Bought a siper for my 37" Hankooks, now what do I do with it....?

skippythedog

Observer
Well, I know what to do with it... I'm wondering about the spacing of the cuts.....Has anyone siped their Hankooks (or any other singles?) I'd appreciate a report and think it would benefit others....

Meanwhile I'm going to blather on about what little I know....

I love my super singles and Hankooks on my '07 FG140 @ 10k lbs, but the truck was super scary on compact snow last Winter and in certain situations in turns on wet pavement, the rear end breaks loose a bit. With 5500lbs on the front axle and 3500lbs on the rear, the break is predictable and easily controlled. It was so scary on the snow however that I instantly went home, got online and ordered a complete set of 4 chains for the truck.....the most expensive, ************ ones I could find w/ the welded claws on them.

I'm quite convinced of the effectiveness of tire siping on everything from diesel pickups to sports cars. I've even had the good fortune to test identical rigs in the same day/conditions whose only difference was siped vs unsiped tires. The improvement in grip was surprising, phenomenal even... This improvement was noted almost exclusively on wet pavement, not in snow.
Where I live in the Northwest, we have lots of rain but not a lot of snow. Even if I headed toward the mountains just to play with the tires, the moisture content of our snow (known affectionately by skiers as "Cascade Concrete") can have a huge impact on grip. Conditions vary wildly....Similarly, moisture content, surface temperatures, other conditions can affect conditions on ice. I do have a boatload of experience driving in all of these conditions across the country, mostly in large gas tankers w/ unstable, sloshing loads.

Most of the time, we rely somewhat on memory of our tires performance when new, as we only replace them every few years.....Thusly, I think we're often biased towards our shiny new tires, unless they totally suck...and we really don't know how long they're going to last until they do...or don't.

I'm not necessarily convinced about the longevity claims vis-a-vis temperature reduction, though I plan to take some surface temp readings this time. This is the last truck I plan to own, so eventually, I should be able to compile a pretty good history of tire performance as the miles rack up.

My siper has the ability to make cuts as close together as roughly an eighth of an inch, which might result in some chunking but might make 'em really sticky....Maybe 1/4" inch is enough...maybe even 3/8...?

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with hand siping of the Hankook 37x12.50x17's or even any experience at all w/ commercial siping. If you're in the States and have had siping done, there's a relatively good chance it was done at Les Schwab as they've been pushing siping (hard) for many years. Please note if that's the case....

Thanks
 

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