Tire Siping?

[SomeIslandBoy]

Was at my local les schwab the other day and was just glancing at their tire siping ads, what are the pros/cons to having this procedure done on my tires?

I drive in the snow every other week or so (as soon as there is snow around here, jeez)

[Boxxerace]

Generally Tire siping increases tread life (by reducing heat) and increases traction on snow ice and to a lesser degree rain. Think if it like a Gecko's foot. The little "sipes" help it grip the nuances of nature. So does Tire siping.

It is fairly cheap to have done and I have always liked it. (One side note: Sometimes this can result with a few tread pieces chunking (mostly from my wanna-be rally driving).

[blastoff99]

Glad someone asked this; I was about to post a query.

My question is a little bit different than the original poster's. I've gathered from listening to y'all that the stock tires on the '05+ OB are crap. Yeah, I got that. So would siping help? Has anybody tried it? If the Potenza's are as bad as claimed, it certainly can't hurt... right?

[Ottiehund]

Apologies for appearing ignorant - but what is tyre siping??? I have never heard of the term.

[blastoff99]

Siping makes lots of little cuts in the tread of the tires.

The alleged benefits are that the tire runs cooler and therefore lasts longer, and gets better grip on wet or icy surfaces.

The alleged drawbacks are that the tire doesn't last as long since the thread blocks have been thinly sliced, and the ride is "squirmy" on dry surfaces. The tires can also throw little chunks.

Personal bias: I've never had a tire siped. The tire shops say it is a great idea, and they charge very little for it, which makes me suspicious. However, I'm trying to be open-minded about it.

[simplyjens]

I have had my tires siped for a while now.
Big advantages:
lifetime: about 20% more miles.
traction: night and day on, particularly, compacted snow. My ole FWD Camry was leaving my AWD soob in the dust at lights. Switched my 88 GL-10 to siped tires and it ran like on rails... it was so bad that one morning going to work, I stepped out of the car and fell on my ass, because I never realized that the rain had frozen on the ground as I pulled into the parking lot. It makes even average all season tires act like snow tires.

One word of caution:
Once you have gone past half way on the tread life, you suddenly lose the benefits you have become accustomed to.

I can only recommend siping, but make sure you do it when you buy the tires. Once you have any stone/gravel in your treads, you are done... it would ruin the siping blades. It is cheap and well worth it IMHO.

Jens

[Scooby]

I've been a fan of siping for years now... My wife noticed a dramatic difference in traction/braking, handling on wet/slick surfaces.

I do alot snow wheelin, wet weather driving so it only makes sense..I highly recommend it to anyone in wet/snowy climates.

[DrCloud]

If you look carefully at pictures of high-end snow tires (expensive ones at tirerack; also see NokianUSA.com), you'll see that they are "pre-siped", in the sense that they're designed that way, along with the usual cleated patterns.

I just got a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 All-Seasons, and, I have to say, if they were siped they'd look a lot like some of those winter tires. They have big cleats, more or less, with really deep tread. I don't know about the rubber compound for winter (maybe it's not really designed to stay soft in cold weather), but as far as tread goes, siping them would create true four-season tires. HPH

[Barklessdog]

I had it done on a Nissan Altima and it made a noticeable difference (good) for winter driving.

Nitrogen - not so much

[nipper]

I've never heard of this, and would have to see true test reports (not self generated ones) about the benefits.

My questions does the gas mileage take a hit (there are no free rides). Does tire noise go up. How does it affect tire warrenties.



nipper