Patent ID: 7628190

Claim:
A pneumatic tire comprising: a tread portion, a pair of sidewall portions, a pair of bead portions each with a bead core therein, a carcass ply extending between the bead portions through the tread portion and sidewall portions and turned up around the bead core in each said bead portion so as to form a pair of turnup portions and a main portion therebetween, a sidewall rubber disposed in each said sidewall portion, a clinch rubber disposed in each said bead portion and being harder than the sidewall rubber, an inner clinch rubber layer disposed in each said bead portion on the axially inside of said clinch rubber and axially outside the carcass ply turnup portion, and a bead apex rubber disposed in each said bead portion on the radially outside of the bead core, wherein the bead apex rubber extends radially outwardly beyond the radially outer end of the carcass ply turnup portion, the inner clinch rubber layer extends radially outwardly beyond the radially outer end of the carcass ply turnup portion, the clinch rubber extends radially outwardly beyond the radially outer end of the inner clinch rubber layer, a radially outer end portion of the clinch rubber is spliced with a radially inner end portion of said sidewall rubber so that the border therebetween extends axially outwardly from the axially outer surface of the bead apex rubber, while inclining radially outwardly towards the axially outside of the tire, the clinch rubber extends from the spliced radially outer end thereof to the toe of the bead portion so as to form the axially outer surface and the bottom surface of the bead portion, the sidewall rubber extends from the spliced radially inner end thereof towards the tread edge so as to form the axially outer surface of the sidewall portion, said sidewall rubber is made up of multiple windings of a first rubber strip, wherein said multiple windings progress in a single direction from the bead portion side toward the tread portion side, while each of the windings overlaps the axially outside of the axially adjacent winding, and said clinch rubber is made up of multiple windings of a second rubber strip, wherein said multiple windings progress in a single direction from the bead portion side toward the tread portion side, while each of the windings overlaps the axially outside of the axially adjacent winding, the clinch rubber has a durometer A hardness Hs 1 in a range between 70 and 79 degrees, the inner clinch rubber layer has a durometer A hardness Hs 2 larger than a durometer A hardness Hs 3 of the sidewall rubber, and the hardness Hs 2 of the inner clinch rubber layer is smaller than the hardness Hs 1 of the clinch rubber such that the difference (Hs 1 −Hs 2 ) of the hardness Hs 1 of the clinch rubber from the hardness Hs 2 of the inner clinch rubber layer is between 10 and 20 degrees.