Tire grooving (1 Viewer)

[bmwjnky]

I posted this in my local section but thought I'd add it here for those that were thinking of doing this. I bought a tire groover from ebay for about $68 shipped, came with 12 replacement blades.

I stayed after work a few weeks ago to groove and sipe my tires. Total time to do all 4 tires is about 2 hours. If I could of found a more steady way to hold the tire other than just leaning it against the wall it would have saved some time. The tires are a little quieter and it feels like less steering effort is need when turning in parking lots at slow speed. I'll be testing them this weekend in the snow which is the main reason I did this as I wasn't having any issues on or off road with the tires. I may add a groove to the blocks that are just siped depending on how this weekend goes.

This is how the tire started out.

Final product. Grooved the large tread blocks and siped the smaller ones.

 

[Otamiway]

Nice results.... was this done professionally, or did you do this?

Share your process.....

 

[bmwjnky]

Nice results.... was this done professionally, or did you do this?

Share your process.....

I did it myself but I've been working on cars for the last 17 years. No special process other than setting the blade depth and waiting for the groover to get hot.

 

[Otamiway]

I did it myself but I've been working on cars for the last 17 years. No special process other than setting the blade depth and waiting for the groover to get hot.

Can you post a picture and specs of the "Groover"

 

[bmwjnky]

Can you post a picture and specs of the "Groover"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IDEAL-TIRE-...pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item5d37d8e124&vxp=mtr

 

[Otamiway]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IDEAL-TIRE-...pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item5d37d8e124&vxp=mtr

Thanks for the information.. I will check it out.

Cheers
Stu

 

[Bendcruiser]

I just had my Wrangler tires "siped" at the local Les Schwab tire shop. Cost was $15 per tire. Seems to be better all around town,ice,snow,turning.

 

[bmwjnky]

I just had my Wrangler tires "siped" at the local Les Schwab tire shop. Cost was $15 per tire. Seems to be better all around town,ice,snow,turning.

I hear siping helps a lot for snow and ice traction, I'll find out tomorrow.

The downside to having the tire shop do it is you can't control how close to the edge of the tread lugs the cuts are or if they over lap when the cutter gets close to where it started. This isn't too big of an issue for tires that won't see rock crawling type terrain.

 

[Otamiway]

I just had my Wrangler tires "siped" at the local Les Schwab tire shop. Cost was $15 per tire. Seems to be better all around town,ice,snow,turning.

Glad to hear you have good results... That is what I have heard about "sipping"

 

[kidglove13]

I sipped a set of boggers last year among others, it took for ever
You definitely gain traction in certain conditions and the tire carcass will flex better
The only draw back is that tire wear will increase, at least that is what I have noticed on tires that I have sipped before

 

[CJF]

Sipping rubber can't be good for you.

I'd stick with siping. ;p

 

[kidglove13]

Sipping rubber can't be good for you.

I'd stick with siping. ;p

, Nope it is not

 

[bmwjnky]

The tires did great this last weekend. I had good traction in everything from 6-8" of fresh unplowed snow to hard packed snow/ice. And when the snow turned back into heavy rain on the way back down the tires resisted hydroplaining much better with the grooving and siping.