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tire siping worth it?

I have always wondered about this:

If tire siping is such a great deal for traction or tread cooling or whatever, why dont the manufacturers do it to the tire before it leaves the factory? I gotta believe that the big guys (BFG, Good Year, Etc.) have a team of engineers and R&D folks that spend tons of time and $$$ figuring out every little detail to make their product work better and last longer than the competition.

It seems odd to me that they would have all the knowledge and ability to sipe cheap at the factory, and yet they choose to let the corner tire guy and his siping machine make their tire a better product. This just seems wierd to me and I have always wondered about it.

I'm going to write a letter to "Myth Busters" and see what they say. Might be a good episode. EW
 
Tires are purpose built. A great snow tire versus a great mud or all terrain tire is usually the problem. Most guys want to run a big mud terrain type tire for the tuff truck look, but they are horrible in icy road conditions because of the big block lugs, so they sipe them to try and get the traction of a great snow tire. The manufacturers know how to build tires, customers just need to buy the right tires for the purpose they need.

Bridgestone Blizzak (Load Range E Truck Tire)
bs_blizzak_w965_ci2_l.jpg


(BFG Mud Terrain Load Range E)
bfg_mudterrain_ta_ci2_l.jpg
 
MORSNO

That is the best advice given yet!
Now you know that pic of the BFG is 2 years old, ya gotta show a pic of the current M/T:p
 
Back to the original question; Yes, siping will help with winter traction, but not to the extent of a purpose built tire or a studded tire.

Summitrmk, Here is the new BFG KM2.
bfg_mudterrain_ta_km2_ci2_l.jpg
 
Your getting closer but there is a newer BFG M/T. It's the new mud tire that comes stock on the new Jeeps. It looks like a BFG KM and a Goodyear Wrangler MTR had a baby.
 
I run 37" toyo mts that are center siped and i pull a 24' enclosed, and a 21' boat and i now have 30k miles on my tires with around 50% tread left, and i've been running these tires for 2.5 years now, i think the siping works great.
 
I sipe all of my tires when I can. The snow tires I have on the Dodge now are not sipped but they are studded with a factory sipping. Siping will give you more traction and for the most part longer tire life (especially highway driving). If you look at the tires on police vehicles in Idaho they are siped. I don't believe they can run studded tires on the pavement. I think this is true for all state and county vehicles in Idaho. I don't know if they run a factory siping or aftermarket as a factory siped tire has a better winter rubber for icy conditions.
 
I have always wondered about this:

If tire siping is such a great deal for traction or tread cooling or whatever, why dont the manufacturers do it to the tire before it leaves the factory? I gotta believe that the big guys (BFG, Good Year, Etc.) have a team of engineers and R&D folks that spend tons of time and $$$ figuring out every little detail to make their product work better and last longer than the competition.

It seems odd to me that they would have all the knowledge and ability to sipe cheap at the factory, and yet they choose to let the corner tire guy and his siping machine make their tire a better product. This just seems wierd to me and I have always wondered about it.

I'm going to write a letter to "Myth Busters" and see what they say. Might be a good episode. EW





Try driving on gravel roads with a siped tire. They get shredded in about 5000 miles and throw rocks like a SOB.
 
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