Pneumatic tire tread

Claim 1

A pneumatic truck tire having a ground-engaging tread portion characterized by said tread portion having a plurality of circumferentially continuous grooves, said grooves comprising alternating circumferentially extending wide and narrow portions of substatially constant width said narrow portions having a width such that the narrow portions do not close up at the surface of the tread when in the footprint of the tire, each of said wide and narrow portions having a circumferential length in the range of 20% to 100% of the length of the footprint of said tire, said narrow portions of said grooves having a width in the range of 20% to 40% of the width of said wide portions of said grooves, said narrow portions and wide portions of adjacent grooves being staggered in a circumferential direction so that the net contact of the area of said tread in said footprint is substantially constant during rotation of the tire and does not vary by more than approximately 10% during rotation, said tread portion having a net contact area in the footprint of the tire of at least 75%, at the juncture of said narrow portion and said wide portion there is provided an axially extending traction surface, said traction surface being oriented at an angle of at least 80° with respect to the mid-circumferential centerplane of the tire.