Tire weight offset before mounting and balancing.

[mikeduf]

Hello, since this is the tire section I will reach out to you folks.
I read that the dot on the outside of the tire either red or yellow signifies the light side of the tire. With that being said,
I was told that the Dot should always be close to the wheel stem.

This is a brand new Toyota RAV4 and you can see that the dot is close to the stem. Is there any real significance to that statement, being that the closer you balance the natural tire with the wheel the less weight you will need.

During my sport bike days, that was a significant must to reduce the amount of lead weight. I'm just wondering if this holds true to wheel and tire manufacturers as they put these dots on them for a reason. Any input would be great. I also was told at the local tire stores; and this is with a deer in the headlight kind of look! that, "oh don't worry about it" , it doesn't mean anything.
Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Yellow dot is the tires lightest side / point. You want that aligned with the stem - to minimize needed weights.

Red dot is the tire's highest point. Some rims have a mark that indicates its lowest point. So highest point on the tire with lowest point on the rim?

I think - going from memory.

Maybe Toyota cuts the valve stem hole at the lowest point?

 

[mikeduf]

Thanks for that. All I see is a red Dot. I don't know. As long as it rolls smooth I'm okay!
But that is a good point about the wheel balance as well.
I do see a fair amount of tape on the inside of the wheel. So I'm guessing not.
My experiences from past issues have been the wheel runs smooth down the road but if you lose a weight and your a wheel and tire have excessive lead. You immediately get vibration..

 

[CapriRacer]

First, the dot matching is supposed to be for uniformity (Think runout and you'll be close) - not balance! The idea is that matching the high point of the tire with the low point of the wheel results in a "rounder" assembly.

HOWEVER!! Most OEM's don't mark the wheel using the valve hole, so doing a matching with aftermarket tires generally doesn't do anything - other than random matching.

What OEM's do is have the wheel marked with a temporary mark and the tire marked with a temporary mark, then they match up the marks in the assembly plant - BUT - every OEM has different markings. It is common for OEM's to have the high point of the tire marked with a red dot, but that is far from universal. Besides, most of the marks are stickers which are supposed to be removed before the vehicle is delivered.

Most tire manufacturers don't mark aftermarket tires - because it doesn't do anything - AND the wheel isn't usually marked using the valve hole.

In the past it was common for the wheel to be marked using the valve hole, but those days are long past. Unfortunately, theses kinds of things take a long time to die out.

I go into more detail here: Barry's Tire Tech: Vibration: Balance, Runout, and Uniformity

 

[mikeduf]

Thanks, Capri racer.
That makes a lot of sense. I get it. It's kind of a lust bit of technology. I wouldn't expect the third party tire vendors to even adhere to a process like that. Thanks again

 

[ccs368]

Doing my own mounting and balancing which included >100’s of customer motorcycle wheels and only >1/2 dozen family owned automobiles, I try to always line up the yellow or sometimes white dot with valve stem. Now if there are no markings I try to line up usually an embedded bar code sticker on the bead. Why? I have no idea, honestly. It always resulted in typical amount of balancing weight (0.25oz - 2.50oz per side) called for with my Snap-On spin balancer. I never had a come back complaining of vibration.

I recall doing a bunch of motorcycle wheels static balancing and rotating several times relative to valve stem and probably reduced the total weight required by 1/4 of the total weight so in my experience, the dot does help but does not eliminate.

I just mounted some budget Cooper endeavors on my Tacoma 2wd truck and heaviest was like 1.75oz on one side I recall.

Now looking at your attached pic, I’m guessing 7g segments totaling ~13segments or 91g (3.25oz) which seem to be on the heavier side especially for factory Michelins. And I think there’s hammer on weights on the inside too? If it rides ok, I wouldn’t do a thing but just something I would note to myself for the next tire change years from now.

Enjoy.