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What are these red and yellow dots on my tires?

December 13th, 2012

What are these red and yellow dots on my tires?

That’s a question we often at tireteam.com. Believe it or note, those polka dots you see serve a very important purpose when it comes to mounting and balancing your tires. These markers help our tireteam.com certified installers find high spots, low spots and light points on tires. Proper adjustments are then made to make sure your tire is balanced correctly.

According to Bridgestone, “The difference between the high and low is called radial runout. By using detailed computer analysis, engineers have found that a graph of the force variations looks a bit like a wave, as does a graph of the runout variations.

By simplifying these graphs to what is called their “first harmonic,” it is now possible to find the place on the tire where, on average, the force variation is the greatest. That’s where the first harmonic curve hits its high point. As it turns out, the first harmonic high point for the radial runout coincides pretty well with the first harmonic high point for radial force variation.

The same principle applies to wheels, particularly steel wheels. In fact many steel wheels are marked with a dimple that indicates their low spot.  So, if you can match the high spot of the tire to the low point of the wheel, these forces would, to some extent, cancel each other out and you can expect a much smoother ride and maybe improved wear.

But back to the dots; a yellow dot indicates the light balance point on the tire. In order to minimize the amount of weight needed to balance a tire and wheel, match the light balance point to the wheels heavy balance point, which is normally located at the valve stem.

Always remember, if a tire has both a red and yellow dot, the red dot takes precedence and should be mounted to the wheel low point or valve stem.

To view the full article from Bridgestone, visit http://www.bridgestonetrucktires.com/us_eng/real/magazines/97V1Issue2/Doctor.asp

What are these red and yellow dots on my tires? was written by of TireTeam
Tags: Tire Repairs, Tire Safety inflation, Bridgestone
Posted in: Maintenance, News, Promotions, about Tires, TireTeamTV
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