Posted by Todd Wilson on Friday, December 19, 2003 at 0:05AM :
In Reply to: Re: What are Siped Tires ? ntxt posted by CJ in AK on Thursday, December 18, 2003 at 7:29PM :
We do this all the time on the buddys dirt track car. He has a tool to do this thats a combo heat gun/cutter. While it helps in traction it cuts down the tire life. At least on the race car it does.
Basically Paul you just cut grooves into the tread and it helps with traction.
If you notice on tires there are thinner grooves on the treads. Some cheaper tires this groove is only say 1/8th inch in depth while the bigger tread grooves go down further say 3/8 of tread.
The Michelins I have on my 95 the small grooves are as deep as the big grooves on the tread. That way I have full tread pattern through the life of the tire. A set of good years I had were wore slick of the thin grooves while the big grooves on the tread were still there. From 10 feet away the still looked like good tires.
Todd