Going through the process of making a call on tires for my 08JKU Sahara (stock)

I do like the GY Duratracs, but recently saw a JK with Mickey T's Baja MTZ and now have these in the decision making process.

My JK is my DD, light trails, and we see it all for weather here: deep snow, freezing rain, slush, hard pack snow, rain, ect...

Based on all the post's here ht GY DT would be a safe call for my driving, but...I just love the look of the MTZ. Anyone have any experience of having a tire siped to improvement on ice, had pack snow?

Maybe this is a compromise....?

Thanks

 

For the sake of us Southern folk what exactly is involved when a tire is siped? Maybe I'll ask the Googles.

Ok I asked the Googles and now I know and I am sorry I can't contribute to this thread because we don't really worry about snow or ice just water and mud.

 

My view in siping is as follows. If it was really worth it, wouldn't the tire manufacturers add the additional siping into the tire? I had it done without my knowledge when I replaced the tires on my liberty and still only got about 38k miles out of them. Spend the time researching how the tires perform in the conditions you most often encounter and you'll be fine. Tire rack has all the specs for every tire they sell as well as massive amounts of reviews. Bottom line is I wouldn't waste the cash.

 

I've had my 37's siped for quite a while now. Up in Montana we get quite a bit of snow and ice so the siping definitely helped quite a bit. I haven't noticed any accelerated wearing from tires so I wouldn't worry about it affecting your tires.

 

Some tires benefit from siping, but most tires are all ready siped to begin with.

Mud terrain tires are usually not siped, I have heard of some people siping those for snow and ice driving. But for Duratrac's and MTZ's I wouldn't bother, they're siped already.

 

I'm curious about anyone's experience with siping there tires.

There are a good amount of tire's (especially winter tires) made with siping like the super popular Goodyear DuraTrac's shown below. The siping is the wiggly lines in the tread. I haven't run them but they are know for being really good on ice.

 

For what it's worth, I'm in New England and travel through ski country all winter on Duratracs. They are solid on ice and snow, although not as good as the stock all terrains. I went with wide 33s so in my opinion the width of the tire was the main reason why I can spin the tires easier than stock. I plan to have more siping added this Fall just to see if there is improvement. Where I see the biggest difference from stock is in turns. The just feel like they skate more easily then stock. I am hoping that the extra siping will help. Let me know what you go with and we can compare notes this winter.

 

Here in Minnesota we get a lot of snow and icy roads as well. I recently bought a well made tire siper from a well know company.
I used to sipe quite a bit in the early 90's when I bought used tires all the time and it works quite well.
My experience is if you have time to sipe yourself you can sipe a little at a time and you don't see tire wear as bad.
If you only sipe in the winter or colder months you can get away with deeper cuts.

 

If you have a tire shop do it on a machine that rotates and they apply side pressure and rotate it
Usually it chops the tire when they move over to each section and you experience horrible tire wear. It's best if you have the time to do it yourself or like you said find a tire already slightly siped.
I used to sipe old mud tires all the time that the mud guys thought to be worn out. Got them practly for nothing and siped them myself. They were wore out by summer but they performed like blizzacks

 

Biggest difference I've noticed with siped tires is from about freezing and warmer when the road is wet. If the road is iced over and then it warms up and rains and then you fall on your ass when you get out of the Jeep to see why it won't even move, a good set of siped tires will usually still get you down the road. . . slowly.

If I were going to drive regular in rain country with MT tires I'd get them siped. They will chunk out easier on the rocks, though.

For the southern folks: Sipes are little cuts across the tire tread. Makes the difference between pulling off in a downpour or getting there before closing time.