Patent ID: 8381783

Claim:
A pneumatic tire, comprising a tread surface, the tread surface including: a shoulder land portion extending in a circumferential direction of the tire; and a thin groove extending in a circumferential direction of the tire located at, as viewed in a width direction of the tire, the inner side than a contact edge of the shoulder land portion, the thin groove partitioning the shoulder land portion into a main land portion located at the inner side and a sacrifice portion located at the outer side thereof, the pneumatic tire also including a buttress groove extending in the circumferential direction of the tire located at, as viewed in a width direction of the tire, the outer side than the contact edge of the shoulder land portion, wherein the thin groove is arranged to, as viewed in the cross-section in a meridian direction of the tire, extend from the tread surface perpendicularly or being inclined outward with respect to the groove bottom, when defining a depth of the thin groove as “D” a distance from an edge line formed by the thin groove and the main land portion therebetween to an inner surface of the tire as “T”, and a distance from the contact edge of the shoulder land portion to a virtual straight line extended, as viewed in a radial direction of the tire, parallel to the tread surface through an outer end of the buttress groove as “E”, the values are set to be D≦E≦T (wherein, each of D, E and T is measured in a direction of a normal line of the tread surface), and when defining a depth of the buttress groove as “H”, the depth is arranged to be 0.1D<H<0.2D.