Siping and Tire Life

[Bob4x4]

More life??? Anything that promotes tread flex will REDUCE tread life. With extra sipes you will lose a tiny bit of traction on dry pavement due to tread flex. On dry pavement it is all about rubber surface area in contact with the road... that is why slicks work on dry roads. However, extra sipes DO give better traction on everything else!



Adding a few new grooves or sipes to a worn tire REALLY improves their traction... again on everything BUT dry pavement. I have my own grooving tool and groove and sipe tires all the time.



Steve Keim

I have had a totaly different experience with siping my 35"bfg at's. The dry traction on pavement has been a huge improvement. My 94 is a torque monster and used to be hard to launch even with fairly light throttle without getting a little slip. Now not a problem. I have 4k lbs on the axle. The 05 very mild set-up can spin it's 35" bfgs very easy(no siping )yet . I haven't noticed any abnormal or quicker tire wear with the siping. They are only siped in the center of the tread to illiminate any chunking of the shoulders. I have drag raced,off roaded and pulled trailers on these tires and have been very happy with them.



Bob



Bob

 

[keimmmo]

Bob,



We are all very much involved in modifying our trucks to suit US. If you like what you are running, I am glad you have found something you like. While it is quite possible to sipe the tires and still get decent service out of them, I will stand by the statement that anything that promotes tread flex reduces tread life.



Have you ever noticed that race tires for dry paved tracks have NO tread? That is why they are called "slicks". Tread is to bite into irregular, lose surfaces or to let water out from under the tire. Tread hurts traction on dry clean surfaces. But, if it works for you, GO FOR IT!



Steve Keim

 

[CRuth]

Race cars won't race on wet irregular or loose surfaces. We drive on those surfaces all the time.

 

[keimmmo]

Bingo! That is why all DOT approved tires have tread in them! However, the less tread and the more rubber contact area on a "standard" size tire, the better the tire life. (Wide tires usually wear faster than narrow ones. ) Tires that have lots of tread grooves with small blocks of rubber tend to wear faster... due to less rubber contact area and more tread flex.



Steve Keim

 

[pwknapp]

Just put on a set of 305/85/16 Buckshots on the dually. And siped them this weekend. Awesome added traction on ice and snow. Would'nt even let the wife drive it without the siping. Just siped the center lugs to aid in saving the outer lugs from chunking. Love em so far.

 

[evldsl]

So I have the stock BFG's and I know they suck in the rain can only imagine what they will be like in the snow, My michellins on my 01 were awsomein the snow and ice. So should I sipe the BFG's since I normally am in CA and it does not snow here...

I live here in so cal also and I bought my jeep on e-bay and it had the 35 michelins on it and they were siped and they did work in the snow but they only lasted 40k ( the right rear blew out while I was on the freeway going 70 mph at 12:30 at night on the way home from work and around a week later the right front went on the freeway also. I wont buy another set of those. )now I run the bfg mud 35's and I wont change from that tire ever since I know they work fine. I have been through 2 sets of at's and 3 sets of mud's without ever having 1 problem.