What is Tire Siping?
Tire siping is the practice of cutting extra slits into the tire's tread, supposedly improving a tire's traction.
As a tire rolls, the siping opens up to take in water and/or snow and remove it from the contact patch of the tire. The extra biting edges provide enhanced grip for a variety of driving situations, particularly in inclement weather.
Manufactured tire sipes are unlike aftermarket tire sipes in several ways. Tires produced by a manufacturer have sipes that are included in the mold of the tire as opposed to being manually cut later. Manufacturers of original equipment tires that include siping use an advanced mold process that creates an internally reinforced treadblock structure and an increased surface area for traction purposes. This process allows for 3-dimensional sipes which can flex for grip and interlock for stability. Original equipment siping is therefore able to perform at optimum levels while enhancing treadblock rigidity for improved handling.
Why Use Tire Sipes?
Sipes are an integral part of a tire’s construction and traction performance. They are used in place of smaller, individual tread blocks for several reasons.
While smaller, individual tread blocks do increase traction, they also increase the risk of tread block distortion which reduces fuel efficiency, handling performance and tread life. Sipes are more effective for increasing traction and surface area without negatively affecting these areas.
Getting Your Tires Siped
You might be asking yourself: who sipes tires? Some auto and tire shops offer aftermarket tire siping, usually charging $10-15 per tire.
America's Tire neither provides nor recommends aftermarket siping for your tires.
Aftermarket siping can void the manufacturer’s treadwear warranty. Also, while siping might provide some nominal increases in traction, you are much better off spending the extra money you would have spent on that service on better tires with appropriate siping and tread.
Aftermarket siping may decrease the tread life of your tire. The engineering, high level of construction of the rubber compound, and manufacturing process ensure that pre-molded sipes in the tread do not work against the expected tread life of the tire. Siping itself also reduces dry road performance as it increases tread squirm, tread wear, and road noise and reduces gas mileage.
If you’re worried about tread wear and damage, check out our Certificates, better than any tire warranty out there!
If you need extra traction due to your region’s weather conditions, it is better to invest in a set of designated winter and snow tires.
If you still have questions or need any assistance, give us a call or drop by your nearest America's Tire location and we’ll get you taken care of!
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