Tire grooving

Got my groove on today grooving my R4's on my 1025R.
It was actually really easy and the whole thing only took me about 2.5hrs to do all 4 wheels. Should give me better traction for plowing

 

That turned out pretty damm nice!

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but this concept is new to me. Are you grooving out the 'proud' treads and then putting some sort of plastic insert into the groove? If so, what purpose does the insert serve?

Thanks!

 

No insert.


This allows the tread to cut through the snow.


The more surface area you have on snow, the less your tire is going to grab.
You need skinny tread, a skinny tire, sharp tread, whatever.. Tread that works in snow, is tread
that is skinny and cuts through the snow.


Best i can explain it..

 

Copy that. It's always been my understanding that, unlike mud tires, snow tires have a treat pattern that holds snow since snow sticks to itself much better than any rubber or plastic sticks to it. The reason I asked my question was due to the fourth photo in the post? Or, are those the very neat & clean pieces of removed tire material?

 

The more edges you have on snow and ice the better traction you are going to get. By grooving the tire you are doubling the number of edges on each tire to help grab the snow/ice.

 

Yea those are the removed material

 

That's awesome! What type of tool did you use? Sorry if that's another dumb question...

 

I was new to this too just a few weeks ago. It's called the Ideal tire grooving tool. It's basically a soldering iron with a horse shoe like blade on the end that helps melt and cut the tire rubber. I actually got into a community tool pass along on another forum so the tool cost me $65 plus shipping and now the next guy pays me $55 plus shipping to send it to him. New the tool is $85 but I am the 3rd one to use it now, so each guy pays $10 plus shipping for the tool until it's paid off. After that it travels around to the next person at the cost to ship it to them. Pretty cool deal for tools you need to buy to do a specific project that will only be used once.

 

Here's a link to the thread with more info about it

The GTT Community Pass-Along Traveling Tire Groover

 

I did mine last year. Same tool, same kind of tire. I borrowed the tool from a friend who is a circle track mechanic.

It's definitely better in the snow. I would slide around on snowpack because the weight of the tires would compress the snow into a tight smooth layer on the asphalt. The big blocks of tread had no bite at all.

With the grooving added, I get some bite and the grooves reduce the creation of that smooth surface.

It's nothing at all like the traction of a car snow tire, but it's a step in that direction and it does help. My rear tire wear in normal usage is a non-issue.

 

very nice job, you can have them siped also and it is like having little teeth on the tires. big tire shops can do it.

 

Why not just use chains?

 

my reason for no chains, I have approx 4000 sq ft of pavers I clear, driveway and courtyard. I even have a rubber edge on one blade to protect them. I run 2 tractors in the winter, one set up for the asphalt and one for the pavers.

 

Ahhhh....pavers. Got it. They are not that popular here so it never crossed my mind. Makes sense now...carry on!

 

In my case I dis not want to damage the asphalt. The rubber chains were much more expensive so I tried this first.

I should mention that the slick snow pack phenomenon on asphalt seems worst if you spin your tires at all. The grooves help to stop this cycle before it starts.

 

Yep, I grooved mine for all those reasons. My driveway is concrete so I didn't want to scrape it up with chains.