Brody
February 14th, 2010, 03:49 AM
This is a compilation of articles and resources from an older thread on tire siping, just cleaned up a bit:
From Colorado Scout:
IDEAL HEATED KNIVES 250W GROOVING IRON $59.88
http://www.pitstopusa.com/images/IHK125.jpg (http://www.pitstopusa.com/images/IHK125.jpg)
I think I'm going to go with something like this one. It's heated and should "cut like butter". http://www.pitstopusa.com/detail.aspx?ID=11185 Blades run between $6-$8 per 12 pack.
From Brody:
I think that I either read a review on that tool or that someone I know used something similiar. This was right when siping started to become popular, so it was awhile back. Word was was that it worked, but the 'cuts like butter' was a bit off. Supposed to be slow.
Bear was grooving his tires with a grinding blade in a 4" grinder. He said that it was ugly, but it worked.
I came across this, which sounded interesting , on another site. Here is the copy and paste:
I don't use tire groovers because they don't work too well. I do, however, like to sipe my tires. I use a roll yer own electric siping tool that I made out of a Weller soldering iron and an Exacto knife. What I did what cut down the aluminum cylinder of the Exacto blade holder to fit inside of the barrel of the soldering iron (where the soldering tip would normally go). It works like a charm and one blade lasts for all 4 tires. The benefits of siping over grooving are many, too. One, siping doesn't actually remove any rubber. Two, siping causes the tire to run cooler, thus the tire lasts longer. Three, siping REALLY adds traction to your tires and the improvement is VERY noticeable on slick surfaces, which are traditionally very slippery for heavy open-lugged tires. Four, siping helps quiet down those noisy big lugged tires quite a bit too. Five, tire siping does not add significantly to the possibility of 'tire chunking' like grooving does. Six, you can sipe all of the way to the edge of a lug. I hope this helps you.
Your tire siping friend;
LAMAR
Here are some more sites with info on either siping or tools:
http://rockcrawler-mrt.com/tiregroover.html
http://www.texas4x4.org/showthread.p...=tire+grooving
http://www.secureperformanceorder.co...ProductID=3618 (http://www.secureperformanceorder.com/onlinestore/getproduct.cfm?CategoryID=1&ClassID=11&SubclassID=39&ProductID=3618)
Here is one from Speedway Motors, who is already listed on the site as a cool parts source:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/399,...ving-Iron.html (http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/399,185_Tru-Hot-Grooving-Iron.html)
This last sells for $39 and has a big choice of blades and attachments.
Here is a site with a nice post on siping and grooving. Although primarily for circle track/asphalt /dirt competition, this article contained a bunch of interesting information.
http://www.bedfordspeedway.com/toolbox_tires.html
Looks like speed shops catering to circle track racers may be your best bet for an in town source. Leary's Speed and Shocks on 1900 something Navajo and AAI Speed off of 58th and Lamar are listed under our vendors section. Their hours are a bit erratic, but they have all sorts of stuff...
From Dave Nay:
In my searching on this the Ideal Heated Knife always comes up.
I like the idea of grooving if you have big tread blocks like on a TSL or even the wide Toyo MT. Grooving has become a competition art with the Krawler, and IMHO really shouldn't be compared to siping as the point of grooving is to create an overall more flexible (and therefore grippy) tread block, typically adding lateral traction, and you sipe if you want to increase road traction in slick conditions.
I don't know anybody who sipes for rock crawling performance, but that is exactly the goal of grooving. The BFG KM2 is a production tire based on the concept of grooving, and it is quickly gaining a following. In other words, these techniques are neither mutually exclusive nor intended to create the same result.
Post up your impressions if you go with the Ideal. Shipping is cheap enough that I wouldn't personally get hung up on buying local.
Ideal Heated Knife:
http://www.pitstopusa.com/SearchResult.aspx?Manufacturer=108
From Colorado Scout:
IDEAL HEATED KNIVES 250W GROOVING IRON $59.88
http://www.pitstopusa.com/images/IHK125.jpg (http://www.pitstopusa.com/images/IHK125.jpg)
I think I'm going to go with something like this one. It's heated and should "cut like butter". http://www.pitstopusa.com/detail.aspx?ID=11185 Blades run between $6-$8 per 12 pack.
From Brody:
I think that I either read a review on that tool or that someone I know used something similiar. This was right when siping started to become popular, so it was awhile back. Word was was that it worked, but the 'cuts like butter' was a bit off. Supposed to be slow.
Bear was grooving his tires with a grinding blade in a 4" grinder. He said that it was ugly, but it worked.
I came across this, which sounded interesting , on another site. Here is the copy and paste:
I don't use tire groovers because they don't work too well. I do, however, like to sipe my tires. I use a roll yer own electric siping tool that I made out of a Weller soldering iron and an Exacto knife. What I did what cut down the aluminum cylinder of the Exacto blade holder to fit inside of the barrel of the soldering iron (where the soldering tip would normally go). It works like a charm and one blade lasts for all 4 tires. The benefits of siping over grooving are many, too. One, siping doesn't actually remove any rubber. Two, siping causes the tire to run cooler, thus the tire lasts longer. Three, siping REALLY adds traction to your tires and the improvement is VERY noticeable on slick surfaces, which are traditionally very slippery for heavy open-lugged tires. Four, siping helps quiet down those noisy big lugged tires quite a bit too. Five, tire siping does not add significantly to the possibility of 'tire chunking' like grooving does. Six, you can sipe all of the way to the edge of a lug. I hope this helps you.
Your tire siping friend;
LAMAR
Here are some more sites with info on either siping or tools:
http://rockcrawler-mrt.com/tiregroover.html
http://www.texas4x4.org/showthread.p...=tire+grooving
http://www.secureperformanceorder.co...ProductID=3618 (http://www.secureperformanceorder.com/onlinestore/getproduct.cfm?CategoryID=1&ClassID=11&SubclassID=39&ProductID=3618)
Here is one from Speedway Motors, who is already listed on the site as a cool parts source:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/399,...ving-Iron.html (http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/399,185_Tru-Hot-Grooving-Iron.html)
This last sells for $39 and has a big choice of blades and attachments.
Here is a site with a nice post on siping and grooving. Although primarily for circle track/asphalt /dirt competition, this article contained a bunch of interesting information.
http://www.bedfordspeedway.com/toolbox_tires.html
Looks like speed shops catering to circle track racers may be your best bet for an in town source. Leary's Speed and Shocks on 1900 something Navajo and AAI Speed off of 58th and Lamar are listed under our vendors section. Their hours are a bit erratic, but they have all sorts of stuff...
From Dave Nay:
In my searching on this the Ideal Heated Knife always comes up.
I like the idea of grooving if you have big tread blocks like on a TSL or even the wide Toyo MT. Grooving has become a competition art with the Krawler, and IMHO really shouldn't be compared to siping as the point of grooving is to create an overall more flexible (and therefore grippy) tread block, typically adding lateral traction, and you sipe if you want to increase road traction in slick conditions.
I don't know anybody who sipes for rock crawling performance, but that is exactly the goal of grooving. The BFG KM2 is a production tire based on the concept of grooving, and it is quickly gaining a following. In other words, these techniques are neither mutually exclusive nor intended to create the same result.
Post up your impressions if you go with the Ideal. Shipping is cheap enough that I wouldn't personally get hung up on buying local.
Ideal Heated Knife:
http://www.pitstopusa.com/SearchResult.aspx?Manufacturer=108