Patent ID: 7766061

Claim:
A tread band, comprising: a primary groove opening onto a front face of the tread band and a secondary feature molded into the tread band, the secondary feature opening onto at least a back face of the tread band, wherein a bottom of the secondary feature extends to a greater distance radially from the back face than a groove bottom of the primary groove so that the secondary feature bottom is opened to the front face of the tread band prior to disappearance by wear of the primary groove, the opened secondary feature providing groove open volume and depth in the tread; a wear indicator molded into a section of an undertread portion of the tread band to provide an end-of-useable-tread indication for the opened secondary feature when the front face of the tread band wears even with a top portion of the wear indicator, wherein the wear indicator is molded into an indicator portion of the secondary feature and extends radially from the back face of the tread band such that the top portion of the wear indicator is below the secondary feature bottom that opens to the front face of the tread band prior to disappearance by wear of the primary groove, wherein the tread band portion between the top portion of the wear indicator and the secondary feature bottom provides tread depth above the end-of-useable tread indication.