today's mail brought the used ebay 'Ideal' brand tire groover/siper that i got for cheap. the idea with this is that it's an iron (like a soldering iron) that gets really hot and it has a "tip" that, depending on what size you get (I'm using #4 aka 1/2") holds U-shaped blades. The blades can be gotten in either a rounded or squared profile in various widths.
To sipe a tire (for better mud/snow grip) you use the two pointy ends and just cut "slits" in the tread blocks.
To groove it, you flip the blade and use the "U" section downward and can cut grooves in the tread blocks.
My heavily-used Yoko rally tires outside edge was totally chewed up, and the first thing I wanted to do was to square it off a bit to hopefully improve turn-in grip in wet/loose conditions.
here's how it came out:
Since I was doing the front tires, I also decided to add another longitudinal groove a couple inches into the tread, again for turning grip. I'll only do this on the fronts as the rear end lateral traction wasn't much of an issue last year. On the upside this actually makes the tire a tad bit narrower (never bad for soft-surface rallycross). The downside is that it will slightly reduce braking grip - though the less braking the better in rallycross, and stopping was never an issue with my slow car.
Anyhow, we'll see how that holds up. I may also pick up some very-worn rally tires to use only on our "barn course" which is usually tarmac-like hardpack that tears up soft tires..
here's the longitudinal grooves:
I may do the rears with a pattern better for acceleration/braking traction. E.g. a lateral or diagonal groove, or just widen the current grooves so it sheds muddy clay better. I may also consider siping the rears for traction as well. we'll see. I'll probably experiment.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this cheapo groover. I had read that the cheap ones didn't work well, and were a hassle, and that the $400 van alstine and rillfit brand groovers were "the only ones worth buying." Maybe if I had to do this fast between stages or something that might be true. But I had no trouble doing the above work on one tire in about 10 minutes. It cuts through the tread blocks like butter, really. And, at least in theory, it should improve grip.
The remnants:
To sipe a tire (for better mud/snow grip) you use the two pointy ends and just cut "slits" in the tread blocks.
To groove it, you flip the blade and use the "U" section downward and can cut grooves in the tread blocks.
My heavily-used Yoko rally tires outside edge was totally chewed up, and the first thing I wanted to do was to square it off a bit to hopefully improve turn-in grip in wet/loose conditions.
here's how it came out:
Since I was doing the front tires, I also decided to add another longitudinal groove a couple inches into the tread, again for turning grip. I'll only do this on the fronts as the rear end lateral traction wasn't much of an issue last year. On the upside this actually makes the tire a tad bit narrower (never bad for soft-surface rallycross). The downside is that it will slightly reduce braking grip - though the less braking the better in rallycross, and stopping was never an issue with my slow car.
Anyhow, we'll see how that holds up. I may also pick up some very-worn rally tires to use only on our "barn course" which is usually tarmac-like hardpack that tears up soft tires..
here's the longitudinal grooves:
I may do the rears with a pattern better for acceleration/braking traction. E.g. a lateral or diagonal groove, or just widen the current grooves so it sheds muddy clay better. I may also consider siping the rears for traction as well. we'll see. I'll probably experiment.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this cheapo groover. I had read that the cheap ones didn't work well, and were a hassle, and that the $400 van alstine and rillfit brand groovers were "the only ones worth buying." Maybe if I had to do this fast between stages or something that might be true. But I had no trouble doing the above work on one tire in about 10 minutes. It cuts through the tread blocks like butter, really. And, at least in theory, it should improve grip.
The remnants:
:mrgreen:
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