I've had these tires (Dean Mud Terrain SXT) on for about 1500 miles now, 200 of which have been in the dirt. I got the siping done on all four and I don't like the way the rear are looking.

I will admit I have lit them up twice now. I hope that wasn't the problem, or maybe I do...

Rear:



Front:

 

I don't know much about siping tires but here is some info on the process and some good links if you don't know aobut them already.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...reSiping.shtml

 

Looks fine to me. "Lighting them up" will certainly contribute to wear. Don't do it if that is a concern for you.

 

Oh I know what siping is. I was going for good wet weather traction and presumably the cooling effect as well.

 

Sorry, I know you knew about siping, obviously, but i thought maybe the link or links at the bottom might have more info on tread wear? I didn't have time to read through eveyrthing.

 

You siped them so that they would open up some, once they opened, the outer edges wore. I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep rotating your tires for even wear.

If you want to see tire wear, you should see what the rock creek at Rausch Creek in PA did to my freshly grooved swampers.

 

Hard to tell from the photos, but did you sip them across the tread or "with" the tread. You want to sip them across the tread, that is cutting from say the inside tire edge (not all the way to the edge) to the outside edge (not all the way to the edge).
You don't want the slits running parallel to the tire movement.




Fred

 

Siping doesn't make the tires run cooler.
It actually heats them up faster.
That's one of the reasons we sip the sprint car tires.
The heat difference is easily measurable.




Fred

 

Well I didn't do it, I had the boys at schwab do it with their big machine.

 

Regarding the direction of the siping here are two photos showing a correctly siped tire.

Look at the left tire:




You can see the siping across the top in this photo:






Fred

 

I see you have a little chunking as well. I guess it just comes with the territory.

 

I had my MTR's siped back in April. have about 2000 on them and they still look great.

I live up North where the ice, and black ice is a problem in the winter months, is the reason behind me deciding to sipe.

I dispise studded tires for the noise, and I really don't think they work that great.

 

Incorrect...

siping DOES lower tire temps, you are correct in that is easily measurable (given the right equiptment).

A friend and I have the exact same truck and tires (22RE gen1 4Runner on 31x10.50 AT's) and after a small road outing we stoped by his station to use the TIC (thermal imaging Camera) and his tires, siped at schwaby, had a considerably cooler tread surface.

 

He had me scratching my head with that one as well... I have always heard heat dissipation as one of the benefits of siping. All the documentation I can find seems to indicate the same...

I did manage this conversation that seems to at least partially support what he's saying...

http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/216200.aspx

 

Ya, I'd have to say sprint car tires and mud tires are 2 totally different animals.

Your tires look normal and you shouldn't have anything to worry about. I had my TSL Swampers siped a couple months after I bought them. That was about 4 years ago and they are great. I had it in Moab 2 years ago and I think they performed awsome. Also in the snow they have been great. The sipes have opened up a bit like your rear ones, they have also chunked off a bit but mostly on the outer lugs and on the "leading edge" but those areas aren't siped. I would not hesitate to do it again and would recommend it to anyone else. You had yours done properly, avoiding siping the outer lugs.

 

I work at a les schwab and sipe dosens of tire everyday, so to clarify so details

It deos make the tire run cooler and therefore last longer, I dont think les schwab would recomend siping on tires they sell, that have mileage warrenties, if they thoguht that the siping would make them wear faster and force them to warrenty tires that would have lasted longer?

It will ad wet and icey weather traction.

But on Mud terrain type tires with large tread blocks spaced wider apart siping them all the way the edges can cause the tread to chunk out. They did the right thing by onyly siping the midlle tread blocks. Spinign your tires when they are siped is what leads the them opening up a little and being more noticable but doesnt affect performance.

I have had both the mtrs and the dean sxt's. Both were siped after using them for awhile and after siping i could really notice a difference on wet pavement.

 

I like to hand sipe my tires. That way I can keep the slits ~1/2" from the leading and trailing edges of the tread blocks and thus greatly reduce the tendency for the rubber to tear or chunk off. I match the spacing and number of slits to the tread block, some only get 3, some 4, 5 or 6 depending on the size and shape of the individual block:



BTW: That picture above was when I was re-siping the MTs after the first set of sipes had worn down, didn't get any big chunks of rubber missing. To refresh the sipes, I just ran the knife blade down the remnants of the worn slits, making them about 1/4" deep again.

All the machine-spied tires I have seen use a gang of slitting discs that are run across the tread and with the irregular tread blocks, you can end up with thin slivers of rubber that tear off easily.

I have hand siped 4 sets of tires now on my '85, the original BFG MTs and some Swamper SXs, both were siped 2-3 times as the tread wore down and I am now on another set of MTs and a set of MTRs. Never had any noticeable chunking and the increase in wet and snow traction was greatly increased. I can probably sipe a set of tires faster than it would take to set up an appoitment at a shop, drive down, wait while the work was done and drive home, takes maybe 15-20 minutes/tire.

 

That seems to be part of my problem. On a few of the lugs, the machine put the sipes way to close to the edge and I wound up with little slivers, which have since chunked off...

 

Unless you're going for tire appearance, this should not be an issue. You are talking a small amount of surface area that you will loose. Just don't sipe the outside lugs. I think the improved perfomance is a good trade off for a couple slivers getting chunked off. If you're worried about the tires looking good at the mall, don't sipe them.

 

haha. I know that with some things looks and lifespan go hand in hand. I just saw chunking already and was concerned that I had drastically shortened the lifespan of the tires.

And to put it plainly, I didn't buy a truck to look good at the mall. I bought a truck to take me and my gear where ever I want to go. And so far, it's worked.