tire grooving chat here

Dylan W.

Dylan W.

lone resident of Bro-Lite Island
Joined
Mar 17, 2007
Location
Mocksville NC
I have some General grabber at2s. They're little tires for my 2wd bro-lite truck.. (27×8.50)

I figured I needed to groove these tires for racing purposes,so with a borrowed groover, and no tire grooving experience......I learned a lesson. Probably spent 5 hours laboring on one tire. Couldn't even straighten out my hand.
Then genius struck. I had to find a much faster easier and waaaay less painful way.
20150717_215804.jpg


At far right...virgin general grabber at2
On the left...5 or 6 hours worth of tire grooving with a standard tire groover.

And in the middle.....The Carpenter Cut. ( which only took an hour with a dead tired arm and wrist) by using a SKILL SAW.
20150717_205449.jpg


The groover went deeper,but also caused the left over "half lugs" to feel flimsy. I suspect they'll chunk quite a bit.
I was able to set the depth on the skill saw to cut about a 1/4 inch shallower. Which left the remaining lugs a better base. They don't wiggle,and in my opinion, should chunk much less. And the cuts are straighter too.

What say ye?
 
from someone whose been grooving tires for about 9yrs now, it's not bad i guess for type of tire u grooved. 5hrs for those??? holy cow bro, i feel your pain but that size tire to make those marks would be about 30min per tire but it takes a lot of years to really get to know how to use those things. in the end though, looks like they will bite a little more for sure.
 
John Fuller said:
from someone whose been grooving tires for about 9yrs now, it's not bad i guess for type of tire u grooved. 5hrs for those??? holy cow bro, i feel your pain but that size tire to make those marks would be about 30min per tire but it takes a lot of years to really get to know how to use those things. in the end though, looks like they will bite a little more for sure.
Click to expand...
Have you ever grooved any brand new tires?
 
Seems like a good idea. Could you stack 2-3 blades up to make a wider cut?
 
6 hours, 2 energy drinks, 6 mtn dews, pack of smokes, 3lbs of rubber, all while I loaded and unloaded 2 trucks. 6 more hours later I'm sitting on the porch, hear a skil saw, thinking my crackhead neighbors are at it again, walk down the drive, smell rubber, blue smoke, and there's Dylan wielding a saw, all 4 foot of him covered in black soot like he was in the front row of the Daytona 500....with a grin on his face. ......1.5 tires done.

Priceless
 
mcutler said:
6 hours, 2 energy drinks, 6 mtn dews, pack of smokes, 3lbs of rubber, all while I loaded and unloaded 2 trucks. 6 more hours later I'm sitting on the porch, hear a skil saw, thinking my crackhead neighbors are at it again, walk down the drive, smell rubber, blue smoke, and there's Dylan wielding a saw, all 4 foot of him covered in black soot like he was in the front row of the Daytona 500....with a grin on his face. ......1.5 tires done.

Priceless
Click to expand...
I loved that smell though.

And I'm well over 5ft tall:fuck-you:
 
I recently did some grooving on the 34" LTB's I've been running on my Samurai.

Cut tire.jpg




The LTB's have sort of an overlapping lug shape on the ends of the middle lugs. I just cut the overlapping parts off to create about a 1" wide gap.

Before cutting.JPG
 
I need to tell you about the easy way, lol. Take 1/2" electrical conduit. Wrap one edge in a rag. Put and edge all the way around the other end. Heat it with a propane torch and push through. Then slap it on the side of the tire to get the piece out. Put it on the torch for a few seconds and go at it again. 30 minutes a tire and not hard work.

Be careful with general tires. A few years ago several guys in my local club bought them and almost every time we went out one of them had a sidewall puncture.
 
GubNi said:
I need to tell you about the easy way, lol. Take 1/2" electrical conduit. Wrap one edge in a rag. Put and edge all the way around the other end. Heat it with a propane torch and push through. Then slap it on the side of the tire to get the piece out. Put it on the torch for a few seconds and go at it again. 30 minutes a tire and not hard work.

Be careful with general tires. A few years ago several guys in my local club bought them and almost every time we went out one of them had a sidewall puncture.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping the sidewalls will be tough enough on the dirt tracks. Shouldn't be too many worries over sidewall cuts from trail rocks. Bumpers and fenders from other trucks maybe, but trail rocks..nah.
 
Dylan W. said:
Have you ever grooved any brand new tires?
Click to expand...
i did new set of 36x12.50 TSLs and WOW..the center was close to 1 1/8 and side lugs were really deep...at 5psi they were the best performing tire i had seen yet until i came across Thronbirds and now i like grooving thornbirds better.....i can't wait to someday groove a new set of them 38.5 would be my dream size in new Thronbird Regrooved!! these started with 1/4" tread and look how deep they are so imagine new set!!
regrooved thornbird phase 3 (2).jpg
 
drkelly said:
Seems like a good idea. Could you stack 2-3 blades up to make a wider cut?
Click to expand...
i have a saw i used 4blades together and used that when i'm grooving really straight lines but only on tires that are very flat and not cupped and need a quick straight lines....my cheapo black and decker saw doesn't handle 4 very well but still works!
 
drkelly said:
I recently did some grooving on the 34" LTB's I've been running on my Samurai.

View attachment 192300



The LTB's have sort of an overlapping lug shape on the ends of the middle lugs. I just cut the overlapping parts off to create about a 1" wide gap.

View attachment 192299
Click to expand...
dude hit those lugs an straighten them out and you will really love them...night and day difference when the tsl/ltb lugs are straightened and sharpened similar to what i did on the thornbirds....9yrs of grooving and i've learned the big hunky rounder lugs that TSL/LTB come with don't grab nearly as good as they could so straightened out and sharpened down to 1 1/8wide bites the best in my experience and testing.
 
John Fuller said:
i did new set of 36x12.50 TSLs and WOW..the center was close to 1 1/8 and side lugs were really deep...at 5psi they were the best performing tire i had seen yet until i came across Thronbirds and now i like grooving thornbirds better.....i can't wait to someday groove a new set of them 38.5 would be my dream size in new Thronbird Regrooved!! these started with 1/4" tread and look how deep they are so imagine new set!!
View attachment 192307
Click to expand...

Looks good. How wide is your groover blade?
 
hey @Dylan W. , you should take the saw with 2/3 blades and run 2 lines down each tire towards the outer edges... that would really help the dirt have a nice track to flow down and out of the tread...it works pretty good having that. look at my thornbird and you can see how i made a 1" gap roughly down both edges and it helps the lugs have a channel to better clean themselves from what i've noticed..just a thought
 
Dylan W. said:
Looks good. How wide is your groover blade?
Click to expand...
i mostly use the 1/2" but i have 1/8" and a 1" wide but the 1" bit is too big unless you set it shallow and make several passes to get deep. i'm waiting to buy the Van Alstein which i hear can take a 1" wide by 3/4"deep lug out with push of a pinky so better be worth the 500 for it lol.
 
having different size bits is good to have but i only use the 1/2 just cause i'm too lazy to swap blades lol (get burned so many times swapping them) and it's much easier to be detailed with the 3/8 or 1/2 blade than the bigger ones.
 
Dear @Dylan W.
Please wear safety glasses when slinging shrapnel.
I only say this because i care.
 
hey guys, also a wood router works like a charm too if you don't mind the mess and smell lol. it works fast though so you gotta have steady hands but my router has light on it and you can set the depth and go at it...pretty good for what it is! just another idea to you guys getting into grooving.
 
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