Anyone know what the colored dots on the tire sidewall mean?

 

Supposedly the dots marks the 'high spot' of the tire, which is then matched with the 'low spot' on the rim to cancel out harmonic vibration. A good installer will at least note the dots on the old tire and orient the new tire on the wheel in the same location. If the equipment is available they can actually rematch the tire position on the wheel.

Another reference says.. Street tires have yellow balance dots in the bead or sidewall area to indicate the lightest point of the tire. Tires should be installed with these balance dots at the valve.

I think it depends upon the color of the dot.

[Edited by cdelena on 03-27-2001 at 08:38 PM]

 

The valve isn't always the lightest spot on the rim... to get a really good balance job, find a shop with a Hunter GSP9700 balancer. This machine will put a load on the tire to simulate the tire in contact with the road. It will then determine and calculate how to mount the tires for minimum "road force". This method really does work... i've got personal experience with the machine for the 17" on my maxima. The procedure cots $6 more per tire on the balance charge. I would highly recommend anyone that does this to use the machine.

The machine can determine an out of round tire as well as an out of round/bent rim.

Oh one other really neat thing about these machines... normal machines will only usually balance based on two points. These machines can show more than two points... no sure up to how many max, but I know on a couple of the rims for my Maxima, they used 3 locations to balance.

Highly recommended... to learn about it more... http://www.gsp9700.com.

-Shing