The present invention relates to self-supporting tyres for vehicle wheels having sidewall reinforcement inserts (113) with reduced rigidity. These tyres have a good mileage in flat running conditions, greater comfort and significantly reduced rolling resistance compared to known self-supporting tyres, with higher modulus sidewall reinforcement inserts.

The invention relates to a metallic reinforcing cord (10) for tyres for vehicle wheels, comprising at least two metallic wires (11) twisted together with a predetermined twisting pitch (P). The metallic reinforcing cord (10) has a part load elongation greater than 3%, preferably greater than 3.5%.

The invention relates to a process for manufacturing a metallic reinforcing cord (10) for tyres for vehicle wheels. The process comprises providing at least one elongated element (15) comprising at least one metallic wire (11) twisted together with at least one textile yarn (20) and removing said at least one textile yarn (20) from said at least one elongated element (15) to form the aforementioned metallic reinforcing cord (10). Such a metallic reinforcing cord (10) has a helical geometry, consisting only of said at least one metallic wire (11) that extends along a helical path. The invention also relates to an apparatus (1) for manufacturing the aforementioned metallic reinforcing cord (10).

Provided is a rubber composition having excellent adhesiveness to a metal member even if no cobalt salt is contained. The rubber composition contains a rubber component, a rubber-metal adhesion promoter containing Bi, and an organic acid salt of metal other than Bi, where a content of metal element other than Bi with respect to a content of Bi element (content of metal element other than Bi/content of Bi element) in the rubber composition is more than 14 and 100 or less in terms of molar ratio, a content of the rubber-metal adhesion promoter is more than 1.5 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the rubber component, and the amount of substance of metal element other than Bi contained in the organic acid salt of metal other than Bi in the rubber composition is 0.01 mol or more.

A hooping reinforcement of a tire for a heavy duty civil engineering type vehicle is disclosed. The crown reinforcement (3) of the tire (1), radially on the inside of a tread (2), comprises a protective reinforcement (6), a working reinforcement (5) and a hooping reinforcement (7). Said hooping reinforcement (7) has an axial width at most equal to the smallest axial width (L61, L62) of the two working layers (61, 62), and comprises at least two hooping layers (71, 72) that are formed from strips each made up of elastic metal reinforcers. Each hooping layer (71, 72) is made up of an axial juxtaposition of contiguous turns of the strip (8), which are circumferentially wound around the working layer (51). Each strip (8) is at least 35 mm and at most 250 mm thick, and its distributed breaking tension is at least equal to 100 daN/mm.

The present invention provides a pneumatic tire in which a steel cord carcass ply composed of an ultrafine wire having a filament diameter of 0.15 mm or less is used as a reinforcing material, and the carcass ply is positioned between the bead cords without turn-up of the carcass ply for turning up it through an annular bead bundle on an upper side of the carcass ply, such that side rigidity is maintained even when replacing two conventional fiber carcass plies with one steel carcass. Thereby, rather than the conventional turn-up method of turning up the carcass ply on the upper side of the annular bead bundle, the carcass ply passes through the bead bundles as shown in FIG. 3, such that a deformation energy of the bead portion is minimized and a rolling resistance is maximized. The tire of the present invention is characterized by satisfying a correlation equation between a height Bh1 of an inner bead bundle position and a height Ah of the bead portion including an apex of 1.2<Ah/Bh1<4.5.

A steel filament for twisting into a steel cord for the reinforcement of rubber articles, which contains a steel substrate that is coated with a coating comprising brass. The coating is different in that the amount of iron at the surface is distinctively higher than that prior steel filaments. The coating has an average iron content of 4 or more atomic percent compared to the total of iron, zinc and copper atoms in the layer extending from the surface to a depth of 3 nanometer below the surface. The steel filaments show an improved adhesion retention under hot and humid conditions and in organic cobalt compound containing rubbers as well as rubbers that are substantially free of cobalt. The lifetime of the rubber article is extended.

Various aspects of a system and method for driving assistance along a path are disclosed herein. In accordance with an embodiment, a unique identifier is received from a communication device at an electronic control unit (ECU) of a first vehicle. The unique identifier is received when the first vehicle has reached a first location along a first portion of the path. A communication channel is established between the first vehicle and the communication device based on the received unique identifier. Data associated with a second portion of the path is received by the ECU from the communication device based on the established communication channel. Alert information associated with the second portion of the path is generated by the ECU based on the received data.

Various aspects of a system and method for driving assistance along a path are disclosed herein. In accordance with an embodiment, a unique identifier is received from a communication device at an electronic control unit (ECU) of a first vehicle. The unique identifier is received when the first vehicle has reached a first location along a first portion of the path. A communication channel is established between the first vehicle and the communication device based on the received unique identifier. Data associated with a second portion of the path is received by the ECU from the communication device based on the established communication channel. Alert information associated with the second portion of the path is generated by the ECU based on the received data.

A metallic or metallized reinforcer has at least a surface of which is at least partially metallic, the at least partially metallic surface being coated with a polybenzoxazine sulfide whose repeating units include at least one unit corresponding to formula (I) or (II): ##STR00001##
in which the two oxazine rings are connected together via a central aromatic group, the benzene ring of which bears one, two, three or four groups of formula —S.sub.x—R in which “x” is an integer from 1 to 8 and R represents hydrogen or a hydrocarbon-based group including 1 to 10 carbon atoms and optionally a heteroatom chosen from O, S, N and P. Such a reinforcement can be used for the reinforcement of a rubber article, in particular a motor vehicle tire.