treading dot race tires

[rsx858]

hi, i have a set of avon tech tires that im not terribly impressed with and i dont need them for dry. can i have the carved out for use in the rain legally? could that be construed as a form of shaving?
thanks

[RSTPerformance]

who says you can not shave the tires?

[Bill Miller]

You could groove them, but I'd be careful. Just how much rubber is on the tires?

[rsx858]

i know shaving is legal i was thinking that "grooving" could be considered "shaving" in some way making it legal. The tires are pretty fresh i beleive there is enough rubber to safely groove them. so i guess it would be ok then

[lateapex911]

Only if the tire was designed for it.

If it came as a less than standard tread depth tire, then there isn't any extra meat to groove, IMHO.

I would talk to someone in the know at Avon. Rain tires are different beasts...generally a softer compound, and the tread is designed for water evacuation.

I'd hate to see you waste a day of your life to find out it was a bad idea.

[steve s]

i think hand grooving tires is illegal.?????

[joeg]

not legal. ITCS says no "regrooved" tires and the only mods allowed to IT tires are shaving or truing. Since the ITCS identifies regrooving as a no no (and not a part of truing or shaving), the only logical interpretation is that grooving would be illegal.

Indeed, when Hoosier was fooling around with patterns for its new DOT radial wet, they would not allow the "prototypes" to be used in competition because they were "handcut" (or hand grooved) designs.

Cheers.