Red Dot on Tires

[SteveTigers]

I’m reading that the red dot on the factory tires is used to balance them. Can anyone confirm that it is actually used by the technicians? I’m pretty close to putting a magic eraser to them tomorrow. I went old school with raised white letters and those dots are killing me. Thanks!

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[Chocolate Thunder]

They don’t use the dots. It takes too much time and the machine does the balancing anyway. Take it off if it bothers you.

 

[blnewt]

Those dots are used by shops if you remind them to use them. The red dots should be placed at the valve stem on the wheel or if the wheel has a blue dot from the factory those are used instead of the valve stems. This will typically require a bit less weight to be added to the wheels vs just mounting them blind. The last 6 sets of tires I've let them know to use the dots and they obliged, but they're not a big chain store so YMMV

 

[SteveTigers]

Those dots are used by shops if you remind them to use them. The red dots should be placed at the valve stem on the wheel or if the wheel has a blue dot from the factory those are used instead of the valve stems. This will typically require a bit less weight to be added to the wheels vs just mounting them blind. The last 6 sets of tires I've let them know to use the dots and they obliged, but they're not a big chain store so YMMV

What’s interesting is that the valve stems from the factory aren’t located at the reddots. There is a white chalk mark at the stem location.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

Those dots are used by shops if you remind them to use them. The red dots should be placed at the valve stem on the wheel or if the wheel has a blue dot from the factory those are used instead of the valve stems. This will typically require a bit less weight to be added to the wheels vs just mounting them blind. The last 6 sets of tires I've let them know to use the dots and they obliged, but they're not a big chain store so YMMV

I asked. I was told “don’t worry abut it, we got this.” It was a big chain store, they are always slammed from open to close and don’t take the time to do it. The weights are cheap and slapping a few more on when balancing tires is cheaper than spending an extra 5 minutes per vehicle. I’ve never had balance issues with wheels they’ve done so I stay out of their way.

 

[sf5211]

My tire guy in Yonkers NY takes your tire off for repairs and makes sure your tire and rim are both balanced. Such a pleasure to be vibration free.

 

[blnewt]

Here's a good link on index mounting your tires/wheels
https://www.rtsauto.com/how-to-balance-a-tire-properly-use-the-yellow-and-red-dots/

 

[WilhelmSR]

Yellow indicates the lightest spot on the tire.

Red indicates the high point for the radial runout/radial force variation.

The former is a measurement of weight, while the latter is a measurement of roundness.

Yellow dot only: Align to valve stem

Yellow and Red Dot: The red always takes priority if the rim has a white dot or dimple; in such case align red to white. The white dot indicates the low point for radial runout/radial force variation of the rim.

If there is no white dot or dimple forget the red dot and align the yellow dot to the valve stem.

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