(A) Sale or lease of siped or regrooved pneumatic tire.
(1) No person or organization shall sell or lease or offer for sale or lease, for use on a highway, any pneumatic tire, either original tread or retread, on which the tread is siped or regrooved to a depth equal to or deeper than the molded groove depth, unless the tire was constructed or retreaded with sufficient tread material and type of labels to permit such siping or regrooving. Such labels and siping or regrooving shall be in compliance with 49 C.F.R. part 569, and after siping or regrooving the tire shall conform to that part.
(2) For the purpose of this division (A),
SIPED shall mean cut without removing material, and regrooved shall mean the tread groove pattern is renewed, or a new pattern generated, or both, without additional tread material being added.
(625 ILCS 5/12-402)
(B) Sale or lease of retreaded or “recapped” pneumatic tire. No person or organization shall sell or lease or offer for sale or lease, for use on a highway, any pneumatic tire produced or rebuilt by a process in which tread material is attached to a used tire, unless the tire, tread material, labeling and certification, before and after processing, conform to 49 C.F.R. part 571.117.
(625 ILCS 5/12-403)
(C) Sale or lease of pneumatic tire without marking. No person or organization shall sell or lease or offer for sale or lease, for use on a highway, any pneumatic tire that does not bear the special marking required by this division (C).
(1) Regrooved or siped tire. In addition to the identification, labeling and certification required under division (A) above, either the word “regrooved” or the word “siped” shall be branded on each side of a pneumatic tire on which the tread is either regrooved or siped, as the case may be. In the case of a tire that is both regrooved and siped, the word “regrooved” alone on each side shall suffice, although both words may appear on each side. Each branding shall be conspicuous but shall be sized, located and applied so as not to weaken or damage the tire or otherwise degrade the performance of the tire or shorten its useful life.
(2) Retreaded tire. In addition to the labeling, identification, certification and other marking required under division (B) above, the word “retreaded” shall be branded or molded into or onto each side of a pneumatic tire that has been retreaded or “recapped.” Each molding or branding shall be conspicuous but shall be sized, located and applied so as not to weaken or damage the tire or otherwise degrade the performance of the tire or shorten its useful life.
(3) New tire. The labeling, identification, certification and other marking required by 49 C.F.R. part 571.109 shall appear on each new pneumatic tire intended for use on a passenger car other than a multipurpose passenger vehicle. The labeling, identification, certification and other marking required by 49 C.F.R. part 571.109 shall appear on each new pneumatic tire intended for use on either a multipurpose passenger vehicle or other type of vehicle that is not a passenger car.
(625 ILCS 5/12-404)
(D) Operating condition of pneumatic tires.
(1) Definition. The term SPARE TIRE as used in this division (D) means any new, used or specially constructed tire that is either carried or installed for short term emergency use.
(2) Promulgated rules. The Department shall promulgate rules concerning unsafe operating conditions of pneumatic tires. The rules shall be enforced by police officers by visual inspection of tires, including visual comparison with simple measuring scales or gauges. The rules shall include precepts and standards for determining unsafe conditions, including the determination of an effective depth of tread groove, and shall be based upon, to the extent that it is reasonable and practical, all provisions set forth in division (D)(4) below.
(3) Use of unsafe tire.
(a) No person or organization shall place, drive or move, or cause or allow to be placed, driven or moved, on a highway of this state, any vehicle equipped with one or more pneumatic tires deemed to be unsafe under a provision of division (D)(4) below or a rule promulgated under division (B)(2) above.
(b) Exemptions: Any restriction stated in this division (D)(3) shall not apply:
1. To a tire on a damaged, disabled, abandoned or other unsafe or unwanted vehicle being legally towed, pushed or otherwise transferred to a repair, relocation, storage, salvage, junking or other collection site;
2. To a tire on a racing or other competitive vehicle being legally moved or transported, not under its own power, to a lawful competition site or to a bona fide testing site; or
3. To a spare tire either carried or in short term emergency use for only such distance or time as is reasonably necessary to accomplish the repair or replacement of the damaged or unsafe tire for which the spare was substituted.
(4) Criteria for unsafe pneumatic tires. A pneumatic tire shall be deemed to be unsafe if it has:
(a) Any part of a ply or cord exposed;
(b) A tread or sidewall crack, cut, snag or other surface interruption deep enough to expose a ply or cord;
(c) Any bulge, knot or separation;
(d) Tread wear indicators flush with the tread outer surface in any two or more adjacent tread grooves at three locations approximately equally spaced around the circumference of the tire;
(e) A depth of tread groove less than two thirty-seconds of an inch or less than one thirty-second of an inch if on a motorcycle or truckster, measured in any two or more adjacent tread grooves at three locations approximately equally spaced around the circumference of the tire, at least one of which, in the judgment of the inspecting officer, is a location at which the tread is thinnest, provided that any measurement over a tie bar, tread wear indicator, hump or fillet is excluded;
(f) A depth of tread groove less than four thirty-seconds of an inch at any one location and the tire is mounted on the front wheel of a motor vehicle subject to the provisions of Chapter 18B of this Code, provided that any measurement over a tie bar, tread wear indicator, hump or fillet is excluded;
(g) A marking which indicates that the tire is not intended for use on a public highway;
(h) Been regrooved or recut below the bottom of an original tread groove, except in the case of a special “regroovable” tire that was manufactured or retreaded with thick undertread, identified and regrooved in compliance with the applicable federal standard in 49 C.F.R., and in compliance with each applicable section of this code; or
(i) Other condition, marking or lack of marking that may be reasonably demonstrated to identify the tire as unsuitable for highway use, including inflation, load, speed or installation condition seriously incompatible with the tire size, construction or other pertinent marking or feature.
(5) Sale, lease or installation of pneumatic tires.
(a) No person or organization shall sell, lease or offer for sale or lease, or mount, install or cause or allow to be mounted or installed, for use on a highway, any pneumatic tire deemed to be unsafe under division (D)(4) above or under a rule promulgated under division (D)(2) above. Except as provided in division (D)(3) above, any person or organization offering a vehicle for sale or lease shall, prior to its being placed, driven or moved on a highway, correct any unsafe tire condition.
(b) No person or organization shall sell, lease or offer for sale or lease, for highway use, any pneumatic tire, or any vehicle equipped with a pneumatic tire, which has a depth of tread groove less than three thirty-seconds of an inch; except a pneumatic tire on a motorcycle or truckster may have a depth of tire groove of not less than two thirty-seconds of an inch. Groove depth shall not be measured where a tie bar, tread wear indicator, hump or fillet is located.
(6) Compliance and enforcement. Any police officer, upon reasonable cause to believe that a person or organization has acted or is acting in violation of any provision of this section, shall require the driver, owner or other appropriate custodian to submit the tire or tires to an inspection. When so required, the owner or other appropriate custodian shall allow the tire inspection and the driver of a vehicle or combination of vehicles shall stop at a designated location and allow the tire or tires to be inspected or shall move the vehicle or combination to a location that is reasonably convenient and is suitable for such inspection.
(625 ILCS 5/12-405)
(E) Rules and regulations. The Department may promulgate rules and regulations to clarify or specify the requirements of this section.
(625 ILCS 5/12-407)
(Prior Code, § 40-2-405) Penalty, see § 74.999