Pneumatic tire having improved wet traction.

摘要

A directional pneumatic tire having improved wet traction has an annular aqua channel (12) and curved lateral grooves (14) which direct water from the footprint to the shoulder area of the tire to help prevent hydroplaning. The pitch boundaries between the portions of the tire on either side of the aqua channel may be skewed. The curved lateral grooves (14) and the skewing reduce noise properties of the tire. In addition, the lugs (18) may have rounded or radiused leading and trailing edges, and a leading groove wall angle of about 5 DEG and a trailing groove wall angle of about 1 DEG , which are believed to reduce noise and irregular wear. The lugs (18) contain slots which change direction within the lug and tie bars in the slots at each point where the slots change direction. The tread has non-skid depth of 0.75 to 1cm (.030 to 0.40 inch) and a ratio of non-skid to tie bar depth of 0.42.