Patent ID: 7836928

Claim:
A method for preparing a tire, the method comprising the steps of: mixing ingredients including silica and at least one elastomer to form a first mixture, where the elastomer optionally includes silica-interactive functionalized elastomer; cooling the first mixture; further mixing the first mixture, optionally with additional ingredients including a silica coupling agent and a silica dispersing agent, to form an intermediate mixture, with the proviso that at least one of the ingredients mixed to form the first mixture or the additional ingredients added to form the intermediate mixture includes a silica-interactive compound; adding ingredients including a curative to the intermediate mixture to form a vulcanizable mixture; mixing the vulcanizable mixture; forming the vulcanizable mixture into a tire component; building a tire by including the tire component; curing the tire; where a nitrogen-containing heterocycle is added to at least one of said step of mixing ingredients to form a first mixture or said step of further mixing to form an intermediate mixture, and where the nitrogen-containing heterocycle is an imidazole compound.