So it was finally time to get some fresh 's for the daily driver, and the tire shop was pushing this "siping" service for $10/ . Has anyone ever heard of this, and is it worth it or is it a scam?

Here is the explanation of "siping":

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tireSiping.dos

Thanks for any input!

DAve

 

Here, in the "snow belt", siping has always been important and related to ice and hard packed snow grip, where the more you have on a tire, the better the grip. Ice and snow has a completely different character to warm/hot pavement. I'm not so sure that putting more siping in a stock performance tire is going make any significant difference.

 

Nope. Works good on snow tires...wouldn't do it on performance tires though. Heat is actually caused by too small of a tread block squirming around. Notice performance tires have large tread blocks with little void or "sipes". Plus with as shallow as those sipes are they'd wear off after 1000 miles probably or less on the S.

 

These tires are for my sunfire, the S is in the garage till spring. So this has been around for a while then I take it? The sales guy said that not only does it increase traction but it also extends the tread life of the tire. Would you agree?

So, should I have it done? Like I said, it won't be for the S.

Thanks again,
Dave

 

NO! And for the same reason as Vanos

 

I see. Sales guy explanation was that the extra siping would prevent heat from building up. So with the tires for my pontiac which are probably not as soft as performance tires for the S, would the siping still wear off after a few thousand miles you think?

DAve

 

Herein lies the whole crux of this topic, doesn't it?

If you want to talk performance, grip, heat dissipation, etc, take the extreme example of a pure, dry road race car tire. They run slicks - no tread, no siping. Only when the rain comes, do they bring out grooved tires and that's for water channelling.
I'll bet your Sunfire tires are softer than your S2000 tires at a much lower temperature. You can't really compare the two because their performance envelopes encompass different temperature ranges. If you are so concern about the tire performance for your Sunfire, then just get performance all season tires for it. This whole business with putting in more siping is just that - a BUSINESS - the business of making money.
If siping is the depth of the tire tread, then they won't wear out till the tread wears out. They won't wear out any faster than the siping that's already in the tire. This whole thing falls into the same catagory of the "Turbonator" and fuel line magnets. Those guys can produce "data" to prove they work, too. The principles, when put down in print, are undeniable (or are they?). On the other hand, paying for something that doesn't work can do wonders for the psyche and if having additional siping on your Sunfire tires will make you think they perform better, then those tire guys have sold you a good product because it made you feel happy and good about it. Some may consider it a "bill of goods", but that's just another way to perceive it.

As for preventing extra heat from building up, I think you can use good judgement and a few things you've learned in your school days to know that putting in a groove (siping) will cause two additional surfaces to routinely rub together. What does your sense of logic tell you about this concept?

 

I guess my concern lies with traction in inclement weather and tread life. I didn't want to have this done if it causes the tread to wear faster though. Oh, and I also didn't want to have to spend $100 or more per tire because the pontiac is crap and not worth .02 and isn't a performance vehicle by any means. My initial thoughts led me to believe that this is the stuff infomercials are made of but I wanted to look into it further.

Thanks,
DAve

 

There is inclement weather and then there is ice and snow. Siping isn't going to help you much for just "inclement" weather. I just don't like the idea that you will have more surfaces rubbing together. It may not "wear out" the tire any sooner, but it will wear.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. The Sunfire is not a "performance" car, so do you really need that marginal performance gain from siping, ASSUMING that it does really work? It seems your gut feelings on this is true. Don't let a "sales pitch" turn that around.

 

I had it done MANY years ago to a set of OEM Bridgestone tires on a Subaru RX Turbo. It helped a great deal on ice and snow (still a lousy winter tire - but it helped).