Abstract: A passenger car tire that combines a number of design features or parameters which yield a tire which has road noise, tread wear and handling performance characteristics which are equal to or better than those exhibited by comparable prior art tires, which possesses improvements in mud and snow performance not heretofore approached in prior art high performance tires, and in which heat dissipation characteristics are such that ornamental white sidewall lettering may be applied without in any way detracting from performance and durability characteristics. Moreover, and most surprisingly, the tire of the present invention is actually lighter in weight than is the most comparable prior art high performance tire, which does not possess the improved mud and snow characteristics of the invention.

Abstract: A radial ply pneumatic tire (10) has a tread portion (12) extending circumferentially thereabout. The tread has a plurality of circumferentially extending grooves (36,38,40,42) therein. The axially outermost circumferential grooves (36,42) communicate with one another through two series of crisscrossed curved grooves (44,46), with the grooves of each series inclined in opposite directions across the tread, Drainage grooves (110) extend from the axially outermost circumferential grooves (36,42) to the nearest axial edge (TE.sub.1, TE.sub.2) of the tread in a substantially axial direction. The tire exhibits good handling at high speeds on both wet and dry pavement, while also providing better snow traction than known high performance tires.