Tire Siping

[Tardog]

I have heard of tire shops doing siping on tires that are partially worn? Where is this done and how much is it worth? I can see that this may be very useful on some tires as the origanas do not have the siping go down to the wear marks.

 

[JohnE]

A properly siped tire is a great thing. The traction is outstanding. The ride is better, IMHO.



BUT

A bad siping will eat your tire. I got a very poor siping by a northwest tire chain called Les Schwab. The idiot techs cut too deep on my truck tires. This means the traction tires in the rear blow chunks. Here's the link to my <a href=http://membersites. nwbombers.com/johne/ target=_blank>

home page</a> with the siping story link. I have photos of my tires in the story link, too.



I've since learned that <b>professional</b> tire sipers will only do 1/2 the tread block depth on our LT truck tires. This half siping is standard practice on &quot;truck&quot; tires.



This means you will go back at 1/2 tread life and get it done again. In your case it is an ideal time. They may charge more on a wore set due to the time spent digging the junk out of the tires to avoid breaking the siping knives.



Get them siped, but get it done the right way



rev it up and diesel on

-John

 

[Tardog]

John. Thanks for the info,I'm sure that the traction must have increased substancialy after the siping. What did they charge you?

 

[JohnE]

I think it was about $10 (US) per tire for the slash job. The traction was very good. Now it is OK. The wear on the fronts was good until I decided to try running them below 60 psi. You need to stay 65 or above. The main advantage is that the tires haven't done the infamous Goodyear out of round. The highway ride is still very good.



I'll be changing tires sometime this summer. The brand and tread style will be the deciding factor on getting them siped.



I forgot to mention that JJW-ND and I were talking siping on Saturday. He has a new set of Yokohama Geolanders on his 96 and is thinking to sipe them this fall.



-John

 

[Tardog]

I'm in need of new tires ASAP, as I lost 3 last week (my post "255's") I'm looking at a set of BFG TA KO's but it is fairly agresive and I'm a little worried about winter driving with them, was thinking that siping may be their answer. I'm also looking at a set of Dunlope RV's. For what reason did your Bud by the Geolanders?

 

[lgibson]

Tardog



BFG AT's are good tires in snow and ice. The are sipped from the factory and designed for it. Just a little warning about sipping though. If you drive on gravel roads alot, they wear about 40% faster. I was supprised to see how much faster they wear. I will not have my tires sipped again. In about 15,000 miles I am having to replace my tires, the same brand of tires that lasted 35,000 miles before I had them siped.



JohnE



I know what you mean about Les Schwab. I had them replace my batteries and they left the hot disconnected on the passinger side, which grounded to the alternator braket. Burned up my starter, and some dash lights and radio lights. I called them and the manager said that it was hooked up because the truck did start when it left from them, and it was not their fault since my truck was modified to have two batteries in it. I tried to tell him my truck came with two batteries and it had never heard a vehicle with two batteries. They had the dealer fix my starter, but has done nothing to fix the lights.

I had the rear brakes done there also. It was undrivable because everytime I pressed on the brakes I did a lane change. After they adjusted them again, I went down the road with smoke comeing from the rear brakes. They are on my "avoid at all cost" along with Reno Dodge, the very worst dealer I had ever had to do busness with.

 

[Okie-Go]

I had a st of Michelin AS siped. They actually lost chunks of rubber on the rear. I was told at Discount tire they have documentation not to sipe Michelins. I went back and got a set of MS for free after I had 23,000 on the original AS's. The guy that talked me into doing it no longer works there. Price was very cheap. I paid 5. 00 a tire

 

[illflem]

I've had all my tires, car and truck, siped for the past seven years with no problems. Wouldn't even consider not having it done now, it's been that much better for me. On an aggressive AT tire it's best if the siping stops before reaching the outer edges to prevent the tread from chunking off. Here's a good article on it with pictures. http://www.can4x4.com/articles/siping.html

 

[JJW_ND]

Geolanders

Tardog... I ran Dunlops AT's, Factory Goodyear AT's, and two sets of Toyo M55. When hotshoting trailers only the Toyos could take the hard pulling and last past 50K. Great tires! I rarely pull now and wanted to try the Geolanders. So far they are wearing pretty good. They were pretty good this winter. I have pulled a few good loads and they seem to be doing fine. After the first set is replace I will decide weather I put Toyo M55 back on or another set of Geolanders. The Geolanders ere about $40 a tire cheaper then the Toyos.



jjw