Patent ID: 7514494

Claim:
A pneumatic tire comprising at least one component comprising a rubber composition comprising at least one diene based elastomer and a precipitated silica that prior to mixing with said elastomer is prehydrophobated with a fluorinated silane of the following formula: R f —R 1 —SiX 3-x —R 2 x I wherein R f is a perfluorinated group optionally containing one or more heteroatoms; R 1 is a divalent alkylene group, arylene group or mixture thereof, substituted with one or more heteroatoms or functional groups, containing about 1 to about 16 carbon atoms; R 2 is a lower alkyl group; X is a halide, a lower alkoxy group or an acyloxy group; and x is 0 or 1; and the composition further comprising a silica that is not prehydrophobated with a fluorinated silane, and a sulfur containing organosilicon compound.