Virginia Administrative Code › Title 19 - PUBLIC SAFETY › Agency 30 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE › Chapter 70 - MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY INSPECTION REGULATIONS › Part III - Inspection Requirements for Passenger Vehicles and Vehicles Up to 10,000 Pounds (GVWR) › Section 19VAC30-70-130 - Tires; wheels; rims

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
Inspect for and reject if:
1. Any tire is marked specifically for use
				  other than on the highway such as "For Farm Use Only," "For Off-Highway Use
				  Only," "For Mobile Home Use Only," or "For Trailer Use Only."
EXCEPTION: "For Trailer Use Only" tires are allowed when
					 installed on trailers only.
2. A
				  radial tire is mismatched on the same axle with a bias ply tire or a bias
				  belted tire.
3. Bias ply or bias
				  belted tires are used on the rear axle when radial ply tires are used on the
				  front axle.
EXCEPTION: On a two-axle vehicle equipped with truck tires
					 with 20-inch rim diameter and larger, bias or radial tires may be used on
					 either axle if the vehicle has dual rear wheels or is equipped with wide-base
					 single tires.
4. A vehicle
				  has installed on any axle a space saver emergency spare tire that is intended
				  for temporary use.
5. Any motor
				  vehicle, trailer or semitrailer, except the dual wheels installed on motor
				  vehicles having seats for more than seven passengers (i) operated wholly within
				  a municipality or (ii) operated by urban and suburban bus lines, which are
				  defined as bus lines operating over regularly scheduled routes and the majority
				  of whose passengers use the buses for traveling a distance not exceeding 40
				  miles, measured one way, on the same day between their place of abode and their
				  place of work, shopping areas, or schools, is equipped with a tire that has a
				  tread depth measuring less than 2/32 of an inch when measured as follows:
NOTE: The exemptions provided in (i) and (ii) of this
					 subdivision 5 do not apply to buses owned or operated by any public school
					 district, private school or contract operator of buses.
NOTE: Measure in two adjacent tread grooves where tread is
					 thinnest. Refer to Figure 1. If either of the grooves measure 2/32 of an inch
					 or more, no further measurements are necessary and tread depth is satisfactory.
					 Do not take measurements from the tread wear indicators.
6. If both adjacent grooves measure less than
				  2/32 of an inch, the tire tread depth must be measured again at two additional
				  equally spaced intervals around the circumference of the tire in a like manner
				  as the first measurement. Refer to Figure 1. If the tread depth is less than
				  2/32 of an inch in two adjacent tread grooves at each of the equally spaced
				  intervals, the tire must be rejected.
MEASURE WHERE THE TREAD IS THINNEST IN TWO ADJACENT
								TREAD GROOVES
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								image
FIGURE 1
IF THE DEPTH IS LESS THAN 2/32-INCH IN BOTH
								GROOVES, MEASURE AT TWO ADDITIONAL EQUALLY SPACED INTERVALS
7.
				  A tire equipped with tread wear indicators if found to have such indicators in
				  contact with the pavement in any two adjacent grooves at three equally spaced
				  intervals around the circumference of the tire. Refer to Figure 2.
Click here to view
								image
FIGURE 2
REJECT IF THE TREAD WEAR INDICATORS ARE IN CONTACT
								WITH THE PAVEMENT IN ANY TWO ADJACENT GROOVES AT THREE EQUALLY SPACED
								LOCATIONS
8.
				  Any tire has a cut or puncture into the fabric. This does not include a plug or
				  patch that may be used as a manner of repair.
NOTE: Plugs or patches shall be in the tread area only.
					 Plugs or patches are not permitted in the sidewall of the tire.
9. Any tire is worn so that the
				  fabric or steel cord is visible.
10. Any tire has knots or bulges in its
				  sidewalls or if there is evidence of a broken belt under the tread, or if the
				  tread is separating from the fabric. Any cracks in the sidewall where
				  separation in the rubber is detected or the fabric is exposed, not to include
				  fine hairline cracks.
11. Any tire
				  that has been recut or regrooved except commercial tires so designed and
				  constructed to provide for acceptable and safe recutting and regrooving.
				  (Regrooved tires must be identified on each sidewall as a regrooved
				  tire.)
12. Any wheel studs, bolts,
				  nuts, lugs, or other fasteners (both spoke and disc wheels) are loose, broken,
				  cracked, stripped, missing, damaged, or otherwise ineffective.
13. Wheels are installed on the vehicle in a
				  reversed position, except the wheels on vehicles that are reversed to perform
				  part of a dual wheel combination.
14. Directional tires or wheels designed and
				  manufactured to travel in one direction of rotation are not properly
				  installed.
15. Rims or wheels are
				  bent, cracked, or damaged so as to affect safe operation of the vehicle. Reject
				  if lug nut holes are elongated (out of round).
NOTE: Refer to subdivision 1 of
					 19VAC30-70-180
					 (Clearance lamps and reflectors) for tires that exceed more than four inches
					 from the body.
Statutory Authority: §
												46.2-1165
						of the Code of Virginia.