> Think about it this way, you are exposing more surface area of the tire to
> the outside elements, allowing "more" of the tire to come in contact with
> the road surface, this is especially true off-road. That is why the grip is
> so much better.
When you sipe, or groove a tire, you are REMOVING rubber that once came in
contact with the pavement. Less surface area = less traction. The reason you
get better off road traction is the tire now has more edges in which to dig
into the surface.
You actually decrease dry pavement traction by siping a tire. That's why we
dirt track racers groove the tires-to get a "bite", or actually break the
surface of the dirt or mud. You can't displace pavement, so you use less
grooves to put as much tire surface as possible on the road.
Jon
STL MO
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:48:14 EST