Tire Siping vs. Real Winter tires

[Zack]

Help me out guys. Ole Blue got a taste of the powdery stuff and doesnt like it at all!
I had the winter wheels, but they dont clear the Wildwoods.

I want to get 18" snow tires, but dont want to pay the Ginormous amount of money for them.

So, If I have a set of less expensive tires siped, will it do the trick?

Discuss :D

[MM03MOK]

I had to look that up.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping

[ckadiddle]

Thats a new one on me too. Prolly cause I grew up in Florida. I learn something new every day. :)

[jdando]

The short answer is not really. You will still have the "harder" performance tire rubber on the road. Most winter tires have softer more flexible rubber in addition to the siping.

jeremy in a winter wonderland

[RUSTY]

Most of the really good snow and ice tires are heavily siped. The older tires that looked like LT mud tires are not as good at gripping the ice covered road. heavily siped tires are also good for ice racing on frozen lakes.

[ctrlraven]

I don't think their is really any way of getting around spending a few extra bucks on tires. Having to run 16" steelies for winter is what is holding me back from a big brake kit.

This is the only combo I could find. Don't know if you have traction control or not but the different size will keep the issues away.
Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow

Front 235/55-18
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Scorpion+Ice+%26+Sno w&partnum=36HR8SCORISXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=1

Rear 255/60-18
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Scorpion+Ice+%26+Sno w&partnum=56HR8SCORISXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=0

[Zack]

I don't think their is really any way of getting around spending a few extra bucks on tires. Having to run 16" steelies for winter is what is holding me back from a big brake kit.

This is the only combo I could find. Don't know if you have traction control or not but the different size will keep the issues away.
Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow

Front 235/55-18
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Scorpion+Ice+%26+Sno w&partnum=36HR8SCORISXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=1

Rear 255/60-18
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Scorpion+Ice+%26+Sno w&partnum=56HR8SCORISXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=0


The Pirellis are nicely priced.

I just need to justify buying them.
Hopefully being in a ditch wont be the deal breaker. :rolleyes:

And if the snow wasnt bad enough last night, a deer ran in front of the car and missed me by less than 3 feet :eek:

And if THAT wasnt bad enough, this was all after hanging out with SC Cheesehead drinking the Blues Brothers Elixir :beer:

[magindat]

Zack, Put the snows on your stockers and start working on the painted 5 spokes for spring!!!!!

[cyclopsram]

Won't the 17 inch PI steelies of 2006 and newer work?

[Eric91Z]

The Pirellis are nicely priced.

I just need to justify buying them.
Hopefully being in a ditch wont be the deal breaker. :rolleyes:

And if the snow wasnt bad enough last night, a deer ran in front of the car and missed me by less than 3 feet :eek:

And if THAT wasnt bad enough, this was all after hanging out with SC Cheesehead drinking the Blues Brothers Elixir :beer:



Zack,

These are the tires I have, but in the 16" size on stock steelies. I ran them the last 2 winters on the Marauder and now this winter on the CVPI. They are great tires. My Marauder being an '04 never had to have additional weight added as between the tires and the TC it was never a problem.

The tires were mounted on the car for abount 5 months each winter so they saw plenty of miles, but still have LOTS of tread left on them so they are wearing well. They do fine on ice and slush, but after the first snow this year decided to get 1 65lb tube of sand for the trunk of the CVPI.

If you end up going that route I think you will be happy.

[finster101]

Have you considered a light truck tire with an aggresive tread? I know it won't look too pretty but it might meet your needs. Just a thought.

[magindat]

I was thinking that, too. But in FL, I don't know crap about driving in snow!!!!

[finster101]

I was thinking that, too. But in FL, I don't know crap about driving in snow!!!!
I grew up in Kentucky. Then spent almost four years in Germany. I had all I wanted of it. That is why I live in Florida now.

[Dr Caleb]

The short answer is not really. You will still have the "harder" performance tire rubber on the road. Most winter tires have softer more flexible rubber in addition to the siping.

jeremy in a winter wonderland

^^ What he said. Even all-season tires suffer performance issues under a certain temp. You may not experience those temps in Illinois Zack, but keep it in mind those of you who do. Anyone who has experienced 'square' tires at 40 below knows what I'm taking about.

Winter tires for Winter, Summer tires for Summer. All-Seasons are 'ok' unless you experience extremes in those seasons. They are a compromise. Which is why I park Elvira when the white stuff comes, and the CV has 2 sets of tires.

[jdando]

Have you considered a light truck tire with an aggresive tread? I know it won't look too pretty but it might meet your needs. Just a thought.

Yes this is an option. I have considered this route, but have not searched much for the correct size. Have you found any 18" with reasonable diameter? Something in the 28.3-29.3" range? I think this is the route to go for deep snow traction.

jeremy

[Grifter]

I just threw Blizzaks on the back of my MM yesterday, there were Goodyear Allegra allseasons on there before. Night and day difference. The Allegras had very nice siping, but didnt do crap in snow. The blizzaks just cut through the snow and grab the pavement. I wanted to see if there was a huge difference in the rear before I got fronts, now I will be going back to get some fronts too!

Winter tires FTW

[gilby04]

Zack,
I replaced my rear tires Sept '06 with OEM and had them siped @ $10 each.
I noticed no improvement in snow of any depth, but seemed to grip better on wet pavement.

[Aren Jay]

It depends how cold it gets. They will help over not having it done but the rubber gets hard and doesn't grip when it gets cold, unless made to stay soft.

Have a look at some Nokian WR2 all weather tires. Good summer winter and Autumn and spring. Not snow tires but not useless in snow either.

[CRUZTAKER]

The short answer is not really. You will still have the "harder" performance tire rubber on the road. Most winter tires have softer more flexible rubber in addition to the siping.

jeremy in a winter wonderland


Exactly....sipe all you want, but the all season compound still freezes like a rock below 28 degrees and collects snow into the treads and turn to skis.

Blizzacks and other 'winter only' tires stay soft enough to drive an index finger nearly an 8th inch into the tread in 17 degrees and colder.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

If you need to do it on the cheap, look for a set of take off Cop car steel wheels w/ snows on them. The junkyards near me used to get tons of cop 16" goodyear snows w/ 50% or more left on them. I think they got changed out by mileage and not by wear on the local fleet. They were around $25 each

[DeepSea117]

I don't know how siping a tire works on snow/ice, but I had my tires siped on my Civic years ago. Supposedly it was to extend the tire life (which it did, by around 10-15K miles) by making it easier for heat to dissipate. Kinda like cutting a huge steak into smaller pieces.

Seemed to help for traction, I'm guessing it would do the the same on snow. I thought only the cheaper tires were siped though, not the expensive stuff.

[knine]

My BLUE saw snow for the first time last week too.......whenI opened the garage to let the 4x4 Durango out. Blue on snow, no way !! Yellow maybe, but not BLUE. Zack, I can hear the salt rusting your ride now. :bigcry:

[Zack]

My BLUE saw snow for the first time last week too.......whenI opened the garage to let the 4x4 Durango out. Blue on snow, no way !! Yellow maybe, but not BLUE. Zack, I can hear the salt rusting your ride now. :bigcry:

Yep! The salt is all over it.

At least Im enjoying it 24/7 :P

[CRUZTAKER]

Seemed to help for traction, I'm guessing it would do the the same on snow...

:lol:

Judging from the amount of us that actually drive in snow and say they won't...why are you even offering such an opinion?:shake:

[Vortech347]

Siping allows the tire to flake off chunks when you do a burnout....

IF you want snow traction get SNOW tires. :)

[DeepSea117]

:lol:

Judging from the amount of of that actually drive in snow and say they won't...why are you even offering such an opinion?:shake:

Just seeing if my jedi mindtricks work over the internet :bandit:

[stevengerard]

So are you guys saying these will work, I have the KVRs so I need to stay with 18 incher's and my car is an everyday car, although global warming seems to be limiting the snow fall even here in Chicago it gets extremely scary driving in snow. So these tires will work?




Front 235/55-18
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Scorpion+Ice+%26+Sno w&partnum=36HR8SCORISXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=1

Rear 255/60-18
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Scorpion+Ice+%26+Sno w&partnum=56HR8SCORISXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=0