Abstract: The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire, specifically to improvements to the bead region of tires designed for runflat operations. The improvements comprise the addition of cavities or indentation (126) on the surface of the bead (127) that contacts the wheel rim (128). In a first embodiment a series of circular cavities (126) are located on the radial innermost surface of the bead in the proximity of the bead toe. In a second embodiment, a continuous groove-like torus cavity (226) is located in the radially innermost surface of the bead in the proximity of the bead toe. The series of cavities or torus cavity increase the adherence of the bead to the rim as a small volume of air at a low pressure, significantly inferior to the atmospheric pressure (air vacuum situation) is trapped in the void spaces created by the cavities or torus cavity and the bead seat.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an improvement to block-type tread patterns for pneumatic tires (110,210). To balance heel-toe wear, the heels (126,226) of one or more of the blocks are provided with one or more notches (130,230). The application of an appropriate number, shape, and size of notches provides the blocks with a variable net to gross where the void space decreases from the heel to the toe. With increased void space, the wear rate of the heel is increased to balance the wear rate at the toe.