Abstract: A tread for a tire, the tread being provided with a plurality of cutouts, defined by walls perpendicular to or oblique to the rolling surface of the tread, in which the two main walls of at least one cutout located in the part of the tread affected by the loading on the ground of the tire during travel are connected by at least one rubber connecting element and in that the total connection surface SE of the connecting element(s) is at most 80% of the surface defined by the geometric contour L of minimum length and surrounding said total connection surface SE. A method for producing a cutout provided with at least one connecting element.

Abstract: A tire for a heavy vehicle having beads, sidewalls and a crown, the crown having a reinforcement armature formed of at least two working plies, is provided with a protuberance for deflecting sprays. To deflect the flow of water ejected laterally by this tire during travel on water-covered ground, without adversely affecting the thermal level of said tire, provision is made to arrange on at least one of the sidewalls a protuberance which is limited by an upper wall radially to the outside and a lower, wall radially to the inside, the intersection of said walls being along a line joining points C which are located axially farthest to the outside of said protuberance, the angle &agr; between the axial direction and a straight line tangent both to the edge of the tread and to the protuberance being less than 45°. Furthermore, the upper profile of the protuberance intersects the sidewall profile at a point K located within the extension of the average profile of the radially outermost crown ply.

Abstract: A tread is provided with at least one rubber stud of orientation XX′ perpendicular or inclined with respect to the tread surface. The rubber stud has a side wall bounded by at least one incision and an outer end wall. The stud is joined to the tread at its base (the rubber stud part located farthest inward on the tread) and by at least one rubber connecting element joining the side wall of said stud to the rest of the tread. The projected length, on the tread surface in new condition and in the direction XX′, of the principal geometrical lines of the surfaces of intersection of all the connecting elements of each rubber stud, represents at least 80 percent of the contour perimeter, measured on the same surface, of each rubber stud. Preferably, the principal geometrical lines bounding the surfaces of intersection of the connecting elements are in the form of helixes around XX′, and the projected length of said lines is equal or close to 100 percent of the perimeter.

Abstract: A tread for a heavy-duty vehicle tire having radial carcass reinforcement rmounted radially by crown reinforcement which tread has grooves that can be regrooved and wherein those parts of the tread that are located radially under the grooves include depth indicators, each indicator indicating the minimum depth that can be reached for effective regrooving and the maximum depth that must never be exceeded.