The steel cord is coated with bronze, brass or zinc. Sulfur and sulfur compounds used for vulcanization of the rubber result in a good adhesion to copper or zinc. For this reason a relatively high amount of sulfur is used in these cases. Additional often cobalt naphthenate is added to improve the adhesion further but is has the disadvantage to worsen the stability of the tire against oxidation. Also additional phenol-formaldehyde resins (mixtures of urotropine with resorcine) improve the adhesion further.