Patent ID: 6446689
Filing Date: 2002-09-10
Classification: B60C,Y10S

Abstract:
A pneumatic tire comprising at least a pair of annular beads, at least one carcass ply wrapped around said beads, tread disposed over said carcass ply in a crown area of said tire, and sidewalls disposed between said tread and said beads, said tread having lugs formed by intersection of lateral grooves and circumferential grooves, the improvement comprising the tread having 80 to 105 pitches and a sipe density in all said lugs of 1.0 to 1.1 sipes per pitch, wherein the tread comprises a center lug portion, intermediate lug portions disposed on either side of the center lug portion, and shoulder lug portions defined by a tread edge and an edge of an intermediate lug portion, the tread having a combined net-to-gross ratio in the center and intermediate lug portions of 0.58 to 0.62, and a net-to-gross ratio in the shoulder portions of 0.75 to 0.8, the tire having a generally square footprint shape and a footprint factor of 1.0 to 1.25, and wherein lateral grooves are at substantially full tread depth in the shoulder portion of the tire and are graded to less than full tread depth at the center portion of the tire.