I bought a new set of "Good Year Integrity" tires for our other car today and had the tires "Siped" (Safety siped)
I never heard of this before but wondered if anyone else here is familiar with this and had it done.

I also found this link among many that discuss this procedure and also provide a video.

I wonder if a summer tire could be made an all season tire by doing this procedure ??

Your comments ans thoughts please

Valk

Photo on left has tire siping. (mine)
Photo on right is stock.
Notice the cuts in the three center rows of tread after siping procedure.

 

Tried it here, went to a tire shop said they would not do it on my summer tires. They did do it to the all seasons on the other car, IMO they feel slightly louder, no noticeable difference in the wet or rain. Thats my personal experience. Maybe it does help abit. I'd test out a braking before and after doing it and see if there is. If there is a difference it would be so negligible that the inconstancy in the braking wouldn't let it be noticeable.

P.S. Not sure if it matters but the tires were filled with nitrogen for me before and after use, maybe if you use normal air it does make a differance.

 

I believe that's process of putting hundreds of tiny cuts in the tire to improve wet traction. I'd be wary of putting all those cuts on my tires. Seem like if the benefits were real, then the tire manufacturers would have pre sliced their products. I've some read articles questioning the benefits of this.

 

You are correct about what it is. From my understanding it only helps in wet though.

 

Also thinking about it even though these holes are minute they may be dissipating heat too much, and tires generally speaking do like heat and have better traction, so you may in fact be losing traction in the warmth. Again, I presume all these effects are minimal, but every tiny bit adds on.

 

Used to do this on some rally tires when I worked for AudiSport factory rally team in the 80's in Germany but only for wet weather tarmac (paved roads) and some sandy roads where grains of sand would stick in the sipes and help with traction and wear.

 

x2

My local Discount Tires promoted it several years ago.. The last time I was there (a few months ago), they didn't promote it anymore. Maybe people caught on. I think it's nothing but profit for them. IMHO, it equates to buying extended warrantees on appliances.

 

Anyone else ??
Ever get their tires "siped"
As I said until yesterday I had never even heard of this.

 

Siping is done to Blizzak tires and is part of the reason why they are such great snow tires (and last a very short time in anything but snow). If you touch a Blizzak, you will see that the rubber compound is very soft/porous and also has many fine cuts/sipes.

I'm not sure what effect siping would have on a standard all-season tire, but I would imagine that they would grip a bit better in the snow and reduce tread life somewhat.

I think in general most modern tires perform so well that siping by hand is not cost effective.

 

Funny you should say that. Discount Tire used to promote siping saying that the tires ran cooler and therefore lasted longer.

As I said previously, the last time I was in there I so no signs promoting it nor did the salesman try to sell it to me. Maybe they experienced problems with it on the hot roads down here.

 

^^^ In regards to the temperature I think that maybe my thoughts in post 5 might actually be right in that case.

 

Siping is primarily for winter tire use. It effectively allows the tire tread to "expand" in one direction (rolling) and get a better grip on slick surfaces.

There's no advantage to having siped summer tires. There's not enough of a cut/groove to allow the channeling of water.

 

If you had a summer tire siped wouldn't it the be similar to an all season tire ??

 

Hi, Gary!

Our company used to offer siping with the purchase of any new All-Season or snow/winter tire.
We don't any longer. The siping machines (we purchased 2 of them) were about 25 grand each & the ROI on the machines never surfaced.
Siping is/was supposed to provide better traction in snow or rain. Whether or not they do I can't say, I've never had any of my tires siped.
Let's put it this way; it doesn't hurt the tire any. Let us know how it goes & whether or not you note any differences!

 

Similar, maybe.

The main problem would be the fact that they use different compounds of rubber for summer tires vs. all season tires.

 

I guess in "theory" one could come to that conclusion. By no means an expert, I should be shot for even saying that much, but a lot has to do with the intent and therefore design of the tire. If we are talking about true summer tires and not all season, wouldn't the basic design be too different to come close to making it an all season? Having lived in Colorado ten years (no XF then), we had tire places trying to sell us on the procedure and I did it one year and found absolutely no real noticeable difference. Were it designed into the tire to begin with, I'd say it would.

I'd say if you can get by in your area with all season tires vice winter tires, the need to sipe would be questionable to begin with. Just get a good all season tire; just have to research tires unless you trust your sales person.

On a side note, a recent visit to the parts department when I was getting an oil change, I asked about what types of tires they have and recommend. I expected to get a hard sale but didn't, the guys said Chrysler is now recommending these two Dunlops for winter:

SP Winter Sport 3D (Front (cost=$240) and back (cost=$336.25))

or the

Dun Winter Sport M3 rear (MSRP $391.65) they said the front would be the 3D one above.

Here is a couple of links w/reviews I found on the 3D.

http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews...e_reviews.html

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....inter+Sport+3D

 

Living in Akron Ohio (home of Good Year, Firestone, Goodrich, and several others at one time) I worked for Goodrich for 16 years. I still have many friends who work or worked in the tire industry in various capacities.
One of my oldest friends use to carve tire molds for Good Year, and he use to tell me about how many different designs they would do, and the company would test, before they found just the right combination of characteristics to make the tire perform just the way they wanted it to.
I would be very leery of changing anything about the tread design of any tire I planned on driving on the street with, other than having it "trued".
Probably the biggest problem you would encounter would be making it louder (as Kit Fox pointed out) but why take a chance of changing anything about a tires design that engineers have spent so much time perfecting.
Other than your brakes, I can't think of anything else more important on your car than your tires when it comes to keeping you from having an accident.

 

Well when I got these tires a few days ago I did go ahead and have them siped.
I was unsure about this whole idea and also questioned the need.
Since they were giving me a road hazard warranty which would replace the tires if damaged or defective at no cost as long as I own the car and that siping in no way voids the warranty I said go ahead.
They ride smooth and very quiet and so far handle very well on wet roads.
I guess time will tell.
I do appreciate the feedback here to
Thanks, Valk