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Siping Tires

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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 10:38 AM
  #1  
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Default Siping Tires

Looking to put new shoes on. My neighbor workes part time for a large tire dealer (he's a certified mechanic not just a tire monkey) and he said that when I pick up the new ones to have them trued and siped. Does not change the load range or speed range, but gives better tracking under all wet and dry conditions. I read an article where Formula car tires are trued and siped for better wet traction.
I had a set of tires trued on my 63 Vette years back and those puppies wore forever with little or no weights on them, but I never had a tire siped.
Bliizacs (sp?) are siped from the manufacturer, but another article said that it is too costly for tire companies to do it to all tires.
Has anyone ever had a set siped? IF so is it worth it. There is a garage her that does it for $5.00 a tire.

Thanks in advance
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 10:42 AM
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I'm confused what does trued and siped mean
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 10:47 AM
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Sorry about that shouls have explained.
When truing a tire they spin it up to high RPM and trim off the rubber that makes a tire out of true. It's like a lathe.
When they sipe a tire they actually cut grooves, bout the with of a hacksaw blade horizontally across the heavy tred of the tire, about every 1/8 inch or so.

Hope that explains it

The Pup
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 10:47 AM
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well if the roads were perfect or you had 1000rwhp and you were looking for every inch of traction you could get then it might be worth it

but on a nearly stock car i dont see where you would benefit
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 10:48 AM
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It sounds to me like siping is when the tire dealer bends you over and charges you $5 per wheel for nothing of value.
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 11:04 AM
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hmm... well I can understand how it might improve wet traction but I dont see how it would improve dry traction.
oh and thanks for the explanation
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 11:06 AM
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Originally Posted by Benpup
When they sipe a tire they actually cut grooves, bout the with of a hacksaw blade horizontally across the heavy tred of the tire, about every 1/8 inch or so.
For $5/tire? If that's true, jump on it.

I use to sipe my 4x4 MTR tires when I was into 4-wheeling but I did it myself. Its quite a project IMO.
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 11:21 AM
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Don't waste your time or money, I had a set siped 3 years ago for my GTP and it didn't make any difference at all for traction.
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 11:23 AM
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sounds weird
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 11:40 AM
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I've siped tires on my Toyota 4x4 so the tires would spread a little more for better traction during rockcrawling. But I've never heard of siping tires on a street sports car... personally I wouldn't want to cut into the integrity of a tire you KNOW will be spinning a lot faster.
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by 04 commemorative
sounds weird
Never heard of doing that to supercar tires.
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 01:57 PM
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There shouldn't be enough radial run out in a HP tire/wheel assembly that would require "truing" If the assembly is that far out it's time for another tire or wheel.

Siping, IMO, is unnecessary with todays HP tires and can cause tread chunking if done incorrectly.
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 09:09 PM
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My last visit at Discount Tire revealed the Sipe machine sitting caddy whampous under a stack of junk. They really tried pushing that crap 3 or 4 years ago.

Never fell for it. Guess most others didn't either or the machine would still be in a prominent location and being used....obviously not.....
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 09:26 PM
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Originally Posted by R Devil
Siping, IMO, is unnecessary with todays HP tires and can cause tread chunking if done incorrectly.


Siping was popular many years ago, but with today's tires you don't often hear a tire dealer even mention it. I wouldn't waste the money.
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 10:53 PM
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Discount tire manager told me 4 or 5 years ago that Z rated tires not suppose to be sipped.

-Mike
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Old Nov 7, 2007 | 11:01 PM
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I was told the same thing for Z rated tires
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Old Nov 8, 2007 | 12:22 AM
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Shouldn't need to sipe HP tires. As for truing. If a new HP tire is not true on the rim there is something wrong with the rim or the tire didn't seat properly on the rim. Take the tire off check the rim and then remount with the proper lubricant to allow the tire to center while seating.

Bill
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Old Nov 8, 2007 | 01:32 AM
  #18  
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I'm still lost on what this is but if it means removing any tread then I'm totally against it.

I do a fine job of that at pretty much every stop light I sit at.
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Old Nov 8, 2007 | 09:23 AM
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Truing can't hurt anything, as it makes the tire perfectly round, but siping is a no,no for high performance tires. Winter tires often have siping, but they're not designed for high speed or handling. With siping the tread loses stablity and degrades handling, which maybe OK for your typical passenger car, but not a Vette.
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Old Nov 8, 2007 | 10:03 AM
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Originally Posted by sxe60
Truing can't hurt anything, as it makes the tire perfectly round, but siping is a no,no for high performance tires. Winter tires often have siping, but they're not designed for high speed or handling. With siping the tread loses stablity and degrades handling, which maybe OK for your typical passenger car, but not a Vette.
dead on correct! siping is a thing of the past.
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