Patent ID: 7980280

Claim:
A pneumatic tire including a tread surface having five ribs partitioned by four main grooves extending continuously circumferentially of the tire; wherein said ribs include a center rib located on a tire's equator line and intermediate ribs located on opposite sides of the center rib; wherein closed sipes are formed on an outer surface of the tire and at least in the center rib and in the intermediate ribs, each of the closed sipes being located in a lateral center of a corresponding one of the ribs, each of the closed sipes having both ends terminating within a corresponding one of the ribs, the closed sipes being successively offset circumferentially at given intervals among the ribs, the closed sipes being formed in a periodic pattern; wherein the closed sipes in the ribs are so arranged that when the sipes are optically projected onto the equator line of the tire, the sipes do not overlap circumferentially of the tire among the ribs; and wherein in one repeating unit of the periodic pattern of the closed sipes, the sum of circumferential lengths of regions where the closed sipes do not overlap circumferentially of the tire among the ribs is 20% or less of the length of the one repeating unit of the pattern of the closed sipes.