Siping LTB's

[GM4Life]

Does anyone know if siping Super Swamper LTB's is a good idea? Has anyone driven on siped LTB's or seen them work? looking to get more traction on the ice and snow.

[piratebuggy]

Siping always helps wet and snow traction. Couldn't really hurt nothin-I'd give it a try.

[GM4Life]

thats what i was figuring. if you take your tires to les schwab will they sipe them for you, or will they only sipe the ones that you buy there? anyone know?

[glfredrick]

Back when I was still driving a Freighliner bulk milk truck in the hills of Western Wisconsin, I found that siping the tires gave a REMARKABLE improvement in bad weather traction. I could pull out, up hill, on glare ice and not spin a tire. Same truck, same conditions, without siping, I had to run chains or not move. I'm a believer and my 38 Swampers are getting grooved and siped.

[GM4Life]

does it cause them to wear down faster? i heard somewhere (i think a Schwab ad) that it makes them last longer when siped because of heat dissipation. is this correct?

[YamanX]

Siped???

[GM4Life]

fine horizontal slits in the lugs of your tires

[dodgeoffroader]

how deep do you make the slits? how close together do you make them? do you make the sipes go to the edges of the lugs?

[fullygruntled]

Considering some of the chunking my non-siped LTBs have already, I'd be curious at how siping would affect that condition.

Oh well, one way to find out... slit slit.

[FlexyTJ]

Sipe the center lugs only for longevitiy purposes, that way you dont end up ripping the side lugs off. Most tire shops machines cannot cut all the way through deep tread. You may eventually have to have the tires re-siped once the lugs wear to the depth of the original sipes. I've also found the siping makes a remarkable difference in traction both onroad in wet/snow conditions as well as offroad. It is definetly worth it.

[glfredrick]

Do them about 1/4" deep. You will have to re-do them once the tread wears down.

I've had better tread wear with the tires siped than not. They run cooler and conform to the surface better.

I also like then siped all the way across. Just doing the centers doesn't do that much for ultimate traction, as the entire casing has to flex to work.

[GM4Life]

yeah, i figured i would have to sipe them later when they get worn down and im probably gonna sipe them all the way across. hey glfredrick, what is your avatar?

[GM4Life]

nevermind, checked out your trucks, its an exlpoder right? i thought it was a dolorian at that angle

[glfredrick]

Originally Posted by GM4Life

nevermind, checked out your trucks, its an exlpoder right? i thought it was a dolorian at that angle

Yuppers, its an Explorer.

My other truck is a Ranger (currently under construction). 4 linked front and rear -- dana 44 front, 60 rear, Torson and Lincoln on 38's -- full exo, 'Sploder 4.0 - coilovers, no sheetmetal -- should be fun.

[GM4Life]

so what makes it a ranger? since there is no sheetmetal, is it the frame that was a ranger?

[glfredrick]

Originally Posted by GM4Life

so what makes it a ranger? since there is no sheetmetal, is it the frame that was a ranger?

I could ask the same question about Jeeps...

I guess since it still has the factory frame (what's left of it) and the cab, hood, and title, it is still a Ranger.

[GM4Life]

lol, ok i was wondering that.

[W.O.T.]

they should sipe em. its around $15 a tire. or you can get a sharp knife

[1TFROT]

if you have a Discount Tire near you, we will do it for about $10/tire (also depends on size of tire though)

it's a great process and truly works. I haven't noticed any gain offroad with my MTRs (37") and the siping, but onroad when raining or snowing it's a huge difference.

[Kilborg]

It will dramatically improve performance in wet conditions at speed. But siping a tire like a swamper I would think your best off only doing the center lugs, as the sidelugs have enough of a problem tearing off on the street as is.

Anyway, Should be exactly what your looking for if done properly.

[jetboy]

Don't see that anyone has ansered this, but yes they will last longer on the street due to heat dissipation, and they will run smoother because they flex easier. Also you should never sipe a tire all the way to the outside of the lugs, but you can generally sipe the centers of the outside lugs to within a 1/4the inch and not have too bad of a problem with chunking. And I will echo what everyone else has said, it makes a significant improvement on snow and ice!

If you have run them you will have to pick ALL the little rocks out if there are any or pay the tire guys to do it because it will ruin the blade on the siping machine. Also I have sipped tires with a razor knife. It sucks and takes a long time, and will put blisters on your hands, but it works better for directional tires to sipe at the same angle as the tread runs.

Good luck

[matt_347]

I live out in the country and drive a 3 mile gravel road one way to get to my house. I have had tires sipid and they have chunked horribly from driving on gravel. If u arnt traveling on gravel roads alot then cool but be warned gravel will rip the shit out of sipid tires.

[RockMolester]

My housemate has the 33x13.50x15 LTB's under his Samurai, and he did a "poor man's siping/grooving" with a Sawzall. Saw an improvement not only in wet/snowy road performance, but also an improvement in the tire's flexibility on rocks. It's helped how the tires have worn too; you can see how the wear on the long tread blocks was "broken up" by the sipe, which has also kept the tires a little quieter too.

Also, I had some tires siped at Les Schwab before, which I hadn't originally bought from them. They had no problem with doing that.

[GM4Life]

ok, i figured i would go to les schwab to get them siped, theres one not to far from my house.

[YamanX]

Does it matter when you get them siped? Can you do it on a new set and get the same results? Or is this for an older set to last a little longer?