I did a search and can't find much on the subject.

Doesn't seem like too many people like their Firestones but with the price of tires, I will have to live with them for a while. A long while, as the car is new.

Has anyone had their Affinitys siped and noticed a positive difference?

I am concerned with snow traction more than anything. They seem to have a pretty aggressive tread design. I would think they should be ok in the snow but I have been fooled before by looks.

 

They won't be good in the winter, I can guarantee you. I live in Michigan as well. Only drove for about 2 months in the snow with mine, but that was enough. Then driving it the rest of the year, and even that was terrible. They were brand new tires, and they would hydroplane everywhere.

 

Stay away from tire modifications like siped tires. You will increase the rolling resistance of the tires, and the noise, and increase tread wear. This is old fashioned technology that maybe helped a bit in the days of bias ply tires, but not now. The Affinitys are barely good enough to serve as OEM tires, they really stink in the wet.

 

My Firestone's lasted 1 winter, the next winter they were terrible. Switched to Goodyear TripleTreds for this winter.

 

Can't pull out with any kind of authority when the roads are wet..can feel the front end dancing all over the place...it sucks, dont know how the other half puts up with it,new shoes soon.

 

Alright, this is probably a dumb question: What does "siped" mean?? I never heard of that before.

 

Not dumb at all - It's a process where the tread of a tire is cut with thin slits across the tread. It supposidly results in a tire with more improved traction in rain and snow, and helps the tire run cooler. But the downside is, some people say it results in a shorter tread life, and that the tire companies may not cover siped tires with their warranty.

Here is a link where one of the tire store chains describe the benefits:
http://www.lesschwab.com/siping.asp

And here is a link where it was discussed back in 2006 at KOMO news talking about the upside and downside to the process: http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4168146.html

Some hard-core off-roaders even do it themselves on their big chunky off-road tires, using a serrated knife blade, for added traction in mud and snow. I don't think anyone would officially recommend that at all for our street tires.

 

I don't think it would hurt the stock tires....

 

Might, in fact, be good to shorten their tread life...




Seriously though, to the OP.... these tires really don't work well in wet, let alone snow and ice. I don't know if cutting them would help at all. I did drive last spring on some severe ice and did okay, better than the guys in the ditch, but that was more the car and the driver.... not the tires.

I know tires are costly, I just bought a set of Goodyears, but the improvement in overall traction, ride, road noise and expected lifespan is well worth the cost IF you can possibly swing it.

 

Siping does have its place....did this on the dirt tracks for improved traction...though some experimentation is required to determine how many and what spacing plus at what angles are needed for that particular tire... it allows the tread to be a little bit more flexible thereby "sticking" to the surface better..
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...reSiping.shtml try this, better explainations and people who have done this