sipe
1
8.1
A thin cut in a tire that helps water drain and prevents slipping on wet or icy roads
- noun
- /saɪp/
- Specialized
:
ranura
- The car's tires featured innovative sipes that enhanced grip during wet driving conditions.
Examples
-
All of this, plus even wear and life-long performance thanks to full-depth MICHELIN XST3 sipes.
Blog text (22) -
With deeper sipes in the tread, the tires performed better on icy surfaces.
-
An unrivaled grip in the wet thanks to the revolutionary new MICHELIN Sipe Technology (XST).
Blog text (22) -
The sipes cut into the tire's surface help improve traction on rainy roads.
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word sipe probably comes from the name of a mechanic, Sipe, who began 'cutting tiny slits' in tire rubber to make them grip better on wet or icy roads. So a sipe is one of those 'thin slits' that helps water drain and gives better grip.