Patent ID: 7472733

Claim:
A tire for a vehicle wheel, comprising: a carcass structure having at least one carcass ply comprising thread elements each extending in a substantially U-shaped conformation about a profile in a transverse section of the tyre and a pair of circumferentially inextensible annular structures each engaged close to a respective inner circumferential edge of the at least one carcass ply; a belt structure applied to the carcass structure at a circumferentially outer position relative to a geometric rotation axis of the tyre; a tread band applied to the belt structure at a circumferentially outer position relative to the geometric rotation axis of the tyre; and at least one pair of sidewalls applied to the carcass structure at laterally opposite positions; wherein each of the at least one carcass ply comprises: a plurality of strip lengths each comprising at least two of the thread elements disposed longitudinally and in parallel to each other and at least partly coated with at least one layer of raw elastomer material, all of the strip lengths extending in a substantially U-shaped conformation around the profile in transverse section of the tyre; wherein all of the strip lengths belonging to each of the at least one carcass ply comprise: two side portions substantially extending in planes orthogonal to the geometric rotation axis of the tyre at mutually-spaced-apart positions in an axial direction; a crown portion extending in a radially outer position between the side portions, in a plane substantially parallel to the geometric axis of the tyre; and two mutually-axially-spaced-apart transition regions that are defined between the side portions and the crown portion, respectively; and wherein the crown portions are disposed consecutively in side-by-side relationship along a circumferential extension of the tire; wherein edges of circumferentially consecutive first strip lengths uniformly abut along their entire crown portions extending between the transition regions; wherein each side portion of a plurality of the strip lengths covers in part and is partly covered by a side portion of at least one adjacent strip length; and wherein each circumferentially inextensible annular structure comprises at least a first circumferentially inextensible annular insert substantially in a form of an annulus coaxial with the tire and formed by at least one first elongated element extending in concentric coils.