Pneumatic tire with carcass structure for increased sidewall rigidity

A pneumatic tire comprising:

• a tread portion;
• a pair of axially spaced bead portions with a bead core disposed in each said bead portion;
• a pair of sidewall portions, one of said sidewall portions extending between said tread portion and each said bead portion;
• a carcass consisting of an inner carcass ply and an outer carcass ply disposed outside said inner carcass ply;
• and
• a bead apex made of hard rubber disposed in each said bead portion, wherein
• said inner carcass ply extends between the bead portions and has a pair of edges turned up around the bead cores from the axially inside to outside of the tire to define two turned up portions and one main portion therebetween,
• each said turned up portion extends radially outwardly from the corresponding bead portion to radially outward of the maximum tire width point (B),
• each said bead apex is disposed between the main portion and the corresponding turned up portion and tapers radially outwardly from the corresponding bead core,
• said outer carcass ply has a pair of edges, each one of said pair of edges being disposed between the corresponding bead apex and the corresponding turned up portion,
• the edges of the outer carcass ply are terminated radially outward of the radially inner end of each bead core and radially inward of the radially outer end (P) of each said bead apex, and
• each said sidewall portion is provided with a steel cord reinforcing layer made of parallel steel cords, each said corresponding steel cord reinforcing layer being disposed axially between the corresponding bead apex and the corresponding turned up portion of said inner carcass ply.