Posted by Ed Tavernier on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 11:43AM :
In Reply to: Regrooving tires or ( sipping ) removing parts of the tires posted by Doug Boeve on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 7:04AM :
Doug,
Two different ideas...
Tire cutting involves the removal of rubber from the tread, usually a heated knife that melts/cuts away the tread; used in offroad racing to make special treads for different track/dirt conditions.
Siping involves cutting razor thin slices into the tread WITHOUT and removal of the tread, leaving the tread with multiple crevices to 1) help grip ice/snow surfaces by allowing snow to pack into the crevices, (snow in the crevices creates more friction than rubber tread without the siping), and 2) help dissipate water under the tread footprint. Siping is generally done with a worm gear like blade that cuts the sipe into the tread as it advances the tire.
Both allow the tire to better conform to irregular surfaces; both allow for increased wear/shorter tread life/increased "chunking".
In general siping is better for winter/wet, tire cutting/grooving for off road...though some rock crawlers state that siping also helps.
Eddie
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