Thin gauge, fine diameter steel cord reinforced tire ply fabric which is lap spliced

The method of assembling a steel cord reinforced radial ply fabric in a tire comprises the steps of:

• orienting uniformly spaced parallel fine diameter steel cords, the cords having a diameter C in millimeters and one or more filaments each filament having a diameter D and a tensile strength of at least (-2000D+4400 MPa).times.95% where D is the diameter of the filament in millimeters, C being less than 0.75 mm,
• encapsulating the oriented cords in a thin layer of unvulcanized elastomeric material forming a fabric, the elastomeric material having a gauge thickness in the range of the cord diameter C plus 0.22 mm to C plus 1.25 mm;
• cutting the fabric to width and splicing the length ends parallel to the cords thus forming a radial ply fabric;
• cutting the fabric to a desired length creating a first and second end;
• and
• lap splicing the first and second ends whereby prior to vulcanization the lap splice has at least one cord of each end overlapped and substantially aligned with at least one cord of the opposite end.