Abstract: A pneumatic radial ply truck tire for use on medium truck trailers includes a tread, a casing with two sidewalls, one or more radial plies extending from, and wrapped about, two annular beads, and a belt reinforcement structure located radially between the tread and the one or more radial plies. The tread includes a plurality of circumferentially extending tread grooves, a pair of circumferentially extending shoulder ribs, a pair of radially recessed ribs being radially recessed and non-road contacting under static load disposed at a lateral edge of the shoulder ribs, and a pair of circumferentially extending decoupling grooves. Each decoupling groove defines a transition between a corresponding shoulder rib and a corresponding recessed rib. A lateral edge of one of the shoulder ribs has a first radius of curvature forming a transition from a radially outer surface of the shoulder rib to a first side surface of the corresponding decoupling groove.

Abstract: A pneumatic radial ply truck tire for use on medium truck trailers includes a tread, a casing with two sidewalls, one or more radial plies extending from, and wrapped about, two annular beads, and a belt reinforcement structure located radially between the tread and the one or more radial plies. The tread includes a plurality of circumferentially extending tread grooves, a pair of circumferentially extending shoulder ribs, a pair of radially recessed ribs being radially recessed and non-road contacting under static load disposed at a lateral edge of the shoulder ribs, and a pair of circumferentially extending decoupling grooves. Each decoupling groove defines a transition between a corresponding shoulder rib and a corresponding recessed rib. A lateral edge of one of the shoulder ribs has a first radius of curvature forming a transition from a radially outer surface of the shoulder rib to a first side surface of the corresponding decoupling groove.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for making a tire with a built in sealant is provided. The method includes the steps of mounting an inner liner onto a tire building drum, extruding a sealant composition into strips having tapered sidewalls, cutting the strip to a desired length, mounting the sealant over the inner liner in two or more zones, wherein each zone is separated by a circumferential divider which joins the inner liner to the a cover layer forming a barrier to prevent migration of the sealant from one zone to another.

Abstract: A truck steer tire 10 has a side groove 24, 240 that extends laterally inwardly from the treadwall 29 in a circumferentially continuous fashion. The side groove 24, 240 lies between the tread surface 26 and the belt reinforcing structure 15. The side groove 24, 240 has a minimum groove (w) of 5 mm or greater and a groove depth to width ratio of 1.0 to 2.4. The groove 24, 240 preferably has a groove base having a radiused profile R, the radially inner portion of R being at least equal to one-half the minimum groove width (w).