A plant for building tyres, includes: a shaping work station configured for receiving a carcass sleeve; at least one radially expandable/contractible toroidal forming drum engageable in the shaping work station; at least one work station configured for building at least one component of a crown structure on a radially external surface of a tyre being processed, defined starting from the carcass sleeve that is shaped and coupled to the forming drum; transfer devices configured for moving said forming drum along a closed-loop completion path and arranging it in proximity to the work station in order to obtain a green tyre, the closed-loop completion path being extended from an initial work station to a final work station coinciding with the shaping work station; and a pick-up device configured for picking up said green tyre decoupled from the respective forming drum.

A method for checking a continuous elongated element during the building of a tyre for vehicle wheels. A beam of an electromagnetic radiation is projected on a section of the continuous elongated element dispensed by a dispensing head and interposed between the dispensing head and a first contact area of the continuous elongated element with a radially outer surface of a tyre being processed. An image of a radiation reflected by the section is acquired. A first parameter related to the image is detected, and the first parameter is compared with a second reference parameter.

The provide is an tire and an tire production method for the tire, wherein the carcass ply is comprised of tape-like members arranged in the tire circumferential direction, in which a plurality of carcass cords arranged parallel to each other are coated with rubber; the tape-like member has a tape width of 1 to 10 mm; on the tire equatorial plane, two of the tape-like members adjacent to each other in the tire circumferential direction are butted against each other at tire circumferential ends thereof; and at the end portions of the carcass ply, two of the tape-like members adjacent to each other in the tire circumferential direction overlap each other only at rubber portions thereof.

A process and an apparatus for building tyres, wherein, in the process, a carcass sleeve including at least one carcass ply and a pair of annular anchoring structures is transferred to a shaping drum including flange elements that are each engageable with one of said annular anchoring structures. The carcass sleeve is shaped according to a toroidal configuration by means of mutual axial approaching of the flange elements. Before shaping, annular grip elements respectively carried by the flange elements are radially expanded, each inside one of the annular anchoring structures, in order to engage the carcass sleeve. The annular anchoring structures are moved axially apart from each other before engaging the carcass sleeve by means of the annular grip elements.