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et2's avatar
et2
Explorer
Nov 27, 2013

Siping MH tires for wet traction

I remember a thread not too long ago where someone commented about siping MH tires for traction in wet and snowy conditions. I had tires puton my car the other day and inquired with Discount Tire.

Their answer was it wasn't recommended for heavy vehicles ( motorhomes) as you lose some stability on dry roads. The tires tend to float around. Has anyone actually done this and how was it afterwards?

Thanks!
  • Michelin and Bridgestone sipe all there tires before they leave the factory!
  • J-Rooster wrote:
    Michelin and Bridgestone sipe all there tires before they leave the factory!


    How do you know this? Source?
  • There are 2 kinds of "sipes".

    1) The kind put in the mold by the tire manufacturer. Those are obvious by looking at the tread pattern. They are blade like, but they have a clear gap.

    2) The kind cut into the tire at the tire dealership. Those are the result of a knife cut and have no gap.

    What siping does is cut a block of otherwise continuous rubber into smaller pieces. That allows the blocks of rubber to be more flexible, but it also creates edges so it enhances the "paddle wheel affect".

    But more movement generates heat, and wear.

    Benefits of siping?

    Better snow traction.
    Better wet traction.

    Disadvantages?

    Some wear loss
    Some dry traction loss
    Some fuel economy loss (very small)
    Increased running temperature (very small)

    Yes, some of the above contradicts advertised claims. I would caution people about listening to anyone trying to sell a product or service. They may not be entirely accurate.

    Personally, I would only sipe a tire near the end of its life - to offset the loss of wet traction and snow traction as a tire wears. The loss of wear and the F/E hit are offset by the increased life I can get out before the traction drops to unsafe levels.
  • I am a huge supporter of siping. I do it to all my tires if possible. I called discount and they said they cant do 22.5" tires. In fact they said they will not even add aid to 22.5" tires. I have been a long time customer and found this odd. So where are you getting them siped? I'm in Dearborn, MI.

    Tim
  • J-Rooster wrote:
    Michelin and Bridgestone sipe all there tires before they leave the factory!


    You are correct. To the best of my knowledge all commercial tires are siped except maybe for the extremely large tires. The sipes themselves are in the tread area of the tire mold. Much engineering and testing goes into tire tread design, trying to get the best of all qualities a tire needs to perform at its maximum. Even the shape of the sipe impacts the performance of the tire. It is always a battle between trying to get long wear and traction. A tire could be made to go 500,000 miles, but it would have absolutely no traction on wet or slick surfaces. I personally would never sipe a tire; I think the tire design engineers are much smarter than those people selling tires and making money for siping tires. Adding extra slits in the tire tread may improve one performance feature, but reduce another performance feature. I will trust the engineers in this case. JMHO

    Ray
  • ltatkinson wrote:
    I am a huge supporter of siping. I do it to all my tires if possible. I called discount and they said they cant do 22.5" tires. In fact they said they will not even add aid to 22.5" tires. I have been a long time customer and found this odd. So where are you getting them siped? I'm in Dearborn, MI.

    Tim


    I'm not at this point. I was just inquiring while having tires put on my car. The General Tire is in New Hudson, MI. They are good guys to deal with. I just told him it was a MH, size wasn't discussed. I would be concerned they could handle a tire that size as you mentioned.

    What concerns me is, I had steering issues when we picked up our new MH this year. Come to find out the tires were over inflated. Lowering the pressure solved the problem.

    I'm not a tire expert, but I can see where siping could cause the tires to become mushy or as mentioned before to float more than a tire with a continuous tread pattern as the Goodyears are currently.
  • We always had it done one our truck and suv tires in MI, but, we are not driving the motorhome in the same type conditions, so will pass for getting it done on the motorhome. We'll sit if the weather is bad. Heavy rain also.
  • aeejbe wrote:
    J-Rooster wrote:
    Michelin and Bridgestone sipe all there tires before they leave the factory!


    How do you know this? Source?
    Michelin Tires website go too it and see for yourself! And Michelin explains the advantage of siping and why they sipe all there tires!