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Well... Posted by Larry West [Email] ![]() ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Tires on Rims, Saabs-Waddle ![]() |
I always would place the RED dot next to the valve stem (or on the inboard bead at the same position).
With Aircraft tires (which are often not balanced...), I was always told the red dot is supposed to be the lowest weight part of the tire, hence, placing it by the valve stem offsets the "light" part of the tire with the "heavy" part of the wheel.
But I have never been able to confirm that the same is true for automobile tires. My instinct says that IF you're going to put a dot for weight on the tire, the smart thing to do is make it go NEXT to the valve stem, rather than have someone attempt to get it 180 degrees off from that.
But it can't be all that important, as of all the people who have mounted tires on my Saabs over the years, *I* am the only one who attempts to match up the dot to the stem, and it's not like it's had all that much affect on the weights I end up putting on.
The best thing to do, if one is worried about putting as little balance weight on a wheel/tire as possible, would be to first balance the wheel with the stem and no tire, THEN put the tire on, and if you don't like the weight, rotate the tire on the wheel and try balancing again...
Back when I was a volunteer official with CART, it wasn't that rare that racing tires and wheels came off the balancer with "NO WT" on them, meaning there were no weights added. And I never saw Goodyear or Firestone align any marks...
_______________________________________ Current: 2002 9-5 Aero Kombi Cosmic Blue 2000 9-5 SE sedan, Imola Red 1990 900S Rose Quartz, Auto Past: 1999 9-5 LPT Combi 1999 9-5 LPT sedan 2002 9-5 Arc 1990 900 5-speed 1986 900 turbo Convertible 1991 9000 turbo 1980 99 GLi 1986 900 turbo 1986 900 S 1991 900 turbo 1984 900 turbo 1976 99 GL
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