Issues with new tire balance from the factory

[3 Wheel Addict]

Was looking a recent post of a new owners 14 model (Texas) and noticed in his pictures a clear shot of the front tire and wheel. I noticed that the factory is NOT aligning the balance "dots" to the valve stem. Wonder why? I was taught years ago by BF Goodrich that the red dot goes to match the valve stem location and if you have very high tech rims that are marked for "low spot" the yellow dot would match the low spot mark on the rim. I looked at my Spyder and they are not matched either and the front wheel that is the furthest out has the most wheel weights (8 segments) the other wheel is way closer to having the dot align with the stem and it has far fewer weights (3).
Anybody else notice this?? (if you look close at the picture you can just see a huge strip of weights at about 11 o clock on his wheel and the valve stem just below 3 o clock)

 

[billybovine]

My rear and front left tire, the valve stem is aligned with the yellow dot and there are 4 or 5 weights on those. The front right is aligned with the red dot and it has 17 weights.

 

[3 Wheel Addict]

My rear and front left tire, the valve stem is aligned with the yellow dot and there are 4 or 5 weights on those. The front right is aligned with the red dot and it has 17 weights.

Wow that's a bunch of weight. Guess aligning the dots don't mean diddly for BRP wheels and Kenda tires? Next time I get a BRP wheel without a tire I'm going to spin it up and see how far it's off balance without a tire.

 

[Chupaca]

Interesting..!!

but not uncommon..don't know why but could be the reason for a lot of the handling problems. The solution is simple they should line them up from the start and realize that 17 wieghts is a bit much and something must be off...:lecturef_smilie:

 

[NancysToy]

You wer taught correctly by Goodyear. Those tires were inmproperly mounted, and that could be a cause of the amount of weights needed to balance the wheel.

 

[BajaRon]

I have to say, this has always bothered me too. I've been told that since the tire/wheel will probably have to be balanced anyway, why bother to go to the trouble of aligning the dots?

My answer is always the same. It's never a bother to do the job right. Less weights, better long term balance.

I'm with you on this one...

 

[billybovine]

This has been discussed before and I did not get a warm and fussy then either. I have one wheel that was aligned correctly to the red dot, and it has 17 weights, that's good? I have two others that are not aligned right, to the yellow dot and only have 4 or 5 weights, that's bad? You may understand why I am not convinced. :dontknow:

 

[3 Wheel Addict]

This has been discussed before and I did not get a warm and fussy then either. I have one wheel that was aligned correctly to the red dot, and it has 17 weights, that's good? I have two others that are not aligned right, to the yellow dot and only have 4 or 5 weights, that's bad? You may understand why I am not convinced. :dontknow:

Could be the wheels are just out that much? The only time I have ever seen rims with the "low point" yellow marks was a BMW car, I don't think the American auto makers fuss that much over the balance of their wheels. But anybody that has ever changed a large amount of tires would line up the red dot to the stem without even a second thought. Mine are not lined up either but I'm not moving them. I did pull both of my front wheels off and give them a spin on my machine and they were ok on a static balance pass.

 

[NancysToy]

If there is a red dot, you ignore the yellow (light static balance) dot and install with the red dot at the valve stem. If there is only a yellow dot, that goes at the stem. This is more important with steel wheels than with aluminum wheels. It is also important with aluminum wheels with bolt-in valve stems. There is good brochure explaining it here.