Street tires are designed to perform adequately in most
situations. Racing slicks don't have to perform in rain
and would hydroplane/slip terribly on city streets and
highways. Racing (I'm thinking IRL & F1) racing tires
have plenty of grooves, although I'm not familiar with the
type/amount of sipes they might have.
Grooves are for water displacement (and some aesthetics,
I'm sure). Sipes are the hair-line cuts that create more
"edges" on the tread blocks. I think of sipes as creating
miniture lugs on the tire, just like how a farm tire has
lugs that penetrate the soil and provide traction.
So, IMHO, slicks are great for drag racers and Indy cars,
but they wouldn't work well as all-season tire around
town. Gravel, dirt, water, and ice would make them
dangerous. But, in theory, your idea about maximum
contact area generating maximum traction would be correct.
Check this link for information about sipes:
http://www.bridgestonetire.com/technology/add_tech.asp
Gene Merritt
gmerritt@netins.net
On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 13:18:49 -0700 Traci Pearson
<pearsontechcomm@frii.com> wrote:
>
>I was just thinking about tire grip and the fact that
>tires with the most grip are slicks. They have the most
>possible surface area, right?
<snip>
>Does anyone have any thoughts on siping? Does anyone know
>of any studies or solid evidence that prove or disprove
>its value?
>
>Thanks for satisfying my curiosity!
>
>Traci Pearson
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