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Colored Dots - Whats that all about?

When you are looking for new tyres, you’ll often see some colored dots on the sidewall of the tyre. These dots are there for a reason, but it’s more for the tyre fitter than for you to benefit. The dots on the sidewall typically denote uniformity and weight. It’s impossible to manufacture a tyre which is perfectly balanced and perfectly manufactured in the belts. As a result, all tyres have a point on the tread which is lighter than the rest of the tyre – a thin spot. Its fractional you’d never notice it unless you used tyre manufacturing equipment to find it. When the tyre is manufactured, this point is found and a colored dot is put on the sidewall of the tyre corresponding to the light spot. Typically this is a yellow dot and is known as the weight mark or the lightest part of the tyre. The yellow dot should end up aligned to the valve stem on the wheel and

tyre combo. Every wheel has a valve stem which cannot be moved so that is considered to be the heavy balance point for the wheel.

What if both dots are present?

Generally speaking, if you get a tyre with both a red and yellow dot on it, it should be mounted according to the red dot – i.e. the uniformity mark should line up with the dimple on the wheel rim, and the yellow mark should be ignored.

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CHOOSING THE RIGHT TYRES