Just siped my sons Ranger tires. His Continentals are about 3 years old about 30k on them, but they are 60k mi tires so a little harder rubber than most tires. They had lost most of thier grip and were interesting in the rain and on ice. So rather than replace them, I decided to give siping a try.

For those of you that have never heard of siping, the concept is to make shallow cuts in your tire 90 degrees to direction of travel to improve traction. Two of the MT/R's I bought for my Liberty had been sipped by the previous owner and seemed to hook me up better when I had them on the back, could really tell when I rotated them up front. Anyway, Discount tire and other dealers offer this service for about $10 per tire, a little more for used tires (since they have to make sure any rocks are removed before they put them on the machine.

So anyway, I searched the web and found a good article at http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TireSiping.shtml

Made my own tool using a fixed blade razor knife, I broke the blade off about 1/4 inch using linemans pliers. used a grinder and file to knock it down to about an 1/8 in so that it wouldn't cut into the tire below the tread of the Continentals. For the MT'R's I think 1/4 would probably be the right depth.
Took all of 20 minutes to fabricate the tool.

Jacked up the front, turned the steering wheel out and did the front left. placed a length of painters tape at my starting point and started making cuts about 1/4 to 3/8 apart. I was more concerned about making the cuts perpendicular to the direction of traveltook than spacing, but tryed not to make the cuts where there was less than 1/4 inch from the edge. Took me about 20 minutes then did the passenger side front, took both tires off and moved them to the back, moved the backs to the front and repeated. took me about 2:00 hours including changing the serpentine belt.

Took the Ranger for a drive and first impression was it hooked up much better than before. I use to be able to spin the rears easily, but punching the throttle just chirped them and kicked it in the butt. I'll have to wait until it rains to test wet wether grip, but I think it was well worth the time spent and is going to put new life into those tires.

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2005 CRD "Ol' Blue"
Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.
My build page- RL Komodo Rear and TJM Front Bumper, armored, lifted, JBA Steel D30, 4.10s and ARB air lockers.