Where does the dot go?

[gregj]

I thought it might be good to collect information on the various tire makes that members have installed, where the dot goes when it's mounted. Some tire mfgrs put a dot (or some marker) on the tire sidewall to ensure the tire is mounted so that it will balance with minimal weights.

For instance, Bridgestone 020F OEM tires (for the ST13) have a dot (white I believe) that shows the tire and should be aligned with the valve stem when mounting the new tire.

I was told the following for some of the other makes of tires:

contis , avons, michelins, etc, do not have marks. Put it on and air itup

I dont know what mfgrs fall in the "etc", but that's where I thought this thread might help fill in the missing information.

So if you have that information for your set of tires, let's have it. I'll start:

ST13 - Bridgestone 020F OEM - dot aligned with valve stem.

 

[Mark]

that shows the tire and should be aligned with the valve stem when mounting the new tire.

Greg,

The valve stem alignment is a rule of thumb for shops...
We really want the dot (lightest spot on tire) aligned with the heaviest point on the rim... not always the valve stem.

The 1st time I change a tire the rim is checked to find the heaviest point. I mark it (on the inside is fine; but, its hard to see after the tire is mounted!) so that I can use it every time I change a tire on that rim.

Mark

 

[Two Brothers]

Dunlops, Metzeler, Bridgestone, Pirelli have dots.

Avon, Michelin, Conti's don't have dots.

Maxxis, IRC, Cheng Shin, Duro, Kenda don't matter they don't have anything that fit the ST's

 

[sennister]

As mentioned above if you are doing the mount and balance yourself then you would want to take off the old tire, remove all weights and clean the tire. Then throw the wheel on your balancer with no tire and find they heavy spot. They typically say this will be the valve stem but this isn't always the case. Once you locate the heavy point mount the tire with the dot at that heavy spot. To mark things on rims I typically use a piece of tape. It can be anything but I typically use clear packing tape and use a sharpie to mark things like direction of rotation or in the case of last time I mounted my tires which way I wanted my 90 deg valve stems to point.

EDIT: Corrected posting. The dot goes to the heavy point not 180 deg from heavy point.

 

[STOC 372]

Just FYI - Ihave done quite a few bikes and the valve stem has *never* been the true heavy spot of the rim.

 

[RideTN]

hey guys

when i recently changed my tires i used Avon so the dot wasn't an issue. but i might need to know this information one day. the first post and the 4th post in this thread seem to say the opposite don't they? one says put the dot at the valve stem <the presumed heavy spot> but the last post seemed to say to put it at the opposite side <180 degrees>. which is correct? thanks

 

[sirepair]

Just put some "Ride-On" in it and forget about it....

 

[sennister]

hey guys

when i recently changed my tires i used Avon so the dot wasn't an issue. but i might need to know this information one day. the first post and the 4th post in this thread seem to say the opposite don't they? one says put the dot at the valve stem <the presumed heavy spot> but the last post seemed to say to put it at the opposite side <180 degrees>. which is correct? thanks

OOPS My mistake. That is what happens when you are typing something and get interrupted. The DOT goes to the heavy point. So find the heaviest point, it may or may not be the valve stem, and put the dot there.

 

[dond]

FWIW:
A quick Google, out of the 11 sites I checked all showed the dot at the STem.

 

[sennister]

FWIW:
A quick Google, out of the 11 sites I checked all showed the dot at the STem.

That is a rule of thumb. But look at it this way, how many different styles of rims are there. Thousands right. Combine that with hundreds of different styles of valve stems and there is no way anyone can say with 100% certainty that the heavy point will be at the valve stem. Most shops won't take the time to balance the rim to find the heavy point. After all the weights are cheaper than the tech's time and it isn't their bike. If you are doing it yourself you can save yourself the weights and the time in fine tuning the balance. Besides I have lost weights over the life of a tire. The less weight the less you have to loose.

For those with Avons or other brands with no dot about all you can do is mount it and see how much weight it takes to balance the tire. If it is a lot you might want to break the bead and rotate the tire 180 degrees.

 

[gregj]

Great info guys, keep it up.

 

[Two Brothers]

If you really get into the nitty gritty. It don't really matter. I have balanced rims w/o tires and with tires. I can put the dot anywhere on the rim sometimes and it will come up zero grams, sometimes it 4 grams. We try to make sure they are on the stem, this seems to work best for us. Sometimes you have to rotate it 180 degrees if it throws to much weight, sometimes this fixes it.

As long as you put the recommend weight for what it needs it should ride smooth as silk.

Hope it helps...ride safe and check your air pressure

 

[Mark]

==snip==
and check your air pressure

Amen to that!!!

 

[Pete in PA]

I haven't done a tire on the ST yet, but on the XX I marked the heaviest spot on both rims and it wasn't the valve stem on either.

I'll be marking the ST when the time comes.

On an interesting side note, I have no weights on the front or rear rims from the factory on my ST. Both perfectly balanced or they forgot??? Bike is perfectly stable up to 145 mph.

 

[Mark]

Probability says there will be rims and tires which require no weights...
I'll bet on the alignment of the stars before I'll be on perfect tire and rim...