Grooving Tire Advice (1 Viewer)

[joker2040]

Hey guys so I'm looking for a little help. I got some Michelin XMLs for a price I couldn't pass up. I'm not too impressed with them in mud. They are ok on rocks if I run low air pressure but they really just suck in mud. In KY we have a bunch of it. Was thinking about removing some tread blocks from the tires and maybe grooving the blocks that remain.

This is what they look like now:



Was thinking about cutting every other row out like this:



What do you guys recommend? This is a trail only rig that never sees any road time. I need a tire that will handle slick muddy hills/trails and also perform half way decent in pure rocks. Really don't want to buy another set of tires.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

I have quite a few buddys that run the xml's and I would advise against grooving that way. IIRC they liked them best when they cut out every other lug and alternated per rows ie 1, 3, 5, 7 and then 2, 4, and 6 on the next row continued all the way around. This pattern cleans out with little wheel spin and still allows you to drive on hardpack or the street without beating the snot out of you. HTH

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

I also believe it shaved about 30lbs or better off of each tire.

 

[joker2040]

Do you have any pictures of it? I'm trying to visualize what you are saying and I think I'm confused... lol

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

After I posted this am I went and looked through my photos and couldn't find any. Imagine this on your photochopped pic every 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th lug cut out of the tread rows still in the pic and the ones that you photochopped out get every 2nd, 4th and 6th tread block cut out going across the tire left to right.

 

[joker2040]

Gotcha, I think I'm following you now. So something like this with the blocks in green being removed.

I was also thinking about something like this so none of the big side lugs get removed.

Still just trying to figure out what would work best.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Close but the treads that are split by a small groove they divided up as 2 tread blocks

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

I apologize for my lack of artistic skills in paint but something like this

 

[joker2040]

Gotcha! I see what you are talking about now. I was counting the split treads as one and it was throwing me off. For the remaining big square blocks in the middle, do you think it would help to groove them a little? Maybe like how those KM2's are beside the tire above?

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Definitely, we did all sorts of designs on them with a 3/16th tool.

 

[mr jits]

I'd start by removing only half of the last blocks you highlighted in green and see where that gets you. You can alwas remove more if needed.