Pneumatic tire

A pneumatic tire comprising:

• a tread having a crown portion and shoulder portions and including a tread pattern, said shoulder portions formed on both sides of said crown portion;
• a belt cord layer with a plurality of cords inclined in the same direction to produce a residual cornering force for counteracting a lateral force resulting upon engagement of the tire with a cant in a road surface when the tire is in use;
• the tread pattern including two main grooves provided symmetrically with the equatorial plane of said pneumatic tire, said main grooves dividing said shoulder portions from said crown portion and extending in the circumferential direction of said pneumatic tire;
• the thread pattern further including a plurality of central lateral grooves provided on said crown portion, said central lateral grooves extending in the direction of the tire's width, and the central lateral grooves being inclined with respect to the axial direction of the tire in the same direction as the plurality of cords in the cord layer such that a tractive force develops at each of the areas of the crown portion between the central lateral grooves as the tire engages the road surface in use;
• and
• the tread pattern further including a plurality of shoulder lateral grooves provided on each of said shoulder portions, said shoulder lateral grooves extending in the direction of the tire's width and being inclined in a direction opposite to that of said central lateral grooves with respect to the axial direction of said pneumatic tire such that a braking force in a direction that is opposite a direction of said tractive force is developed in each of the areas of the shoulder portions between the shoulder lateral grooves, wherein all walls of said central lateral grooves are inclined in the same direction with respect to a line in a radial direction of said pneumatic tire and all walls of said shoulder lateral grooves are inclined in an opposite direction to that of the walls of said central lateral grooves with respect to a line in the radial direction of said pneumatic tire such that the inclination of the walls of the central lateral grooves with respect to the line in the radial direction and the inclination of the walls of the shoulder lateral grooves with respect to the line in the radial direction sufficiently reduces the tractive force and the braking force respectively to suppress the effect of the tread pattern on the residual cornering force of the tire so that the residual cornering force produced by the belt counteracts the lateral force resulting upon engagement of the tire with the cant in the road surface when the tire is in use.