Siping tires for wet weather? Worth the effort?

[mudgudgeon]

So I have a set of Nitto Terra grapplers 305/70r16 on my 80.
They are about 18 months old and still have plenty of tread depth on them.
I've put maybe 30k km on them or 20k miles.

They have become unpredictable in wet on road conditions, to the point where I'm thinking it's time to ditch them.
Disappointing to think they are trash when they still seem to have plenty of life in them in terms of tread depth.

I've had other all terrains last 80k km before ditching them.

The Nitto's have been good on road in the dry. I tend to push fairly hard with my driving style, and they've been rock solid on tarmac.
They've been good for the mild wheeling and Forestry road use too.

I'm wondering if there's any value in siping the tires to try and improve them in the wet?
Has anyone done this?
Or are the tires a lost cause?

Interested to hear people's thoughts.

 

[secretasiansam]

It may be hard to find a shop that will sipe used tires. They usualy only do new tires.

 

[mudgudgeon]

I'd be looking at a DIY solution.

I don't think siping of tires would be something an Aussie tire shop ever got asked to do

 

[GW Nugget]

@baldilocks just DIY sipped his, look up reserection after roll over white rino...
You also could have a winter & summer treads (tyres)

 

[tominboise]

I typically have siped the mud terrain tires I use on my 80 series and my 200 series. I think it works quite well on snow and ice. I have no feel for how it would help in the wet. Probably wouldn't hurt anything to try it, if you are planning on ditching the tires anyway.

 

[mudgudgeon]

I typically have siped the mud terrain tires I use on my 80 series and my 200 series. I think it works quite well on snow and ice. I have no feel for how it would help in the wet. Probably wouldn't hurt anything to try it, if you are planning on ditching the tires anyway.

Got any pics?
Do you do it yourself, of have it done?

 

[mudgudgeon]

@baldilocks just DIY sipped his, look up reserection after roll over white rino...
You also could have a winter & summer treads (tyres)

Thanks, will take a look.

We don't have winter conditions like NA which is why I think tire shops would just give me a confused look if I asked to have tires siped

Only time this truck will see snow on our off-road is if I go looking for it after a dump in the Alps

 

[bigredmachine]

you can get siping knives for anywhere between 40-120 depending on if its a manual siper or a fancy hot knife siping tool. I considered that for my tires as they are terrible I the snow but im almost ready for another set so well see

 

[maxamillion2345]

Les schwab should do it used or not

 

[mudgudgeon]

Les schwab should do it used or not

I don't know Les, and I'm tipping he's a long way from Sydney AUS

 

[baldilocks]

I don't know Les, and I'm tipping he's a long way from Sydney AUS

Don’t bother looking because Les left this world a while back. A couple months ago I bought a tire grooving and siping iron. It gets over 500*f and did a nice job although time consuming. The results have been only positive as proven by improved traction and less road noise from a mud tire that was already very quiet for what the Super Swamper trXus is.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Don’t bother looking because Les left this world a while back. A couple months ago I bought a tire grooving and siping iron. It gets over 500*f and did a nice job although time consuming. The results have been only positive as proven by improved traction and less road noise from a mud tire that was already very quiet for what the Super Swamper trXus is.

Thanks mate.

RIP Les, no disrespect intended.

Got any pics of what you did

 

[baldilocks]

Thanks mate.

RIP Les, no disrespect intended.

Got any pics of what you did

Check out page 2436 post #48,711 in the thread - What did you do with your 80 this weekend? I grooved the outer lugs and siped the inners. The siping is opening up a little now to expose tiny gripping edges.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Check out page 2436 post #48,711 in the thread - What did you do with your 80 this weekend? I grooved the outer pugs and siped the inners. The siping is opening up a little now to expose tiny gripping edges.

Thanks

 

[tominboise]

Got any pics?
Do you do it yourself, of have it done?

Had the local tire shop do it. Will take a pic.

Also seems to work well in the rocks of Moab, etc.

 

[Rwhat]

I had several sets done by America’s tires they seemed to last longer. Goodyear MTR’s.

 

[SNLC]

Absolutely is worth it but will be most noticeable on snow and ice.

I sipped a set of Maxxis Creepies once with my own iron. It was a night and day difference on ice.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

It also helps a lot off-road but will be more prone to chunking out.

Cheers

 

[Rivman1243]

The tire shops dont like to sipe used tires because the generally have rocks in the tread. I've been able to get them to do it if was willing to pick all the rocks out and show up with the tires off the vehicle but still on the rim's. If you go to a shop that does Semi truck tires they can adjust the depth of the sipe, spacing, and position on the tread ( ie. just the center or just the edges or the whole way across) which helps reduce the chunking. I'm a diesel mechanic for a fleet and all of our drive and steer tires are sipped. It definitely helps in wet weather but we do it for snow and ice.

If you're going to be pushing the tires I would recommend only doing the middle lugs of the tread so the edges dont chunk. That's where the majority is the chunking of our tires happens. Or you could go with a larger spacing on the outer edges. I will say that in my personal and work experience the tires will wear faster. I would also recommend rotating them at about half the mileage you normally would. So If you rotate at 10k with regular tires then rotate at 5k with sipped ones.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Siping is common up here for ice, but as a reasonable student of tire design and tire contact patch physics, I don't think you'll achieve anything at all for rain traction. If you are experiencing hydroplaning from those wide tires as the tread gets shallow, that's to be expected. You can reduce hydroplaning, all else equal, by increasing your tire pressure as the speed at which you hydroplane is related to the tire pressure. But lateral slits that are mere slits won't relieve that, and I cannot think of any other way slits would increase wet traction more than an incremental amount only registered by a $4M machine. So this would not be a way to improve wet traction on a tire, is my overall comment. Ice and snow - yes.