Tire siping; anybody heard of it, much less done it?

Where I grew up in the Northwest, siping SUV and truck tires is pretty common. Most major tire shops offer it. However, it is becoming less and less common to the point that when I called a local shop and asked if they siped tires, the young man on the phone said he'd never heard of it.

People swear it greatly improves traction on hard-packed snow and ice, and can make a tire last longer since it reduces heat build-up in the summer.

Siping is basically using a machine to cut thousands of tiny lines across the tread of a tire. This creates thousands of tiny biting edges to gain traction on snow and ice. Every single snow tire comes with factory siping.

I ran a set of Patagonia MT tires a few years ago that did not look like they would do well in the snow, so I had them siped at $15 a tire. They ended up being absolutely amazing in the snow.

I just got a set of Cooper Evolution MTs and had them siped today.

You can't hardly see them...



But they are there and ready to bite...



Just curious as to how many other folks do this to help with winter traction.

 

It's been around quite a long time.

 

Siping was a common mod when we would do winter runs up in Northern Wisconsin during the winter. There was a Discount Tire up near Wheeling/Buffalo Grove that gave club discounts. I always felt it was a good mod for driving over ice in the forest near Lakewood and Mountain in WI.

 

It's ironic that when I moved to Iowa in the 90's, that they had never heard of it. My first winter there, I discovered that the conditions were much worse in the winter than back home in Idaho. Freezing rain was something I had never encountered before.

I went to a local tire shop to buy a set of snow tires for my car and they said they didn't sell them. I was told since the invention of all-season tires, that you didn't need snow tires. Okay... I then asked if they could sipe my all-season tires then. Never heard of it.

I have never seen so many accidents and slide-offs in my life than in the winters in Iowa. On one trip to Des Moines, 60 miles away, I counted 55 cars in the ditch.

 

I can confirm that noone in the area knows how to drive! Being on the Iowa/ Nebraska border, I see it all to often!
Even in my wife's Infiniti G35xs (awd) we had a cheap set of wheels & blizzacks for winter use.
All 3 of our current vehicles (G35 to T4R) have Goodyear Duratracs which I deliberately chose because of their siping. 2 are plow vehicles & the 4Runner. Even my buddy who plows with me bought a pair. They are no ice tire but they work extremely well! Especially with a few snowblowers in the back! When I have a load of salt I don't need 4x4 unless we get freezing rain.
Siping is the key! Long rant, sorry.

 

The Cooper AT3has some pretty good siping from the factory, making them a good winter/wet tire. I believe there are definite advantages to siping on tires for the winter. Years past, but we used to sipe the tires on our dirt track stock car, I'm not real sure how much it did in that situation, but somebody started doing it and soon we all were. There is a test of tires used in the winter, and I wanna say they talk about the siping in the video. I'm pretty sure our local tire shops here in Wisconsin still offer the service, but it is becoming a lost "art".

 

I always look at siping when I look at tires. I have never had it done after purchasing though.

Snow tires generally have a ton of siping. It definitely makes a huge difference.

 

That's interesting. Regional differences in winter driving. We had never heard of chains before we moved to California. I mean, it snows like crazy in northern Ohio in the winter, but no one there uses chains. It was also the rare bird who put snow tires on their car. I recall every single winter I would get stuck in a Crown Vic on flat surfaces because we never swapped out the high speed street tires for something more practical. Instead of making individual drivers responsible for their own success in winter driving conditions, the state would dump thousands of tons of salt on the roads.