The cords of the ply of a radial tire (1-bead, 2-ply, 3-belt, 4-crown) are closely aligned with the radial section of the tire, i.e. arranged at or near 90 ° to the centerline of the tread, with the belt tightening the tire body. Its characteristic is that the arrangement of the cord can make full use of its strength, so its cord layer can be reduced by nearly half compared to ordinary tires, and there is no even number limit, so the tire body is soft; The cord is only connected by rubber in the circumferential direction. In order to withstand the large tangential force generated by the car during driving, radial tires have several layers of cord and radial section that are at a large angle (70 °~75 ° intersection), high strength, and are not easy to stretch, with a circumferential ring like buffer layer. At the same time, the belt layer is made of high-strength and low expansion cord material, so the belt layer is clamped onto the tire like a rigid ring, greatly improving the stiffness and strength of the tire surface.

Compared with ordinary diagonal tires, radial tires have good wear resistance, greater elasticity, and longer driving range (more than 50% longer than ordinary tires); Low rolling resistance and fuel saving (rolling resistance can be reduced by 25% to 30%, and fuel consumption can be reduced by about 8%); It has the advantages of high load-bearing capacity, good shock absorption and adhesion performance, puncture resistance of the tread, and light self weight. But its sidewall is prone to cracking, the tire bead is prone to damage, and its lateral stability is poor, resulting in high costs.

Radial tires use the same rims as regular tires. In use, radial tires cannot be installed together with regular tires, nor can they be mixed together on the same axis. During inflation, the internal pressure of the radial tire of general truck shall be about 0.2MPa higher than that of the corresponding ordinary tire. Radial tires are widely used in cars and some medium-sized truck.