Patent ID: 8646503

Claim:
A pneumatic tire comprising: a tread portion extending in a tire circumferential direction; a pair of sidewall sections disposed on both sides of the tread portion, respectively, with regard to a tire width direction, at least one of the sidewall sections including a plurality of partitions comprising protrusions or grooves that are provided at a sidewall surface such that they are spaced apart in the tire circumferential direction and extend linearly in a tire radial direction to form partitioned regions at the sidewall surface; a plurality of first minute regions that are provided in each of the partitioned regions of the sidewall surface and separated from one another along the tire circumferential direction by the partitions, and visually distinguishable from surrounding regions of the sidewall surface due to a light reflection characteristic or an unevenness of the sidewall surface; and a plurality of second minute regions that are provided in the partitioned regions, visually distinguishable from the first minute regions due to a light reflection characteristic or an unevenness of the sidewall surface, and arranged adjacently to the first minute regions on inward and outward sides of the first minute regions along the tire radial direction; the first minute regions and the second minute regions being provided alternately along the tire radial direction in each of the partitioned regions; the first minute regions are positioned along the tire radial direction such that the first minute regions of adjacent ones of the partitioned regions are partially juxtaposed and positions of the first minute regions in the tire radial direction vary along the tire circumferential direction; the second minute regions are positioned along the tire radial direction such that the second minute regions of adjacent ones of the partitioned regions are partially juxtaposed and positions of the second minute regions in the tire radial direction vary along the tire circumferential direction; and each of the first minute regions and the second minute regions includes a plurality of ridges aligned in one direction, such that the first minute regions are visually distinguishable from the second minute regions, and at least one of a density of the ridges, a direction of the ridges, and a width of the ridges of the first minute regions is different than those of the second minute regions.