Grooved up Michelin xl's

[beislebub]

Here's a couple of pics of some modded Michelin 9.0x16 xl's, I grooved up this summer. A nice tall and skinny, a true 35" x 8" tread.







Joell

 

[Rigpig]

Nice work! Gotta love the old "Michies", stoked on Revelstoke too, great place!! I'll look you up next time i drive through, have a few pints and bull**** about cruisers.
Cheers!

 

[Deny]

Nice, what size rim are you running?
Thanks,

 

[Cruisin']

So... How do they work compared to non-grooved? Any noticeable increases in traction in wet/show/whatever?

I like the way you've done it. Nice pattern.

 

[beislebub]

the rims are 16x8", Michelin calls for a 16x 6 1/2 " rim.

I never ran these tires without the grooves in them, though i did just put the diagonal grooves in last week. I did some snow wheeling this spring, the lack of sipes hurt, but the narrow foot print and clearence helped. I don't have a good benchmark for offroading, but they get me a lot farther than my A/T's. They definately run rough and howl, and seem to wear/run heavy on every second tread section. I actually had to jack up each wheel individually just so they scuffed the ground, and spin/brake stand the lifted tire to even out the tread. A good 20 min of blue smoke for the neighbors.

Joel

 

[Cruisin']

I actually had to jack up each wheel individually just so they scuffed the ground, and spin/brake stand the lifted tire to even out the tread. A good 20 min of blue smoke for the neighbors.

Joel

I like your style!!!

 

[ForealBoreal]

i need a set of 35 skinnys for my 77.

 

[Deny]

Ok nother question: Where did you get your groover, sorta looking into grooving some of my swampers and a couple XL's as well and want to get a good, but not too expensive one.
Thanks,

 

[prado t]

I spent alot of time with those tires in the early 90s . Not as big as yours , They are soft and loud.

Are they balanced? Nice pic.!

 

[pradocruzer]

Nice job beislebub. It's fun playing with tire grooving. Do you like the xl's?? I grooved my mtr's a while ago and what a change to the traction. I love it.
Hey Deny the tire groover I bought was The Ideal Tire Groover. It works great. Found it on ebay for around $115.00 with three different sized heads.
Take Care

 

[beislebub]

Deny- That's the same tire groover I bought, about $100.0 off E-bay with a 2 heads/sizes. I got the 1/4" and 1/2" heads/blades, the larger 1/2" was slower cutting, and benifited from some tourch heat to the rubber ahead of groover.

The xl's are balanced... well close anyhow, with up to 17 oz on one tire, I'd use some balancing beads if these were going to see more DD use.They ware down fast, so I try to conserve them to off pavement use. It's true there loud, hard to balance, soft and ride rough, but when your playing their nice.

I just recently did a trip into Pettipeice pass (the pic is from), I aired them down to 20 psi and they just loved the logging/power line rd. Though being tall and aired down you could feel the tire roll out on fast corners.

Joel.