jjs

Any real world comments on its usefulness?

Bman

I didn't know places still DID this!

Personally I don't think it's a good idea for handling or tire life, given that little extra bit of wet traction it supposedly gives. I would just get a better rain tire if I thought my current ones weren't up to it. It probably helped in the days of ribbed bias-plys, but these days...?

my 2 cents (sorry, never did it)

ispeed

i used to be real big into 4x4's and this was still a somewhat common practice on offroad tires. I'll see if I can still find an article on this from one of my old magazines (if I can just remember where I put them ...)

From what I remember, that article said ... done right the siping will help and not diminish the tire life or treadwear, but it is supposed to be done by an experienced tire tech who knows how far the sipes need to be away from each other and how deep.

Personally, I would not do this for a performance tire. Don't see the use. I agree that if you want better wet handling, get a different tire. Snow ... get a snow tire. Siping for warm weather, dry driving is useless. Therefore you would go through the siping in a year and money wasted. snow tires will last you 2-3 seasons, depending on where you live, and wet weather tires usually are H rated which means they will have a longer treadwear as well.