Radial tire for heavy load vehicles

In a radial tire for heavy load vehicles having a crown portion forming a tread, a pair of side portions for supporting the crown portion, each side portion having a root, a pair of bead portions each having a bead core and for mounting the root of each side portion on a tire rim, a carcass ply composed of a steel cord ply extending from the crown portion through both the side portions to both the bead portions, the carcass ply being wound around the bead core from the inside toward the outside thereof to form a turn-up portion, a chafer composed of a steel cord ply superimposed about the turn-up portion of the carcass ply, said chafer being would around the bead core from the inside toward the outside thereof to reinforce the bead portion, and a plurality of inextensible belts superimposed about the carcass ply and reinforcing the crown portion, the improvement comprising:

• upwardly extending the upper end of the turn-up portion of the carcass ply to a position located between a point passing over the maximum width point of the carcass ply expanded by applying an internal pressure to the tire and a point where a normal drawn perpendicular from a hump to the carcass ply crosses with the carcass ply, a side ply reinforcing the side portion of the tire, said side ply superimposed about the carcass ply and composed of a rubberized metallic cord, and a soft rubber layer separating the turn-up portion of the carcass ply from the side ply said soft rubber layer composed of rubber having a Shore A hardness which is smaller than a Shore A hardness of a coating rubber of the carcass ply and a 300% modulus of elasticity which is 50% to 80% of a 300% modulus of elasticity of the coating rubber of the carcass ply.