micro-siping tires

[tweeker43]

my wife's car, which is a lease, is starting to wear out the tires. her average drive is about 3 miles a day. she's complaining about the tread, but she doesn't want to buy new tires for the one year left on her lease (and i'm unable to convince her). so, does micro-siping really help in the snow?

 

[carrera79]

They'll probably charge her for tires anyway when she turns it in if they're that bad. I'm not a believer in siping a tire. I can't see how it does much of anything other than increase wear.

 

[tweeker43]

thanks! i'll try to talk her into some new rubber! tires too!

 

[Matt89]

Siping would probably be great if you were driving on a clean smooth sheet of ice with no snow on it. It's not going to help much with the shallow treads of the tires getting packed with snow and losing traction.

 

[outrun]

Good tires will save her life...or a hefty lawsuit by a frivilous 2nd party. If you really broke just by the cheapest DOT "A" rated tire you can fine. BFG Revelations at Sears are pretty cheap and very safe. What tire size on your car: Pxxx/xx/xx?? Just never ever buy "B" rated Guardsman. Those tires should be outlawed. Disgusting, unsafe and cheap.

 

[Shannow]

Brakes and Tyres are the two areas that I won't let family and friends take shortcuts with. outrun, so you don't consider bad tyres to be negligent, and therefore "frivolous" ?

 

[harper]

quote:

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Originally posted by Shannow: Brakes and Tyres are the two areas that I won't let family and friends take shortcuts with. outrun, so you don't consider bad tyres to be negligent, and therefore "frivolous" ?

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Add leaky exhausts/poor exhaust too.

 

[DJ]

Take a look at tirerack.com they are very reasonable have great info on the specs and characteristics of tires and will cost much less than what the dealer will charge to replace them when the lease is up. Plus your wife will be safe in the meantime.

 

[tweeker43]

tirerack is awesome. i got my last set of tires there. the continental conti-extreme something somethings. they are fabulous on dry and wet, and pretty good on snow. it's kind of hard to judge tires when your whipping donuts in the parking lot at work... i figure that i will just spec and buy her a set.

 

[GSV]

it's kind of hard to judge tires when your whipping donuts in the parking lot at work... Thats why it is so important to include a dozen J-hooks into your test regimen.

 

[1sttruck]

As previously mentioned siping tires with shallow tread won't help much on snow, but it can help on packed snow and 'hard' ice. It can also help on wet roads, but only until the shallow tread defeats the ability to displace larger amounts of water. On 'soft' ice close to freezing studs and chains work best, as even the fancy studless winter tires start acting like all season tread.

 

[outrun]

I spoke to Bridgestone's regional engineering tech rep on this. Their reply is that siping alter the tire engineering and there therefor is NOT recommended. In addition they are in perfect ground to deny your warranty. For example Bridgestone Tires such as the Potenza's , S0-3, HP-50, Weatherforce etc feature the UNI-T double tread. Outer side is standard material and as it wears it exposes a second layer of a high wet traction silica compound. So, even worn tires will fair better than brand new ones in wet. Cutting into the tire prematurely exposes the compound to weatherwing and wear. Not a good idea...like one person said i would only sipe when there is like 4/32nd left and im driving through a snow pack or monsoon and warranty does not matter. Knowing me id just save up for my next s et of premium radials Need Wet Traction? Get a Hydroedge Need Snow Traction? Get a set of Bridgeston Blizzak WS-50.