Modern tire tread patterns must manage complex force interactions across varying surface conditions, with measurements showing that even small changes in groove geometry can alter lateral grip by 15-20% and affect hydroplaning speeds by up to 10 km/h. Recent tests demonstrate that optimizing just the shoulder block design can improve wet braking distances by 5-8% while maintaining dry handling performance.

The fundamental challenge lies in balancing contradictory requirements: maximizing surface contact for dry grip while maintaining sufficient void space and channeling for wet conditions, all while managing wear patterns and acoustic signatures.

This page brings together solutions from recent research—including asymmetric tread patterns with optimized groove geometries, multi-level sipe designs that adapt through wear cycles, and innovative shoulder block configurations for improved water evacuation. These and other approaches focus on practical implementations that deliver consistent performance across the tire's full service life.

1. Tire Tread with 3-Level Sipe Geometry Incorporating Interference Profiles and Contact Surfaces

BRIDGESTONE EUROPE NV/SA, 2025

Tire tread pattern with enhanced 3-level sipe geometry that improves dry performance while maintaining wet/snow traction throughout the tire's life. The sipe design has two key features: interference profiles and contact surfaces. The interference profiles are steps within the sipe that prevent full contact between adjacent sipe edges when the tire is new. This reduces stiffness and improves grip on wet/snow. As the sipe wears, the steps wear down allowing full contact for improved dry performance without sacrificing wet/snow traction. The contact surfaces are areas within the sipe that are meant to contact the ground during rolling. These provide additional voids in the tread for improved wet/snow grip as the sipe wears. The combination of interference profiles and contact surfaces allows optimized performance on both dry and wet/snow surfaces by compensating for void reduction during tire wear.

US12370837B2-patent-drawing

2. Tire Tread with Serrated Block Edges and Zigzag Pattern for Enhanced Multi-Surface Grip and Water Channeling

NOKIAN RENKAAT OYJ, 2025

A tread design for winter tires that improves grip and handling on snow, ice, and bare road. The tread has a specific block arrangement with a unique shape and layout that enhances snow traction, provides better steering response, and reduces aquaplaning. The blocks have serrated edges, curved contours, and a zigzag pattern that grips and bites into snow and ice, while also providing channeling for water evacuation. The blocks are also arranged in a specific configuration to maximize contact patch size and pressure distribution on dry roads. This tread design improves winter tire performance without sacrificing summer tire characteristics.

3. Tire Tread Blocks with Triangular Recesses Extending Across Ground Contacting Surface and Sidewall

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD, 2025

A tire with improved snow traction compared to traditional tires. The tire has blocks with recesses extending across the ground contacting surface and the sidewall. The recesses have triangular openings on both the ground and sidewall surfaces. The sidewall opening terminates before reaching the groove bottom. This unique recess design allows snow to pack into the triangular openings and compact onto the ground contacting surface, enhancing traction on snow.

US12350972B2-patent-drawing

4. Tire Tread Pattern with Circumferential Grooves and Intermediate Land Portions for Noise Reduction

THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO LTD, 2025

Tire tread pattern with reduced noise without compromising on-snow performance. The tread has inner and outer circumferential main grooves that sandwich the tire equator. In between, there are intermediate land portions and center land. This configuration reduces tire noise compared to conventional treads with a single wide centerland. The inner main grooves provide snow traction while the intermediate land portions provide noise damping.

US12350973B2-patent-drawing

5. Tire Tread with Alternating Linear and Arc-Shaped Shoulder Grooves and Angled Center Grooves

THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO LTD, 2025

Tire with optimized snow performance and low rolling resistance by using specific narrow groove patterns in the shoulder and center regions. The shoulder has alternating linear/arc shaped narrow grooves, while the center has an angled narrow groove connected to the main groove and a separate narrow groove that extends circumferentially. This configuration improves snow traction without sacrificing rolling resistance by providing biting edges in the shoulder and center that enhance grip on snow while minimizing voids for reduced rolling resistance.

US2025214378A1-patent-drawing

6. Tire Tread with Multi-Directional Groove Intersection and Bent Edge Design

THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO LTD, 2025

A tire tread design that provides good snow performance and steering stability simultaneously. The tread pattern has three-direction intersection points between the grooves that allow compacting snow in multiple directions. These points have bent edges with an optimal angle range of 40-85 degrees. This design ensures strong snow shear force without sacrificing block rigidity for steering stability.

US12344039B2-patent-drawing

7. Pneumatic Tire with Center and Middle Land Portions Featuring Interconnected Sipes, Lugs, and Notched Blocks

THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO LTD, 2025

Pneumatic tire design with improved uneven wear resistance and wet traction. The tire has specific features in the shoulder and center regions. The center land portion has multiple center lug grooves with blocks between them. The middle land portion has multiple middle lug grooves, blocks, a notch on the center groove side of each block, and a middle sipe extending from the notch to the shoulder side. This configuration helps prevent uneven wear and improves wet traction by providing interconnected sipes and lugs that can channel water and provide biting edges.

8. Tire with Circumferential Main Grooves, Chamfered Portions, and Inclined Grooves Incorporating Narrow Grooves in Lands

THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO LTD, 2025

A tire design with improved wet steering stability, vehicle external noise resistance, and wear resistance in a balanced manner. The tire has four circumferential main grooves, defining lands, chamfered portions, and inclined grooves. At least one circumferential narrow groove is added in the lands. This configuration provides balanced wet steering stability, noise reduction, and wear resistance. The narrow grooves in the lands improve wet grip, the chamfered portions reduce edge effects, the inclined grooves further reduce noise, and the overall design maintains wear resistance.

US12337619B2-patent-drawing

9. Tire Tread with Angled Sipes and Slots Featuring Distinct Inward and Chamfer Angles

BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS TIRE OPERATIONS LLC, 2025

Tire tread design with improved snow and ice traction without sacrificing dry road performance. The tread has sipes and slots with specific angled features. The key edge of the sipe is angled inward at an angle KA, and the chamfer portion is angled at a different angle CA. This configuration provides better snow traction compared to standard sipes, especially during braking or acceleration. The angled edges retain more contact area during braking to improve braking performance.

10. Tire Tread with Transverse Grooves of Varying Depth Creating Protrusions

BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS TIRE OPERATIONS LLC, 2025

Tire tread design with improved snow traction. The tire has a circumferential tread with transverse grooves that have varying depths along their length. The deeper end of the groove is closer to the sidewall and the shallower end is nearer the tire equator. This creates protrusions in the shallower section of the groove. These protrusions provide additional biting edges for snow traction compared to a uniform depth groove. The varying depth design allows the protrusions to engage snow without compromising snow shedding performance in other conditions.

US12330453B2-patent-drawing

11. Research on Ground Contact Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Tires with Complex Tread Patterns Based on Inverse Modeling

xianbin du, haoyu li, mengdi xu - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2025

The contact characteristics of radial tires are crucial for optimizing stress distribution, deformation, and wear. non-uniform behavior induced by complex tread patterns remains under-explored in existing tire mechanics research. Taking the 205/50R17 as a representative case, reverse modeling approach was employed to develop an accurate finite element model incorporating intricate pattern features. fidelity proposed simulation confirmed utilizing high-precision contour profiling techniques. impact diverse usage conditions design parameters on outer profile ground under static free-rolling states analyzed. Experimental observations demonstrate that increased inflation pressure leads proportional decrease area. Under incremental vertical loading, patch develops progressively into saddle-shaped geometry featuring elevated shoulder regions recessed central zone. Increasing belt angle compromises its hoop-stiffening function, thereby inducing elliptical geometry. Larger diameters compromise length symmetry regions. Variation thickness at 85% width results significant difference between le... Read More

12. Pneumatic Tire with Asymmetrically Inclined Main Grooves and Staggered Land Portions

THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO LTD, 2025

A pneumatic tire with improved wet and snow performance by optimizing the tread pattern. The tire has alternating pairs of asymmetrically inclined main grooves extending from the ground contact edge to the equator. These form staggered land portions extending from the equator to the ground. The innermost blocks in each land have notches opening to the main groove connections, improving drainage. This pattern provides enhanced snow traction, braking, and wet grip compared to traditional symmetrical treads.

US12319093B2-patent-drawing

13. Tire with Circumferential Blocks and Chamfered Edges for Optimized Water Evacuation

BRIDGESTONE CORP, 2025

A tire design with improved wet braking performance and steering stability while reducing rolling resistance compared to traditional tires. The tire has circumferential blocks separated by circumferential grooves. The blocks have chamfered edges at the inner and outer ends of the lateral grooves. These chamfered edges provide drainage channels for water evacuation during braking. The chamfer angles and relative sizes of the chamfers optimize wet performance and steering stability without excessive rolling resistance.

US12319095B2-patent-drawing

14. Tire Tread with Main Groove Recessed Sections Featuring Specific Depth-to-Width Ratios and Alternating Groove Wall Recesses

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD, 2025

Tire tread design that maintains ride comfort and wet performance as the tread wears. The tread has a main groove with recessed sections that push water away from the tire contact patch. The recessed sections have a specific ratio of depth to groove width when worn versus new. The ratio is 1.05-1.40 for sea ratio and 0.95-1.04 for hardness ratio. This prevents excessive wear and keeps ride comfort and grip as the tread wears. The recessed sections are alternating on the groove walls. The tread also has a specific rubber composition that changes less with aging.

15. Pneumatic Tire with Zigzag Circumferential Grooves and Sub-Groove Configuration

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD, 2025

Heavy duty pneumatic tire with improved wet traction and wear resistance. The tire has a zigzagging crown circumferential groove and a zigzagging shoulder circumferential groove. Adjacent crown lateral grooves connect the crowns to shoulders. The crown blocks have smaller sub-grooves with fewer, shorter transverse grooves compared to the wider lateral grooves. This configuration provides enhanced wet traction from the zigzagging main grooves, while the smaller sub-grooves prevent excessive wear.

US12291059B2-patent-drawing

16. Motorcycle Tire with Curved Tread Profile and Specified Zone Land Ratios

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD, 2025

Motorcycle tire with tread design to reduce wear step formation. The tire has a curved tread profile. The land ratio, or width-to-height ratio, of each zone between the tread edges and ground contacting surface is specified. This prevents excessive wear step formation at the edges of the tread by optimizing the wear distribution. The curved tread shape and controlled land ratios suppress the step wear that can occur in the center of the tread due to its shape.

US2025121632A1-patent-drawing

17. Tire Tread with Chamfered Shoulder Sipes and Selective Ground-Contact Siping Configuration

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD, 2025

Tire with improved braking performance and reduced noise compared to conventional tires with shoulder sipes. The tire has a tread with specific sipe configurations on the shoulder region. The sipe design involves chamfered edges on the shoulder sipes. During braking or cornering, the chamfered edges prevent the sipe edges from getting pulled inside the land region and lifting the surface, allowing better grip and braking performance compared to conventional sipes. The chamfered edges also reduce the noise generated by the sipes contacting the road. The tire also has sipes only on the ground contacting surface of the first shoulder land region between the edge and tread, which further improves braking performance by preventing lifting of the land region.

US12275278B2-patent-drawing

18. Tire Tread with Grooves Featuring Widening Sections and Curved Surfaces

SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD, 2025

A tire with grooves that improve ride comfort and steering stability. The tire has a tread with grooves that have widening sections. The widening sections have an inner portion that is narrower than the outer portion. This design allows the inner portion to flex more than the outer portion when the tire is loaded, providing better steering stability. The wider outer portion prevents the inner portion from collapsing too much under load. The widening sections also have curved surfaces that prevent the inner and outer walls from touching when loaded. This prevents stiffness increases. The length of the inner portion is at least 15% of the groove depth.

US12275276B2-patent-drawing

19. Pneumatic Tire Tread with Parallel Sipes and Variable Depth Profile in Profile Ribs

CONTINENTAL REIFEN DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, 2025

Pneumatic vehicle tires with improved wet grip and better transmission of tractive force as the tread wears. The tires have treads with profile ribs having sipes that extend parallel to each other. The depth of the main portion of each sipe is less than the depth of the edge portion that leads into the cavity between the rib and groove. This configuration allows good wet grip as the depth of the main sipe portion reduces with wear, while still maintaining stiffness from the wider cavity portion.

US12275279B2-patent-drawing

20. Tire Tread with Concave Block Faces and Radial Height Distribution for Heavy Construction Vehicles

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN, 2025

Tire tread for heavy construction vehicles that improves grip, especially on muddy terrain, while also increasing wear resistance. The tread has blocks with concave contact faces and a distribution of radial heights between the inner and outer portions that allows better penetration and anchoring. The concave contact faces have at least three pairs of sides forming angles greater than 180 degrees. This shape provides better grip and traction compared to convex contact faces. The radial height of the outer penetration portion is 0.1-0.6 of the total block height.

US12275277B2-patent-drawing

21. Pneumatic Tire with Multi-Curved Outer Side Profiles for Balanced Steering Stability

22. Pneumatic Tire Tread with Dual-Compound Thermal Conductivity and Defined Groove Geometry

23. Pneumatic Tire with Shoulder Rib Featuring Elongated Depressions and Zigzag Grooves

24. A Numerical Study on Predicting Rolling Resistance of Tires Based on the Change of Accumulated Strain Energy Density

25. Tire Tread with Overlapping Widened Sipes and Asymmetric Depth for Enhanced Rigidity and Reduced Noise

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