Grooving is exactly what it sounds like. You trim out a narrow strip of rubber from your tire to channel all the mud and dirt and debris to the outer edge, increasing your contact patch, and thus, your traction. There is most definitely an art to this, however. You can talk to five different people and get ten different patterns that they say are the best to groove into your tires. Horizontal, vertical, diagonal…heck you can even carve diamonds into the tread if it works for the particular track you are running at that point in time. Most tire groovers use V-shaped blades that are heated using electricity to provide a quick, clean and precise cut. Blades typically range from 1/32” to 1/2” wide and can have either a flat bottom or round bottom, depending on the type of groove you want to make.