METHOD AND TIRE FOR IMPROVED UNIFORMITY AND ENDURANCE OF AGGRESSIVE TREAD DESIGNS USING SCALLOPED LAYERING TECHNIQUE

摘要

A tire having aggressive tread features with improvements in uniformity that can also improve endurance is provided along with a method and apparatus for manufacturing such a tire. The tire and its manner of manufacture can achieve a reduction or elimination of certain non-uniformities that can occur during the molding of large tread blocks. This can improve temperature performance to provide increased tire endurance. The present invention further relates to a tire made using such a method and that may have layers of different material properties for different tire performances. In one embodiment, a layering technique that uses at least one layer extending across the full axial width of the tread and having scalloped or notched lateral or axial edges is provided. In yet another embodiment, tread blocks are built upon the scalloped layer(s) to provide more material where it is needed most to create tread features.