Tire siping

brokenparts · Oct 22, 2007

Gettin ready to gear up for the snow wheeling season and wondered about tire siping. I've run a set of 39.5 Irok bias ply on my fj-60. I dont DD the rig but I do still drive it to and from the trail so I'd like a little more traction on the ice while getting there...

Anyone have any opinions--- good, bad, or indifferent?

zebraic · Oct 22, 2007

i was just about to post almost the same tread. i was wondering if its worth it? i mean do u get a noticeable amount of traction that u didnt have before?

hotrod1 · Oct 22, 2007

NO!!!!!!NO!!!!!NO!!!!! siping is not worth it at all! it does absolutly nothing unless you have it on street tires like on a car. all it does for you on a trail tire is increase wear on an already soft tire.

skrause · Oct 22, 2007

IROKs are fine on ice, I wouldn't unless they were <25% remaining

GRNTACO · Oct 22, 2007

You don't sip IROKs, you groove them.:awesomework:

Dain Bramage · Oct 22, 2007

hotrod said:
NO!!!!!!NO!!!!!NO!!!!! siping is not worth it at all! it does absolutly nothing unless you have it on street tires like on a car. all it does for you on a trail tire is increase wear on an already soft tire.

x2, siping tires on a wheeler only leads to chunking.

zebraic · Oct 22, 2007

so even just the middle part on bfg mud terrains wouldnt be worth it for snow and ice?

Dain Bramage · Oct 22, 2007

nope. just air down. i will be running my tires at around 15-20 psi on the street when it starts snowing.

zebraic · Oct 22, 2007

skrause said:
Sure, just cut real deep making sure you hit the cords. Then toss them and get some real tires. :fawkdancesmiley:

:flipoff: wanted tires that would last for daily driving too

skrause · Oct 22, 2007

zebraic said:
:flipoff: wanted tires that would last for daily driving too

My DD's tires and trailer tires are lasting just fine, thanks. :fawkdancesmiley:

brokenparts · Oct 22, 2007

interesting... I'm getting mixed reviews from different sites. Anyone have first hand experience?

TreeClimber · Oct 22, 2007

I run 37 Krawlers with sipes thru the center of the tread block, but NOT to the edges. I've had minuscule amounts of chunking, certainly nothing that bothers me. And I definately see an advantage both in ice and snow, and in snot mud wheeling too. I did NOT expect to gain a mud advantage, but, when aired down to 6 psi, those little sipes seem to give a tad extra oomph, when you're trail driving uphill on slippery-slimy stuff.

Drone637 · Oct 22, 2007

I used to run 33x12.5 BFG Mud Terrains, sipping the center up made a difference for grabbing rocks when aired down. Then again, the SJ doesn't really have enough weight to make the tires flex with just an air down. 8-10 psi was required just to see the sidewall bulge a little bit, and 4-6 was snow running preasure, 4-2 if I really wanted to float.

KarlVP · Oct 22, 2007

FiFo siped his radial TSL's in the center tread only. Last year in the snow, he plain whooped ass. The tires didn't chunk and the traction for the snow wheeling and on the wet rocks was phenominal.

99redtj · Oct 22, 2007

if its a radial i would sipe them. my last bfg were siped and i got good milage out of them (around 60,000).

Digger 5 · Oct 22, 2007

I've had the same results as Treeclimber. Watch out when you get your siping done as not everyone does it well.

Cascade_Crawler · Oct 22, 2007

Siping is different than grooving...Am I wrong? I think some are mixing the two up.

Grooving -

Siping -

TreeClimber · Oct 22, 2007

I don't think we're mixing it up. I siped my tires, as did Digger5. It made a noticable difference on Krawlers. On my old TSLs, I grooved them. That too made a difference on the rocks and stumps, as it flexed much better, but not in the snow and ice. Each of those little biting edges of a siped tire makes a difference when it's slickery, but doesn't particularly help the tire flex better. Since I run a pretty good tire, and it's pretty large, I flex good enough with that tread pattern to not worry about grooving them.

PORTER · Oct 23, 2007

If it was me I would not sipe an IROK, as they are pretty soft in stock form.. Mine worked extremely good in the snow I grooved them when they started wearing to keep them soft. Besides they already have some siping in them, and if you add more I think this will lead to chunking. Now if you run a hard tire like TSLs, Blue label Krawlers, then siping I can see would make a bit of difference. Thats my 02, take it for whats worth.

Money Mark · Oct 23, 2007

brokenparts said:
Gettin ready to gear up for the snow wheeling season and wondered about tire siping. I've run a set of 39.5 Irok bias ply on my fj-60. I dont DD the rig but I do still drive it to and from the trail so I'd like a little more traction on the ice while getting there...

Anyone have any opinions--- good, bad, or indifferent?

Iroks ARE "sipied". No need to touch them. Different tires is a different story.