Thread: Tire Sipe
View Single Post
Old 02-20-2014, 05:36 PM   #11 (permalink)
bestclimb
Smeghead
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: South Central AK
Posts: 933

escort - '99 ford escort sport
90 day: 42.38 mpg (US)

scoobaru - '02 Subaru Forester s
90 day: 28.65 mpg (US)
Thanks: 32
Thanked 146 Times in 97 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by poomanchu View Post
Removing material from the tread block reduces the actual material that is contacting the ground at any one point. I don't know if just 'slicing' the tread on the tires without removing material is siping, but I don;t know much about this.

All the sports cars with wide tires to maximize contact patch are doing it wrong. They should be rollin on bike tires for max traction. Same with those offroaders and wide tires. This seems wrong, no?
Sports cars with wide tires are doing it right, but the increase in traction they see is a result of improved cooling of the surface of the tire which allows for a sticker/softer tire with acceptable wear rates. The wider tires cause the heat from friction to be spread over a wider area, improving cooling and increasing the amount of slip it takes to liquify at the contact patch.

The off roaders use a wide tire to have a lower PSI* so that the tire does not dig into the mud or sand as much. In some other situations wider tires are a hinderance. Big wide tires are somewhat of an affectation in some cases.

A sipe does not remove any material.

*pounds per square inch of contact patch not tire pressure, though lower tire pressure allows the tire to form to the rocks and what not)

__________________

Learn from the mistakes of others, that way when you mess up you can do so in new and interesting ways.

One mile of road will take you one mile, one mile of runway can take you around the world.

Last edited by bestclimb; 02-20-2014 at 05:53 PM..
  Reply With Quote