# Siping Tires in Snow Terrains



## BonMallari (Feb 7, 2008)

Have any one here that lives in snowy climates ever had their tires "siping" they offer the service at Les Schwab at 15/tire and is supposed to improve handling on ice/snow conditions


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## prairiewind (Feb 17, 2009)

I have had tires siped here in wyoming, I believe it gave me better traction.


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## Marvin S (Nov 29, 2006)

BonMallari said:


> Have any one here that lives in snowy climates ever had their tires "siping" they offer the service at Les Schwab at 15/tire and is supposed to improve handling on ice/snow conditions


If you are in the ditch it's probably worth it, but I wouldn't waste the money. It provides more resistance to directions you do not want to go but IMO tire life is reduced & the initial effect is worn off fairly soon. The best snow tires I ever had were recaps with Walnut Shells or Sawdust in the rubber. 10 months of snow, 2WD vehicle, 11,500' altitude & never stuck . Hard to top that ;-)!


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## BonMallari (Feb 7, 2008)

thanks for the responses, Clint has new Coopers on his Silverado 3/4 PU but after we had the episode of slipping and sliding in the mud during our elk trip in Sept, he wanted me to research and ask people first hand before he had his tires cut (siped)...


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## FOM (Jan 17, 2003)

They do them all the time here in CO, I specifically ask them NOT to. On two occasions they did more damage than good...when stopping hard (Antelope decided to hang out in the middle of the highway) I lost a chuck of tire, came off in pieces and I'm positive it was due to the siping. The second time was trying to get a little traction in our drive way, chunks of tire were spit off due to the siping.

I would like to believe the tire manufactures properly design their tires for proper grip/traction and cutting up the tires does not help them...I've made them change out a brand new set of Michelins (sp?) because the siped them without my permission!

Edit - tell him to buy a more aggressive tire, use chains, or drive in a lower gear! Sometimes muddy is just slippery and it don't matter what ya do! Also install a winch to the truck (I recommend a hitch set up so you can easily move it from the front to the rear if need be).

FOM


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## BonMallari (Feb 7, 2008)

FOM said:


> They do them all the time here in CO, I specifically ask them NOT to. On two occasions they did more damage than good...when stopping hard (Antelope decided to hang out in the middle of the highway) I lost a chuck of tire, came off in pieces and I'm positive it was due to the siping. The second time was trying to get a little traction in our drive way, chunks of tire were spit off due to the siping.
> 
> I would like to believe the tire manufactures properly design their tires for proper grip/traction and cutting up the tires does not help them...I've made them change out a brand new set of Michelins (sp?) because the siped them without my permission!
> 
> ...


we did that last time, we installed Toyo MT but realized he was putting more time on the road than off the road..I like the Michelins myself, but the Cooper is a very good tire


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## ed1957gar (Mar 31, 2010)

BonMallari said:


> Have any one here that lives in snowy climates ever had their tires "siping" they offer the service at Les Schwab at 15/tire and is supposed to improve handling on ice/snow conditions


I have siped my tires for years..In the begining i had some tires that were terrible traction tires i sipe them and it really helped..I sipe all my tires.


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## shawninthesticks (Jun 13, 2010)

Whats this siping ya'll speak of?


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## mngundog (Mar 25, 2011)

Shawn White said:


> Whats this siping ya'll speak of?


Cutting slits across the treads to improve http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tireSiping.dos


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## Buzz (Apr 27, 2005)

BonMallari said:


> we did that last time, we installed Toyo MT but realized he was putting more time on the road than off the road..I like the Michelins myself, but the Cooper is a very good tire


What I have been told is that the Michelins use a harder rubber to get more miles out of the tire. They put a silicon compound into the rubber to improve traction with the harder tire, but in the newest incarnation of the ms2 tire the compounding was done to optimize wet road traction to the detriment of traction on ice in very cold temperatures. One of the things they did to offset that was to extensively sipe the tire tread. I have had no problems with the tire self destructing because of it, but the sipes were designed by the tire company and not done by some guys in a garage or tire shop.

Here is a picture of the sipes on the Micheline for those who don't know what it is.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPi...+Letters&tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=LTX+M/S2


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