Balancing and the red dot

[Auggie_1970]

Hey guys, what the heck does the red dot on the tire represent..Its it the heaviest side of the tire or the lightest. Reason I'm asking is that I just had my Metzlers mounted today and both the front and rear wheel have the dot mounted right by the valve stem but when they balanced them , they sure did put a ton of weights on the wheel by the valve stem area..Looks like ****....I'm wondering if they could have gotten it better by mounting it differently...

Anyone have any experience with dyna beads...Might go that route to get rid of enough lead that I could use for catfishing.

On the bright side I had not issues with mounting the 170 in the rear, at least 1/4 inch clearance from the swing arm with no need to do the washer swap...

 

[jedi-]

Dot by the valve is correct.

 

[MaxMidnight]

The normal convention is that the red spot represents the high point on the tyre.
The yellow dot represents the lightest part of the tyre and is normally adjacent to the valve.

However, it would be worthwhile speaking to the tyre manufacturer before going down to your tyre suppliers to 'explain' the error of their ways - not all manufacturers follow the convention!

 

[tfisher65]

I have found with the Metzlers to ignore the dots. Put the tire on the rim and run it on the balancer. Keep rotating the tire on the rim until it requires the least amount of weight (also check the runout at the same time). 9 times out of 10 the dots don't line up with anything and you're using under 2oz of weight.
I use the same process when using DynaBeads.

 

[Auggie_1970]

Damm, I was really hoping not to have to take the rear off again and take it to another dealer thats going to take the time to do what you mentioned. Would a simple fix be to just remove the weights and fill er up with 2 oz of dyna beads?

 

[naughtyG]

Damm, I was really hoping not to have to take the rear off again and take it to another dealer thats going to take the time to do what you mentioned. Would a simple fix be to just remove the weights and fill er up with 2 oz of dyna beads?

You can do the beads yourself easily. Just deflate the tires, unscrew the valve stem fill with beads (see my video) and re-inflate.

Take the weights off (but keep the place marked just in case), and go ride it to see how it feels.

Some tires are heavily misbalanced and can give vibrations, in which case Dynabeads recommend using an extra ounce of beads. Normally you put 1oz in the front, and 2oz in the rear.

 

[Auggie_1970]

Hey Naughty, I checked out a bunch of videos on youtube the other day, how do I find your video that you mentioned...Thanks

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

I had a brand new tire that was mounted and balanced by the dealer, shake badly on my bike. I took the weights off and added dynabeads, and the shake disappeared! They are easy to install, and automatically adjust themselves after each stop. You can't go wrong with them, and I will never use weights on my bike tires again.

 

[Auggie_1970]

Yeah I'm going to go with the dyna beads tongiht..I'll pick them up at the dealer on my way home and take it for a spin later tonight..Going to go with 1 oz up front, 2 oz in the rear.