Good to hear the results of your hard work. MacTractor, that pattern looks like it would do well as oem for Northern states. Seems like very little reduction in strength/prone to chunking or damage, and you got a big improvement. Really a success story, as it seems most of these are.
Toddler, just curious, why would siping hurt a lawn? I don't think you give up much if any flotation here, is the concern too much grip? Chewing on turns?
I can see where taking it through mud and then dropping bits everywhere would be a pain, but yes, feedback please.
Other than snow/ice, what else can siping improve? I think we are all convinced it works but still leery of any downsides for four season work.
I started on the front tires by measuring 1/2" in from the outside edge of the lugs for a starting point. As long as you give the tool time to heat up properly it was pretty straightforward. I put one groove in the center of each lug then ran a groove all the way around the center of the tire. That part was easy as the tires are still fairly new so I could see where the mold met in the middle of the tire. I went with a single groove on each of the rear tire lugs. The outside lugs were like butter, just put my azz behind it and the tool went right through. I used a very complicated technical method of marking where I wanted to start the groove on the rear tires. I took a flat carpenter's pencil, lined it up with the outside of the lug and used a sharpie to mark a line. The inside lugs took longer and required more arm work, but I got it done.
