Should I Sipe my new SSR's

[Rollie715]

My new 27" SSR's should be here this week. Looking at the factory tread pattern, it appears they already have some small siping lines running different directions in some of the center lugs. The outside lugs appear to be just big single chunks of rubber with no siping or internal patterns. It seems like those big solid lugs would be fairly slippery on hard surfaces such as wet rocks, ice or wet pavement. I'm thinking of adding some more siping like that being offered by Les Scwab tires. Some quick internet searching has resulted in varying opinions, but mostly suggestions that siping would be an improvement for most driving I do. The only negative comments I've seen suggest heavy rock crawling may tend to break off more tire chunks if they are siped. I don't do much rock crawling, but will see a lot of mud and wet roads.

 

Any experience or suggestions on this?

 

thanks

Rollie

[subestyle18]

I havent delt with the ssr's personaly but i have some wildcat ext's on my 83 third hand from mudrat. He had them siped new. He spotted the wheels on my wagon last summer and told me that those tire had over 50,000 miles on them. He claimed that the siping made them last longer and handle better when new on the street. They were pretty worn down by the time i got them but still did supisingly well on wet pavement. Sounds like he wheeled the tires fairly hard and i did as good as i could and their were hardly any chunks taken out.

I am going with ssr's for my next set and i was planing and siping them.

Dave

[NoahDL88]

I sipped my SSR's about 6 months after i got them, it was money well spent, the wet traction on and off road is well worth it. and the extra longevity is also a plus. I'd reccomend makeing sure that your fenders are clearanced though before you sipe them, as the metal bits like to pull out chunks of tire.

[Rooinater]

i ran mine without extra siping. had little to no problems, compared to any other bias ply or offroad tires i've ran. it couldn't hurt if you drive on the road a lot, it can help offroad, depending on conditions. personally my tsl/sx's i'm grooving. but the ssr's are flexy right out of the box... it's just a matter wether you want to spend the money or not.

 

 

just a note ssr's wear fast on the pavement...

[scoobyclimbs]

I would sipe 'em. you'll get extra traction in wet/snow/ice conditions. I've even heard the tire wear is better although I can't verify that.

 

I siped both sets of my on/offroad tires and love it.

[Rollie715]

Thanks for all the replies,

I haven't priced it yet, but I think I will go ahead with the siping when the tires get here. Should be here in the next day or so.

 

Who knows, maybe if I can get the new motor in by January 14th, I can try them out at Walker Valley with some of you guys.

 

Rollie

[Vanislru]

Living in the PNW like you do I think siping is the way to go. In rain and wet snow the only thing better is studding tires. As for chunks being torn off, that probly won't be an issue cause most hard rock 4x4ing subes do is with light wieght vehichles and gentle throttle. Anything more and you end up spending your evenings replacing axles.

 

I bought the Trxus tires because of all the crazy siping and snow/ice performance which is exactly what the mountain crummy needs. I'd have gone skinnier but that wasn't an option with the sizes offered at the time. Doing shuttles up the ski hill is cool tho, flotation isn't so bad. I kind of like the tundra buggie look :/

[Andyjo]

Siping? sorry, i don't know the terminology, does that mean cutting the big treads into smaller ones? just slitting them into say 5-10 slits? if so, my snow tires are 'siped' and they're i believe there's a large advantage to them vs. some other snow tires i've used before.

[subie94]

would someone like tire warehouse be able to do tire siping?

 

 

 

probably something i should just ask them.don't think i'd bother doing it to the tires i have now,but when i do get the ones i want.i'll more then likely have them siped.

 

thinking of going with kumhos m/t

[ballitch]

i would think that for rock crawling you would gain little "finger" bits of tire gripping more surface area, but since you dont do too much of that i would say do it anyway. i really havent noticed a difference except in the wet. doesnt les schwab do it for free when you buy new tires from them?

 

 

 

 

~Josh~

[Numbchux]

when I got my 13" all-seasons on my '85 at discount tire, I paid a few bucks per tire to get them siped....made a world of difference! they get great traction in many conditions (didn't take it on the rocks much....but other than that), and have lasted quite long!

 

big thumbs up here!!

[970subaru]

I would definitely get them siped. I had it done to a set of tires and it was a great improvement in wet pavement, but amazing in snow. ice... meh.

cutting... only if you have a grooving iron.