Siping Tires... How Much Improvement?

Winter is upon us, and I'm considering siping my tires as opposed to getting new ones. I have a set of Pro Comp Mud Terrains with a lot of tread left on them, however, they are terrible in the winter.

I'm curious about siping; never have done it before. What kind of difference could I expect from siped tires as opposed to non-siped mud terrains? If it's not a huge difference, I guess I'll be dropping $850 on some BFGoodrich A/Ts.

 

There is a big gain in traction, as well as heat dissipation. It's most obvious when you sipe a mud terrain with big blocks, rather than an all terrain where there are more edges for contact anyway.

The effect is most pronounced on ice and rock, as well as other hard, slick surfaces, but you will see an improvement across the board.

The downside is that it is easier to knock chunks out of the tires, so be prepared for that. It's most cosmetic, but it looks ugly.

Well worth it, in my opinion.

 

The guys at my local shop swear by siping on MT's. For $15 bucks a tire, it sounds well worth it to me. I'm too much of a chickenshit to cut into $800 of tires, so i bought AT's.

 

It is definately the way to go, especially if you live in a snowy climate. I have driven on studs and All weathers and none of them beat the traction and response from a set of sipped tires. For the price you really can't beat it.

 

Siping will make them wear a hell of a lot faster when dry.

 

siping is the way to go for sure. just know that many manufacturers will void the warranty of the tire if they are siped.

 

Not true. In fact siped tires tend to last longer, due to the improved heat transfer. The exception might be on a street tire, driven only on pavement, especially hot pavement, But I can find only anecdotal evidence to support that. My experience, that of most people on the forums, and the recommendations of most of the dealers, is that wear is not accelerated in any way under most circumstances. I have been siping my BFG M/T's for a lot of years and seen no increase in wear, beyond the mild "chunking" I described earlier.

Siping doesn't remove any material, like grooving does. http://www.lesschwab.com/siping.asp "Our SIPING process doesn't remove ANY rubber from the tread allowing the individual SIPES to support each other."

Perhaps, but most of the major tire dealers perform siping and will honor the warranty anyway, if they do the siping. In fact, at Discount Tire, their full replacement warranty for any reason is still in effect. I understand Schwab also backs theirs 100%.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tireSiping.dos

 

wtf is siping?

 

From the post right above yours:

http://www.lesschwab.com/siping.asp

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tireSiping.dos

Those should get you up to speed, but here's more anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping_(rubber)