Patent ID: 6119745
Filing Date: 2000-09-19
Classification: B60C,Y10S

Abstract:
A tire comprising a tread portion including a pair of tread edges and only one wide groove extending continuously along a circumferential direction of the tire and having bottom edges, whereina centroid of the cross-section of the circumferential wide groove is axially offset from an equatorial plane of the tire so as to divide the tread portion into a narrow tread section and a broad tread section, said broad tread section excluding said wide groove,said wide groove including:an arcuate groove wall extending along a curve convexed outwardly in the tire radial direction from one of the bottom edges of said wide groove and connecting smoothly to a radially outer surface of said broad tread section, andan oblique groove wall extending radially substantially straight from the other bottom edge of said wide groove and crossing the outer surface of the tread portion, andwherein in the tire footprint, when the tire is mounted on a regular rim, inflated with regular internal pressure and applied with a normal load, an axially inner groove edge formed by said arcuate groove wall is delineated in the tire footprint as a curve along the circumferential direction such that a width of said wide groove in the tire footprint narrows from a leading edge of the footprint to the ground-contacting center, and then widens therefrom to a trailing edge of the footprint, the groove width of said wide groove at a ground-contacting center being not less than 35 mm and not more than 0.35 times the ground contact width TW of said tread portion, andan axially outer groove edge formed by said oblique groove wall is delineated in the tire footprint as a straight line extending in the circumferential direction from the leading edge to the trailing edge.