Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches October 01, 2025 ...

Tire Sipe

May 21, 2014, 02:11:52 pm

I was looking at my front Mich. tires (DOT mid 2011 which is printed only on one side, weird..) and noticed there were no sipes on the tires. Is that because they have worn away or were they not on there to start with?
Is it worth it to have them siped at a tire shop?
Just wondering.....

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #1 – May 21, 2014, 02:25:50 pm

Not all tires have sipes.  Which model# are they?

Keith

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #2 – May 21, 2014, 02:35:44 pm

I am not at the coach so I can't verify the exact model; maybe X3A or something like that. The tread depth looks very good. If it had sipes, how deep would they be on a new tire?

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #3 – May 21, 2014, 02:36:42 pm

I am not at the coach so I can't verify the exact model; maybe X3A or something like that. The tread depth looks very good. If it had sipes, how deep would they be on a new tire?

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #4 – May 21, 2014, 02:43:44 pm

Try going to this link.  It has a pic of all Michelin RV tires.  Just click on the part #.

http://www.michelinrvtires.com/michelinrv_en_us/tires-retreads/new-tires.jsp

Keith

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #5 – May 21, 2014, 02:51:04 pm

 I was asked when I had the front Toyo's put on if I wanted them siped as they can do it in tyre shop. I do not know if they come from factory like that and guess no. It cost $25 each to do.
JohnH

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #6 – May 21, 2014, 03:58:18 pm

Truck tires only have DOT numbers on one side.

One of the features of Michelin XZA3 are directional (angled) sipes on outer band. It seems it would take a lot of wear to make them full disappear. Not sure of adding sipes to a worn tire. Where would they be cut on the tire?

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Reply #7 – May 21, 2014, 06:19:16 pm

I'm guessing here,

You have the RIB pattern which are high mileage and don't have sipes.
Continuous grove and not all weather.  Don't drive it like you stole it in bad weather.

Last set I had on my rig lasted a very long time and are the most expensive Michelin offers.
CentraMatic balancers will help them last and control dynamic balance issues. 

DON'T dress tires with ANYTHING that is a petroleum base product (read label.) 
Don't even wash the green stuff that develops on the tire carcass,
(it's a UV inhibitor additive that's mixed into the rubber compound.)

Aerospace Protectant [303] will not cause tires to dry out & develop surface cracks.  pc

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #8 – May 21, 2014, 09:16:49 pm

Thanks for the responses and the Mich tire link. I will be measuring the tread depth and see how much wear I have and work from there.

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #9 – May 23, 2014, 01:11:54 am

Tire sipes do wear away. The machine that cuts the sipe does not cut as deep as the bottom of the tread block. When the tread wears down, the sipe disappears. Then the wear bars appear. Then you float on water, which floats on asphalt... which can result in an expensive adrenaline rush... New shoes are cheap. New fiberglass & metal is not cheap.

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Re: Tire Sipe

Reply #10 – May 29, 2014, 04:39:13 pm

As a follow-up:
My tires are the XZE series. I measured the tread depth and they only have minimal wear,maybe a 32nd. From the website picture of the tire there are no sipes on the outside treads, the inside 3 treads do have sipes. Just like mine. I reckon these are pretty good tires and are only a few weeks over 2 years old.
So, question answered. Thanks again for the responses.

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