Hi Mike its me again.
Siping Tires is beneficial in a couple of ways, increased traction & tire
life by allowing the tire tread to flex. This extra flex does also cut down
on tire noise.
TRACTION: It softens up the tire by allowing the tread to flex more & adds
100's of extra edges to the tread design. I had my old 32" BF Goodrich ATs
siped on my old 79' F-150 4x4 for North Dakota winters. On ice the
difference is night & day, reduced my braking distance by about 20% I would
say. "Off the line" traction also increased, I didn't just sit & spin on the
ice. Sipeing didn't seem to affect the tires ability in mud one way or the
other.
TREADLIFE: By allowing more flex in the tire tread, the tire had less
tendency to "scrub" corners & absorb more punishment from potholes & small
road debris. It also smoothed out the ride some.
I would highly recommend sipeing, EXCEPT for drag racing & rock crawling. In
both those situations I suspect the tires would have a tendency to "chunk",
where as pieces of the tread might tear away, that is probably the biggest
reason the tire manufactures don't sipe their tires, that & it would raise
production costs. It only cost my $15/tire to have mine siped.
_________________________________
SandMan
proud owner of:
Flame Red 99' Sport CC, 318, FT-4x4, trailer tow package, Tire & Handling
package
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 11:32:14 -0600
From: Mike Crumley <mcrumley@airmail.net>
Subject: Re: DML: Tire Sipe
At 12:56 AM 3/26/99 , you wrote:
>it is where they cut the tread horizontally(I think) thus getting more
>grip and less road noise. Supposed to be a real good idea
>I might get it done to my next set, but who knows.
I will admit right off that I have never heard of this, but my initial
reaction is to wonder why, if this is such a good idea, do none of the tire
manufacturers do this? Cutting the tread in the same direction as the
radial plys run seems to me like a real *bad* idea, a sure prescription for
shortening tire life. Somebody explain to me why I'm wrong.
Mike Crumley 97 V6 Auto
mail to: mcrumley@airmail.net
The Empire of the Right shall be led
by a simpleton who knoweth not the
spelling of the fruits of the earth.
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