Patent ID: 9340071
Filing Date: 2016-05-17
CPC Classification: B60C

Claim Text:
1. A pneumatic tire having a designated installing direction to a vehicle, comprising a tread portion having an inboard tread edge and an outboard tread edge, the tread portion being provided with: a pair of circumferentially extending inboard and outboard center main grooves disposed both sides of a tire equator to define a center portion therebetween; a pair of circumferentially extending inboard and outboard shoulder main grooves disposed axially outside of the inboard and outboard center main grooves; a pair of middle portions which include an inboard middle portion defined between the inboard center main groove and the inboard shoulder main groove, and an outboard middle portion defined between the outboard center main groove and the outboard shoulder main groove; and a pair of shoulder portions which include an inboard shoulder portion defined the axially outside of the inboard shoulder main groove, and an outboard shoulder portion defined the axially outside of the outboard shoulder main groove, wherein each of the inboard center main groove, the outboard center main groove and the inboard shoulder main groove has a groove width in a range of from 10 to 20 mm, the outboard shoulder main groove has a groove width in a range of from 2 to 5 mm, wherein the outboard shoulder portion is provided with a plurality of outboard shoulder lateral grooves each of which extends axially inwardly at least from the outboard tread edge and terminates without reaching the outboard shoulder main groove, the outboard middle portion is provided with a plurality of outboard middle lateral grooves, each of which outboard middle lateral grooves extends from the outboard shoulder main groove beyond a center in width direction of the outboard middle portion without reaching the outboard center main groove, and each of which outboard middle lateral grooves has a depth that gradually increases toward the outboard shoulder main groove, the inboard middle portion is provided with a plurality of inboard middle sipes each of which extends from the inboard shoulder main groove beyond a center in width direction of the inboard middle portion without reaching the inboard center main groove, and the inboard middle portion is further provided with a plurality of inboard middle lateral grooves each of which extends axially outwardly from the inboard center main groove without extending beyond a center in a width direction of the inboard middle portion, the inboard shoulder portion is provided with a plurality of inboard shoulder lateral grooves each of which connects between the inboard tread edge and the inboard shoulder main groove, and (i) a maximum depth of the inboard middle lateral grooves is smaller than a maximum depth of the outboard middle lateral grooves and a maximum depth of the inboard shoulder lateral grooves and (ii) a maximum depth of the outboard shoulder lateral grooves is smaller than the maximum depth of the outboard middle lateral grooves.