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white dot on new tire

18K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  unionjk 
#1 ·
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changing tire ,cant remember if dot should be located at the valve stem or opposite the valve stem .help please.
 
#2 ·
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...at the valve stem. :waving:
 
#3 ·
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What do the other colored dots on a new tire stand for? I have seen yellow, green.....??
 
#4 ·
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Dots indicate the place to put the valve stem. Colors are just different manufactures,I believe. (could be wrong)
Bobby
 
#5 ·
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The dot should line up with he heavy side of the rim, which is usually the valve stem, but not always. I had a yamaha vstar that both rims when balanced alone, was heavy 180 degrees opposite the valve stem. When I linedthe dot up on that side of the rim, the wheel was perfectly balanced and did not need any additional weight. Check the balance of the rim with out any weights on it. It might surprised you. Just my two cents.
 
#6 ·
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Sticks wrote:
The dot should line up with he heavy side of the rim, which is usually the valve stem, but not always. I had a yamaha vstar that both rims when balanced alone, was heavy 180 degrees opposite the valve stem. When I linedthe dot up on that side of the rim, the wheel was perfectly balanced and did not need any additional weight. Check the balance of the rim with out any weights on it. It might surprised you. Just my two cents.
Often wondered about that. Obviously the heavy side of the rim should be were the valve stem is because thats the added weight, but is the rim itself balanced?

I just got my 4 new tires in today, 2 for my wing and 2 for my sons Shadow. Im thinking of mounting all of them myself since Im using Dyna beads, and the $120 I would spend on having someone else do it, sure would buy me some nice tire changing toys........
 
#8 ·
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The dot is a reference point for quick and dirty mounting so that your balance won't be too far off and require excessive weights.

A better way to mount the tire is to "trial balance" just the wheel and locate the heavy spot on it (it will always settle at the bottom of the rotation). Mark that spot and then mount the tire and orient the dot on the tire with the dot you put on the rim. It will then take less weight to balance the tire.

On my 1500 with aluminum rims, the heavy spot on the rim is approximately 3" from the valve stem.
 
#14 ·
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From the tire rack web site;

There was a time when the valve stem hole on standard wheels indicated the optimum place to which the tire should be match mounted. However, with the advent of styled, steel wheels and aluminum alloy wheels, the stem position evolved into an aesthetic issue rather than being a uniformity indicator. Add to this the probability of wheels retaining their original runout after thousands of miles of use and you can understand that simply mounting the tire so the colored dot is at the valve stem is no longer required practice.
We have found that the only way to accurately match mount replacement tires on used original or new aftermarket wheels is to use Hunter tire balancers which have the ability to measure wheel runout and tire force variations under load before the tire and wheel are installed on the vehicle. Using these machines, a colored dot might be positioned anywhere on the wheel relative to each wheel's runout measurement. In the end, the markers have little, if any, relevance when replacement tires are installed.
 
#15 ·
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Seems to me that the tire manufacturer knows the balance of the tire. That's why there is a dot (who cares what color) marking the location of the lightest end of the tire to seat at the heaviest end of the rim. Still got to balance the wheel as a assembly.

I don't run fancy rims, so that dot means something to me when doing it myself.
 
#16 ·
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Bike...and Dennis wrote:
You could go to the manufacturer's website and maybe find out what the white dot indicates. As I understand it, yellow is the standard balance mark throughout the industry, including car tires.
When I mounted my Kenda's there was 3 white dots & one yellow dot. After contacting the seller, I found out the yellow dot was what you lined up with the valve stem. The white dots were false balancing marks made by the manufacturer.
 
#17 ·
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white - false

yellow - true

...now I care :smiler:
 
#18 ·
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The above advice is correct and the dot should USUALLY go by the valve stem.

HOWEVER occasionally you will get a wheel that will not balance until a lot of weight is added, in this case slip the tire around until the spot/light part is in another location and then rebalance the wheel again.
 
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