Tires, including passenger tires, typically comprise a tread portion including a series of ribs and grooves. The ribs are often oriented to engage a driving surface and provide traction, while the grooves are often oriented to channel and evacuate water that may be present on the driving surface.
Some tires are optimized to provide increased performance in dry/wet conditions, while other tires are optimized to provide increased performance in snow/ice conditions. Additionally, some tires, typically referred to as “all-season” tires, are optimized to provide acceptable performance in both dry/wet conditions, and snow/ice conditions. However, optimization of performance across all seasons is particularly difficult in light of the very distinct mechanisms through which tire performance is increased in these varying conditions.
What is needed is a tire configured to provide increased performance in both dry/wet conditions and snow/ice conditions.