Regrooving a tire with treads that have worn smooth can sometimes provide a cost-efficient way to keep older tires safe. Specific tools made for this job vary in price, size and complexity of use. The use of these tools occurs most often on industrial and commercial truck tires; they will only work on tires with a certain amount of thickness.
Handheld grooving tools are, as their name suggests, tools you can hold in your hand and run along the surface of a tire. These handheld tools, about the size of hot glue guns, connect via a cord to a power regulator that plugs into any wall outlet. You can insert tire regrooving blades into the handheld grooving tool and adjust them to within 1/32 inch when regrooving old tire rubber. This cheap, portable tool allows for easy storage; it works on regular car and truck tires.
An industrial tire regrooving tool is a freestanding cage and tire regroover meant for industrial and commercial truck tires in a large shop or factory floor setting. It can cut multiple grooves at once and cuts a more consistent depth for each groove than handheld groovers, as it holds the tire at a consistent level as it turns. It also regrooves tires extremely quickly as opposed to a handheld groover. This heavy industrial tool lacks the portability and cheap price of handheld groovers, however.
Tire Regrooving blades come in the shape of a "V" or a "U." They come in different thicknesses, as they often must cut different patterns in the surface of these rubber tires meant for different types of traction and terrain. These regrooving blades come in packets of 20; you can use them for both handheld regrooving tools and freestanding cage regroovers.
