Tire groover
 

http://www.scpraceparts.com/ideal-de...nd-blades.html

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/300-Wa...-Iron,399.html

Has anyone used either of those groovers? If so how well do they work? I'm about to buy one and can see spending a few hundred dollars for a high dollar set up that will spend most of its life sitting on the shelf. So I was going to get one of the above.The red groover from sppedway is 300 watts and the black groover is only 250 watts, how much of a diffrence will that make?


Adam

I have the ideal 250 watt one. It works good as long as you let it stay hot so I would say go with the 300watt gun.

Our club bought the Ideal 250 watt version many years ago, along with sets of replacement blades including the standard #4 it comes with (I think about 1/4") and a larger 1/2" wide blade. Besides grooving you can also flip the blade over and cut sipes.

I don't know how many sets of tires it has been used on, but it has been a bunch. The key is you need to plug it in and let it sit for awhile to get hot, and while grooving you might need to stop periodically and let it warm back up. It is also easier the warmer the tires are, as in letting them sit in the driveway on a nice hot and sunny day versus going out on a 30 degree day. I did break this rule the last time I used it since the truck was sitting outside in 40 degree weather all day and had only been in a heated garage for around an hour before using it....I still grooved and siped a set of 38" Swampers in an hour.

i have the ideal 250w also. For as cheap as it was, it has been great for me. If i was cutting tires everyday or every weekend (i.e. grooving dirt track tires) yes the bigger gun would be better. But for something that sits around alot more than it gets used, its hard to justify the extra money.

the red one comes out cheaper than the black one by a few bucks, but seems that everone here has had good luck with the black one.

i've used the 250 numerous times, and have always been pleased with it. grooving tires sucks anyway you look at it though.

How long do the blades last? No matter which groover I buy, should I get a ton of extra blades with it?

I bought our club's groover and am thinking I bought 1 extra pack of the 1/4" and one pack of the 1/2" blades (it's been a long time) and we have never ordered more blades. Though I don't know how many are left as I haven't had it in awhile, but plan on getting it again soon. I do think most of the wasted blades were not from wear but rather operator error (bending them from forcing the blades or poor angle, etc...).

do it when it's warm and they last awhile, i tennessee cut a set of 39.5 tsls when it was zero degrees a couple fo winters ago, and went through about 4 blades per tire. keep in mind though that i was in an unheated garage, adn teh rubber was hard as a rock from being cold.

Go slow and the blades will last forever. The slower you go the more heat the blade holds as you are cutting. When the blade cools off, that's when it dulls. Go slower, makes nicer cuts too. Going to0 fast, the thing can get away from you and cut a nasty line where you dont want it.

Oh, and it's obvious that the thing gets hot, but please look the fark out, it's nutty hot. No matter how careful you are, it can get you. So be careful and it won't bite you as bad.

Cool thing is to weigh the rubber you cut off when yer done, let's you know how much weight you cut off, and saving rotational weight is king. Less wear and tear on driveline parts.

Buy the heavy duty blades for whatever groover you use, you will not regret it. The blades that came with the Ideal Knife I have were pretty weak so I upgraded to the heavy duty blades and it cut my Boggers like butter. Here is a link to an article...

http://www.izook.com/reviews/heatknife/heatknife.htm

Also, let the tires sit in the sun before grooving them, it will help. :D

Hope this helps...
Jeff

I'm going to order the 250 tomorrow since everyone seems to have had good luck with it. Thanks for all the info.:beers:

I might have to rent this off of you to get some meat out of my 37's.

Anyone know If I can dig a little deeper on some TSL?

so any updates on the groover?

Its still sitting in the box. I planned on blasting the tires with my torpedo heater to warm them up for grooving, but as you know it was stolen and the new heater doesn't have a blower so I'm gonna wait till spring to pull the groover out.

yea I knew that and it still sucks

if you wanted to uses it sooner you could bring your tires over my place and we could blast them with my heater or we could try it out on some junk tires I have too

Or I could break it in and borrow/rent it off you and see if I can get something going on my TSLs

I'm not in a hurry really, there are enough projects for me to do before I need the tires grooved,but thanks for the offer
I might be up for renting it out after I get to use it once, but I'm selfish and like to play with my toys first lol

I understand man I am the same way but I thought there would be a chance. Get some pics on how it does.

I got the 300 watt one this week from http://www.speedwaymotors.com/300-Wa...-Iron,399.html.... I have done my 2 front tires so far and it seemed to work great... I don't have anything to compare it to, but it took me about 30 minutes per tire and didn't take much effort to cut through the rubber... The grooves are about a 1/4" deep....

The only thing bad about for me is that i have arthritis in my hands so it made my hands hurt a little, but wasn't too bad... i took a break between tires...

Here's a pic of 1 of the tires and the leftovers...