thoughts on Siping tires (for fuel economy)

[KrautBurner]

here in the PNW,
all the tire shops push SIPING of the tires
claiming its good for wet/snow traction, as well as tread life, and even economy

what do you guys here think about it?


Tire Siping - Discount Tire

Performance Tire Siping - Les Schwab Tire Centers®

Siping reduces friction heat and its effect on your tire by allowing the tire to cool. The sipes act by isolating heat into small “corrals” and allowing air to pass between them, thereby dispersing the heat and naturally cooling the tire.


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[YeahPete]

I would wait for an independent test done. It just does not make sense in my mind.... How does cutting slits in your tire prolong the tire life? I would think the effect would be the opposite. How do you get, "added grip" and less friction and less tire wear? Does friction not equal grip? This blows my mind someone please help me.

[elhigh]

Doesn't compute as far as I'm concerned. Don't tire manufacturers recommend we replace tires if they get cuts in them?

More edges to cog into the driving surface and help clear water from under the tire probably help with inclement weather traction, but the fact is most of the time the roadways aren't wet or snowy. I can see siping having an effect on snow traction, but really don't we expect the manufacturer to have done a decent job in the first place? If I'm running on snows, I'll trust the original engineers to have known what they were about and put in the right number of sipes to give good traction, but not enough to reduce the tire to a big black KOOSH tire.

Tire shops aren't engineers. I'll pass on this added-cost point-of-sale "service."

[YeahPete]

"Microsiping can dramatically improve tire traction in rain and snow. However, microsiped tires may also have increased road noise and tire wear when operated on dry surfaces. ConsumerReports.org recommends against adding more than "the sipes that your tires come with" because of longevity and dry performance"

"Claims that extended life is achieved by siping may only apply to certain environments, operating temperatures, and rubber compound builds."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping_(rubber)

Basically if you live in a place where it is wet or snowy over 50% of the days you drive, it is beneficial to get your tires siped. Thats what I took away from the 10 minutes of research I did. I also read you can sipe your tires yourself with a razor.

Now think about it. Do our day to day tires actually get as hot as these people are saying that they need extra slits to "prolong life"? Maybe if I take my car to the track. But then again... I would have a special set of tires for that. Typical salesmen selling things

[Oceanic815]

For our 02 Escape, we picked up in early 2012 a set of new Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor tires in size LT235/70/16 and had them siped at America's tire [we refuse to frequent Les Schwab despite being less than 20 miles from their HQ... $80 for changing from winter to summer tires or back?!? Ridiculous!]. We chose the LT due to the stiffer sidewall and the ability to air them up higher than the passenger version.

This past summer we had a 4" screw end up in the sidewall near the tread, which necessitated replacement of one of the tires under the roadhazard warranty from America's tire. The replacement Silent Armor tire we did not have siped, as they did not mention it at the time and we didn't think of it.

The new tire went on the back and there is no noticeable performance/grip difference any time of the year vs. the other three which were siped.

When the set of Silent Armor tires were new we lost about 1mpg vs. the Uniroyal all-season tires we had on it before, most likely due to tire weight and tread block design. The Uniroyals were not siped and seemed to wear out quickly even though both the Uniroyals and Goodyears were both rated for the same mileage and our driving style and daily routes did not change. Three of the four Silent Armors are siped and do not seem to be wearing unnecessarily fast.

Does siping do any good? I'm not a tire pro so I can't answer with accuracy; however, by eyeballing and by the seat-of-the-pants observation the siped tires seem to be lasting longer [and they better at $180/tire!]. We'll see if the one non-siped Silent Armor tire catches up to the rest of the tires on wear in another year or so.

[Teri_TX]

Caution! Pure theoretical thinking here. Heat buildup in a tire is from internal friction from the constant flexing of all the tire's components. Reducing the resistance to flexing should reduce the heat and thus the energy required to roll.

I can imagine siping reduces the resistance of the flexing of the tread. Thus a potential FE gain. However, any gain would be minimal and probably not worth it.

Siping is best for enabling water to escape the surface of the tread in wet weather and thus greater resistance to hydroplaning.

-- Teri

[KrautBurner]

here in the PNW,
it's very common (I'd say 30-50% of tires are siped around here)
all the shops push it
(I figure, I'll pay the $12-15 for better tires instead of modifying cheaper tires)

I've also been told (by a very good friend at a tire shop) not to sipe my tires (on my GTO) because I'll destroy them
but he reccomends it on all NORMAL street vehicles

[KrautBurner]

How does "SIPING" increase fuel mileage? - as some claim - Car Talk


Siping Tires | Slashing Tires - Consumer Reports

[elhigh]

This site calls out Goodyear and Michelin specifying against aftermarket siping. That's reference enough for me.

If you need to rely on tweaking the tire to try to cope with the conditions, you're driving wrong.

Siping provides more opportunity for tread blocks to move independently of others. Tire movement not in the direction of travel is also known as "squirm," and it eats energy.

[KrautBurner]

Originally Posted by elhigh

This site calls out Goodyear and Michelin specifying against aftermarket siping. That's reference enough for me.

If you need to rely on tweaking the tire to try to cope with the conditions, you're driving wrong.

you're referring to about 75% of the people on this site that overinflate there tires