Pneumatic tire for passenger cars and method of manufacturing the same

A method of manufacturing a pneumatic tire for passenger cars, comprising the steps of:

• setting a green tire in a shaping mold after said green tire is preheated, for pre-shaping green tires, the green tire having components including a tread and left and right beads, the beads each having a bead core embedded therein with an unvulcanized bead filler disposed on the outer circumferential side of the bead core, at least one unvulcanized carcass ply being arranged to extend between the beads, the carcass ply having reinforcing cords which extend in a width direction of the tire and are aligned at a predetermined interval along a circumferential direction of the tire, and two unvulcanized belt plies being disposed on the outer circumferential side of the unvulcanized carcass ply in the tread, the shaping mold having shaping surfaces which can shape a green tire having a size close to that of the green tire which is being pressed against molding surfaces of a vulcanization mold;
• inflating the set green tire so that the set green tire is pressed against the shaping surfaces of the shaping mold such that the shaping surfaces are in contact with a surface of the green tire to form a shaped green tire;
• and
• setting the shaped green tire in the vulcanization mold, wherein the shaped green tire includes at least one unvulcanized tire component;
• and
• curing the shaped green tire after inflating the shaped green tire so as to press against the molding surfaces of the vulcanization mold,
• wherein the shaping mold has the shaping surfaces extending from the beads of the set green tire to at least intersections where vertical lines perpendicularly drawn to a tread surface of the tread from ends of a widest belt ply of the unvulcanized belt plies meet the tread surface.