Abstract: In one aspect, a tire is provided, the tire comprising: a tread portion comprising at least one of a tread rib or a tread block, a sipe included in the tread rib or the tread block, the sipe including: a radially outer portion, an interlocking portion radially inward of and directly connected to the radially outer portion, and a base portion radially inward of and directly connected to the interlocking portion, wherein the interlocking portion includes a plurality of positive interlocking portions and negative interlocking portions forming a sinusoidal wave profile in a plane formed by a circumferential axis C of the tire and an axial axis A of the tire.

Abstract: A tire mold segment containing a mold surface with a plurality of groove forming and sipe forming protrusions arranged to form tread portions of tires. At the end faces of the tire mold segment, the portion of sipe forming protrusions with an end that terminates at or near the mold segment end face have an increased width to provide a countermeasure against irregular tread wear and tire noise. The sipe forming protrusions having an end that terminates at or near a tire mold segment end face have a width of about 0.7 mm or more. The remaining sipe forming protrusions positioned on the tire mold segment can a reduced thickness to accommodate high sipe density tread designs.

Abstract: A tire is provided comprising a tread. The tread includes a rib having a first axially-facing side and a second axially-facing side. A plurality of axial grooves traverse the rib, dividing the rib into a plurality of tread blocks. Each tread block includes one or more block sidewalls, where the one or more block sidewalls of each tread block includes a first axially-facing block sidewall and a second axially-facing block sidewall. A first circumferential groove is positioned on the first axially-facing side of the rib and a second circumferential groove positioned on the second axially-facing side of the rib. Furthermore, a first circumferentially-extending channel is provided on the first axially-facing block sidewall of each tread block and having an opening at the first circumferential groove and a first corner within each tread block. The first channel is defined by two walls that extend from the block sidewall into each tread block and intersect to form the first corner having about a 90 degree angle.