone to think wrong about siping. I am glad that siping has worked for you.