Tire tread with spaced central tread narrow grooves

In a vehicle tire of a radial carcass construction with a low cross-sectional profile having a tread portion that is reinforced by a belt layer, whereby said tread portion comprises a plurality of circumferential tread element bands in a center portion of said tread portion and one shoulder tread element row with shoulder tread elements on either side of said center portion, with said tread element bands being separated from one another and from said shoulder tread element rows in an axial direction of said vehicle tire by respective wide and deep first circumferential grooves that have straight edges, and with said tread element bands having notches that are distributed in a circumferential direction of said vehicle tire and are oriented at a first angle relative to a center plane of said vehicle tire starting from said first circumferential grooves and ending within said tread element bands, and with said shoulder tread element rows comprising transverse tread elements that are separated from one another by transverse grooves and are arranged transverse relative to said center plane, the improvement wherein:

• said tread element bands comprise a central tread element band and a respective adjacent tread element band on either side thereof, with at least said central thread element band having a central narrow second circumferential groove arranged in said central plane, said second circumferential groove having straight edges and being essentially as deep and 1/4 to 1/3 as wide as said first circumferential grooves;
• at least said adjacent tread element bands are provided with first narrow grooves that are spaced from one another by twice a circumferential length of a tread element repeating unit defined by said shoulder tread elements, with said first narrow grooves communicating with said first circumferential grooves and being essentially as deep and 1/4 to 1/3 as wide as said first circumferential grooves, whereby said first narrow grooves and said notches within said adjacent tread element bands are arranged in an alternating fashion along each said first circumferential groove.