I took a long, hard look at my MTs today. They are definitely sub-optimal for highway driving. I was trying to figure out if siping the lugs would help improve tread wear.

My reasoning is as follows:
if you can visualise an MT tire as a square (given the relatively small surface area of road contact), the points of impact when rotating are the technically the corners. Drawing a parallel to the MT, the corners of the lugs would take most of the impact/wear, as the lug itself is not terribly flexible (in relative terms).

So, breaking up the lug into multiple segments would technically give the tire more points of contact, thus reducing tread wear.

I'm going to find out if the price of siping justifies this experiment. I expect the road noise to be reduced.

Just looking for feedback and your experience.



uber

 

Uber, idea is good on the siping, but in general the tires last longer because of the compound and tread pattern more than any siping done to the tire tread. Siping is often done on some all-season passensger and truck highway tires (and to a much greater extent to winter tires since it enhances traction most), but too much siping can actually change the characteristics of the tire in a negative way as well. In the case of an M/T tire you have very large contact lugs with big spaces in between which make the tire less than ideal for rolling on a highway. The contact patch for wear is directly perpendicular to the tread vs siping which adds contact edges mainly for traction which are parallel to the tread. Siping can help alieviate stresses in the tire and slightly extend the life, but it may also give a tire a slightly more "mushy" feeling during turning and feel sluggish when cornering. If you want to try it, i say go for it but don't expect any miracles from siping. Keep in mind that if it was the greatest thing since sliced bread you'd see all tires coming from the factory already siped.

 

yah, I expect the mushy feeling. I have Nokian winter tires on my other car, and drive it year-round. mushy is correct. feels like driving on marshmellows. I can only imagine what it would be like with an MT.

The quotes I've gotten so far are in the $50-75 range for all 4 tires. Though this is relatively inexpensive, I think I'll pass.

On another note, I am discouraged by the amount of wear my MTs are taking. I'm hoping to get them through the winter, but it will be close.

I may end up selling them to try to recoup some amount toward the purchase of ATs.
Anyone interested??

 

You may want to PM Roger Brown for some info. I know he did a write up on his website about this.

 

Also if you look up tire siping in the search area you'll see that a few people have siped their own tires at the cost of an hour and a few razors.

Here's the above mentioned link:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...reSiping.shtml

 

AFAIK, most dealers will refuse to sipe used tires, as the pebbles and grit in the tire tread will damage their siping equipment.

 

IMO tire siping will do more harm if you off road with them as they will be more prone to chunking. my Nittos came sipped from the factory and in-store sipping will never be as good as factory of course. I've read that tire sipping is gimmick for the tire stores to make more money and while it may work it is also hurting the performance since the comapny didn't spend all the time and design into a tire to have it sliced by a razor blade.
Take tire siping with a grain of salt and make an educated desicion.