Heavy duty pneumatic tire

A heavy duty pneumatic tire having a nominal aspect ratio of 65% or less, the heavy duty pneumatic tire comprising:

• a tread having a tread surface that comes into contact with a road surface;
• a pair of sidewalls connected to an end of the tread and located radially inward of the tread;
• a pair of beads being a first bead and a second bead that are located radially inward of the pair of sidewalls;
• a carcass located inward of the tread and the pair of sidewalls and extending between the first bead and the second bead;
• and
• a reinforcing layer located between the tread and the carcass,
• wherein
• the tread has at least three circumferential grooves,
• among the at least three circumferential grooves, is a shoulder circumferential groove which is a circumferential groove located on each outer side in an axial direction,
• the reinforcing layer includes a band including a spirally wound band cord, and a belt including a large number of belt cords aligned with each other,
• the band includes a full band and a pair of edge bands located radially outward of an end of the full band,
• the end of the full band is located axially outward of the shoulder circumferential groove,
• the belt includes at least three belt plies aligned in the radial direction,
• the at least three belt plies include a first belt ply, a second belt ply located radially outward of the first belt ply, and a third belt ply located radially outward of the second belt ply,
• the third belt ply is located radially inward of the pair of edge bands,
• a distance between each edge band and the full band or the third belt ply is not less than 2.2 mm and not greater than 4.0 mm,
• a ratio of a tire thickness at an end of the tread surface to a tire thickness at an equator plane is not less than 1.2 and not greater than 2.0, and
• the reinforcing layer further includes a buffer layer consisting of a crosslinked rubber which is located between the pair of edge bands and the full band or the third belt ply.