Curious sipe wear on Nokian WR G4 SUV

[UG_Passat]

Nokian WR G4 SUV shallow sipes by thisistan, on Flickr

Nokian WR G4 SUV shallow sipes by thisistan, on Flickr

the 10mm and 8mm are worn off on all of the tires on the DSI

 

[krzyss]

Are these not full tread depth sipes by design or manufacturing error?

Krzyś

 

[fsdork]

It's been a while so I can't reference a specific tire, but I'm quite sure I've seen this on my vehicles before. I always assumed it had something to do with stability of the tread blocks when the tire is new or near-new. If all of the sipes were full depth, it would probably lead to unstable handling.

Purely the assumption of someone with nothing better to do than analyze tire sipes, I admit.

 

[CapriRacer]

It looks like the worn sipes are at the mold parting lines. That means they are intentionally part depth.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I don't see an issue. Do you drive on sand/ gravel?

I'll go with Capri racer. No sipes at the parting line.

NP.

 

[JoelB]

It doesn't look like wear. It appears as if they were never there at all. They can't have worn smooth without the sipes next to them also being gone. Physically impossible.

 

[Tirerescue]

It looks like the worn sipes are at the mold parting lines. That means they are intentionally part depth.

This is the correct answer

 

[kschachn]

Never mind. Looking at the wrong thing.

 

[Tirerescue]

This is where the mold segments come together. (Parting line). In the mold, you can’t bring siping to the edge the segment where the sipe runs parallel break. That’s why there are siping there.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

This is where the mold segments come together. (Parting line). In the mold, you can’t bring siping to the edge the segment where the sipe runs parallel break. That’s why there are siping there.

I think a lot of folks may think that tires are injection molded, whereas they are instead stream pressure press formed/vulcanized.