: Groovin and Siping MT/R's


Blown349
12-19-2008, 12:39 PM
I bought these tires used and the outside edges are worn from running aired down. I got a groover off e-bay for about $65 and grooved them to get a little better bite in the snow.

MT/R tread:
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/693615/fullsize/mtr2.jpg

Grooved:
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/694252/fullsize/dscn3572.jpg

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/694251/fullsize/dscn3571.jpg

Groover:
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/694255/fullsize/dscn3576.jpg

Groover head:
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/694254/fullsize/dscn3573.jpg

It came with 12 blades and I only used one for all four tires. There are different sized heads to go with different sized blades. This one was a bit less than .25" wide and you set the depth by how you clamp the blade in the head.

Looks like I'll get a chance to try them in snow soon. The improvement may be modest at best but I am sure they will be better than they were. The cuts in the center lugs should help the stop and go and the grooves around the circumference/outer lugs should help some with lateral traction. The groover balde can be flipped so that two sharp edges protrude to sipe the tires. That will be the next step if I want to go for a little more traction.

OK, this helped though not an immense gain, I could tell a difference. I see no reason to try to gain a bit more. I am going to turn the blade around, which will allow me to sipe two lines about a 1/4" apart. I'll do the inner lugz only. I have noticed that the grooves around the circumference pick-up snow easily, but that extra edge helped with lateral traction some. It was much easier to break it loose around a corner before I grooved the tires.
This is a decent site on sipes: http://www.sipers.com/sipers/testimonials.asp

Latest work and great results in addition to the Grooving. So I siped each inner lug down the length of the lug, two cuts about a 1/4" apart by turning the groove blade upside down. If this was done at a tire store they would have grooved 90degrees across the tread and cut them lugz into little bits that would surely chunk off. I beleive this way they will not.

Pic of sipes after a little snow:
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/695850/fullsize/dscn3578.jpg

Sipes grab! The top track/trie is siped the bottom track/tire is not siped.:
http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/695852/fullsize/dscn3580.jpg

Blown349
12-19-2008, 01:00 PM
I have not had them offroad and these probably won't go out to the trails accept for a bit of snow bashing. They will be for winter use. I am getting another set of MT/R's for the other three seasons. I don't think I will groove or sipe them. The grooving added a modest amount of traction for snow and ice. The sipes made a much bigger difference and I am pleased with the results.