Dradden
Member
Last winter we moved from Terrace BC to Montreal. We had a problem though! We had just put a new set of mudders on in late summer and did not have money for winters before the move/drive across Canada in February. I decided to get our mudders siped as I know it does help some. Unfortunately most shops won't touch a used tire as they are worried about an unseen rock in the treads wrecking the blades on their machine. So I had to sipe them myself. I used a utility knife and suprisingly it wasn't that hard. You will see in the pictures how I did it. A few important things if you decide to sipe your tires.
- Stay about 1/2 inch away from the outside edge of the outside row of blocks. If you run the cut through your tires will chunk on that outside edge. The rest of the blocks you can run through from edge to edge.
- Cuts should be no deeper than 1/4 of your tread depth. For mine i cut to 1/4 inch deep.
- Keep your cuts about 1/2 inch apart
- After you are done siping you need to put around 100KM on the tires before the sipes start to open up and make a difference. At first you can't see them at all but after 100KM or so they become easily visible.
Before I siped the tires they were just big skis and downright scary to drive with a little snow or ice on the road. After siping them they handled like a decent set of winter tires. We drove from north to south BC and than across Canada to Quebec in the middle of winter with these tires. Needless to say we ran into all types of winter conditions and the tires handled beautifully even at -30 Deg when the tires hardened up!
I haven't had any problems with chunking and the tires are wearing much slower than usual. The sipes help dissipate heat and therefore prolong the tires life. I see nothing but good things from siping our mudders. Keep in mind though as soon as you make those first cuts your warranty on the tires goes out the window. Pictures are huge sorry about that. In the second picture scroll to the right and you will get a good view of the sipes.
Please go here to see the pictures. It takes forever for me to upload so once was enough.
- Stay about 1/2 inch away from the outside edge of the outside row of blocks. If you run the cut through your tires will chunk on that outside edge. The rest of the blocks you can run through from edge to edge.
- Cuts should be no deeper than 1/4 of your tread depth. For mine i cut to 1/4 inch deep.
- Keep your cuts about 1/2 inch apart
- After you are done siping you need to put around 100KM on the tires before the sipes start to open up and make a difference. At first you can't see them at all but after 100KM or so they become easily visible.
Before I siped the tires they were just big skis and downright scary to drive with a little snow or ice on the road. After siping them they handled like a decent set of winter tires. We drove from north to south BC and than across Canada to Quebec in the middle of winter with these tires. Needless to say we ran into all types of winter conditions and the tires handled beautifully even at -30 Deg when the tires hardened up!
I haven't had any problems with chunking and the tires are wearing much slower than usual. The sipes help dissipate heat and therefore prolong the tires life. I see nothing but good things from siping our mudders. Keep in mind though as soon as you make those first cuts your warranty on the tires goes out the window. Pictures are huge sorry about that. In the second picture scroll to the right and you will get a good view of the sipes.
Please go here to see the pictures. It takes forever for me to upload so once was enough.
Pic of the truck just for fun 
I notice your from PG..where I was born :d Go Spruce Kings! if they still have that name 
