Dominate Snow With This Simple Hack. With @thedirtheadshed

Thanks so much for having me on. Sounds like we’re both getting set up for a winter of fun!!

siping the center lugs is pretty popular in my area. The outside lugs tend to get more torn up. Best setup I've seen is siped centres and studded outer lugs.

Used to do grooving and siping in our tire shop something like 30+ years ago and the difference was always considerably better. As mentioned above, keep your siping blades to a minimum (2-3) with a wavy or zigzag pattern with minimal space between blades. Sipes shouldn't be too deep...you only want the top bit of tread moving. You can re-sipe every season depending on tread wear.

We use to take the ideal tire groover and re-groove the lugs deeper and square up the lugs as well. Then you flip the grooving blade up side down so you have 2 blades and then sipe the lugs 2 lines at a time. That way you have a deeper lug and you can put a lot more siping in each larger lug by not cutting them in half with a groove. P.S. I live in Northern Ontario Canada and we run actual purpose built studded snow tires 5-6 months of the year.

Dude, I love how you are knowledgeable enough to be interesting and informative and yet you are totally honest and humble about what you don't know. That's a cool combination. Love your videos man.

Nate, back in 1990 I worked for a old mechanic that had a shop in Auburn, Wash. His brother had a muffler shop next door, called Stan's Muffler. The Old mechanic's name was Phil, and he came up from California. Phil was a die hard believer in siping tire's, not just for off roading but all tire's. He would explain the benefits of siping a brand new set of tires for the customer and if they bought it he would sipe all four tires. As I remember ( that was a long time ago) it helped shed water, gave better traction , and increased tread life! The machine he had, had a metal blade that was very thin and attached to a unit that would follow the radius of the tire tread. Sorry don't remember who made it. Phil was in to sand rail racing when he was in Cali, He said siping the sand tires gave them a whole new dimension of traction. Thought this little tid bit might be useful to ya,

Born and raised in Alaska here, and have used mud terrains in snow quite a bit. I took a set of cheap Ironman’s and siped the center lugs for fun one year and it blew me away. For a “hybrid tire” I would definitely suggest starting with a big lugged tire (like the old maxxis big horns), siping the centers and grooving the outers.

I've hoped for a collaboration between you and Dirthead Dave for a long time, now. Hope to see more in the future!

I have siped every set of tires I have bought for the last 35 years. I am a firm believer. Street or off-road it does not matter. SIPE those tires. You wont regret it. Love your videos. I have learned so much

I remember the first time I went to the PNW. It was winter and my buddy noticed my puzzled face. He asked me what I was thinking. I said some cars drive by like normal, others are making this wierd noise. He laughed and said, oh yeah, you're from Texas, those are snow studs. I was like, wth are snow studs? Lol.

Great topic! If you look at studless winter tires, they are full of sipes. Grass tires are siped as well and I think its the same idea. For your tires, 2 or 3 blades with the zigzag pattern on a lug. Some lugs only get partially cut, some get skipped, and some all the way across. Keep the edges thick and the siping near the middle of the lug so it keeps it's strength. Just my 2 cents, but I like the idea you have going. Also wouldn't run them in the summer with sipes.

35 years in the PNW. Another vote for siping the center blocks and leaving the edges uncut. Siping makes a huge difference.

I’ve been snow siping for more than 20 years here in Alberta. That, coupled with extremely low tire pressures make an incredible difference in vehicle ability in the snow.

Siping is definitely in your head, sir. Because “groove” sir, GROOVE is in the heart.

As a truckdriver in Scandinavia that drives a lot in the Norwegian mountains in the winter I'd say that I have some experience in that area ;-) In Norway we use siping a lot! There is no question that it's a very effective way to improve the tires for the winter conditions. I know most people think it'll shorten the life lengths of the tire when used on highway, but actually it's the opposite as it helps the tire to cool down. So siping is really a win-win ... I've been grooving tires a little, but i'd be careful not to overdo it so the tire ends up to week and falls apart, as you also mentions in the video. I look forward to see how "invention" will perform.

@10:26 Those tires are called Arctic Trucks AT405 for those who wants to import them. Its the tire that was used on the Hilux that Top Gear drove to the north pole.

TOTALLY AGREE, this is a huge deal in the r/c rock crawler world. I do it ALOT. TOTALLY WORTH IT...

Another Icelander here. Siping the center lugs is a must in my opinion, outside lugs are good with a few sipes also, maybe one or two. My experiance is that the siping helps the tire last longer. Big side lugs like f.x. on the 46 inch Micky Tompsons are almost always all cut with wide grooves to help when run with low tire pressure. It helps fold the tire and reduses stress fractures around those big lugs. (We are talking about extremly low pressure 0.5-2 psi)

I got my Falken Wildpeak MT01s center siped the first chance I got. makes a huge difference in slick conditions, well worth the cost of having it done!

This is what we do in dirt track racing. It's a fine art, learned through experience. You are on the exact right track. We have tire stands that we do this with, but a truck on a lift works too. The machine we use is a Van Alstine groover. They make a heated siping tool as well.