Tire Grooving

[Camo1Ton]

I\'m looking for any info on grooving tires. Maybe someone has an \"inventive\" way of doing it. I have used a dremel on RC tires and it made a mess, so using a hand grinder doesn\'t sound to appealing to me. I have a deep and wide groove in mind, like  1/2\" x 1/2\". I don\'t want to buy a $70.00 groove tool. Any ideas?

[smichaelR22]

i have done a lot with a circ saw set to depth to make the edges, then a router with a straight bit to cut the rest

[Scottm]

I was looking for a cheap groover myself, and found a few people at least use a chainsaw.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwItiRI_iC0&NR=1&feature=fvwp

I used a chainsaw to cut the sidewall of a large tractor tire to make a sandbox for my kids. It cut well, but I had to oil it with a quart bottle of oil so the bar wouldn\'t bind. That shouldn\'t be an issue here.
Not for fine work though, and extreme care would be warranted.

[gCracker]

smichaelR22 wrote:
i have done a lot with a circ saw set to depth to make the edges, then a router with a straight bit to cut the rest

your forgot something very important.... all of this was done in the KITCHEN of his apartment

[smichaelR22]

hey, gota do whatch gota do

[Camo1Ton]

Well I\'m an old Harley guy, kitchens are great workshops, parts rooms, parking spots, until the right woman comes along. If she doesn\'t mind, she\'s a keeper.lol
Never thought about a router. Does it make dust or shavings? Did the router want to jump bad? I\'ve got a new set of Thorn birds that came with the jeep, and want to cut up the long blocks near the center with as much accuracy as possible. smike\'s job looks great. Any more room in your kitchen?

[smichaelR22]

i had nothing to loose with a 380$ set of 44\" gumbos.... im not sure i would do the same to a new set of tires. a groover might be the better way to go.

[Scooter]

I\'ve heard that taking a metal cutting sawzall blade, grinding the teeth off and then sharpening it like a knife blade, works pretty well. Never tried it myself but figured I\'d share.

[MrMindless]

I\'ve heard the same as Scott, but I\'ve never done any tire work myself.

[Joe]

Monster truck guys use electric carving knives and water to keep the blade cool so it doesn\'t gum up.

[CoraC143]

The Thorn Birds could be greatly improved by some tire grooving. I bet they would look pretty good too.

My advice would be the tire grooving tool from Harbor Freight, and use a 20% off coupon that comes in the mail.

[Camo1Ton]

Harbor Freight was the first place I looked but didn\'t find anything.

[CoraC143]

The race car guys that I used to hang out with all used HF tire grovers. Not sure if they still have them. Have you looked on line? How are Summit prices?

[matt]

I grooved these with a $70.00 groover from Troyer engineering.  Took me about 20-30 minutes per tire.  Not the fastest.  About a 1/4\" groove.

You can also flip the blade around to do siping, that worked good on a set of tires I just on my car for the winter.

[smichaelR22]

great info guys, now im thinking i should be looking into this for my TSL\'s....