When tires are manufactured, is any effort made to balance them? If they don't want to shave off material, they could add material to the finished tire to ensure a balanced tire. So, do the tire manufacturers take any steps to balance the tires?
General Question about Tire.Balance
- Thread starter George7941
- Start date
- Status
No effort is made to balance normal consumer street tires after they are made. Some tires are engineered to tighter tolerances and are naturally closer to balance.
And they do put on that little dot to mark the place where the tire is the heaviest so that it can be lined up with the lightest section of the rim, when being mounted. This should result in less balancing weight being required.
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
No effort is made to balance normal consumer street tires after they are made. Some tires are engineered to tighter tolerances and are naturally closer to balance.
This.
No effort is made to balance normal consumer street tires after they are made. Some tires are engineered to tighter tolerances and are naturally closer to balance.
This.
Do remember a few (several?) years back General (I think) put vulcanized-in-place "boots" in tires to improve balance. Horrible idea.
Bob
Bob
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
And they do put on that little dot to mark the place where the tire is the heaviest so that it can be lined up with the lightest section of the rim, when being mounted. This should result in less balancing weight being required.
This is very far from universal. Typically the RED dot is for runout and it is matched up to the valve hole on the rim. The result is a more "round" assembly. Matching up run outs will not reduce the amount of balance weight required.
But there is no consistency throughout the industry on dots and most tires don't have them.
And I think the termed "better engineered" doesn't quite convey the issue either. There is "design" and "manufacturing consistency' - and balance is all about the latter, which more about better equipment.
And they do put on that little dot to mark the place where the tire is the heaviest so that it can be lined up with the lightest section of the rim, when being mounted. This should result in less balancing weight being required.
This is very far from universal. Typically the RED dot is for runout and it is matched up to the valve hole on the rim. The result is a more "round" assembly. Matching up run outs will not reduce the amount of balance weight required.
But there is no consistency throughout the industry on dots and most tires don't have them.
And I think the termed "better engineered" doesn't quite convey the issue either. There is "design" and "manufacturing consistency' - and balance is all about the latter, which more about better equipment.
Originally Posted By: alreadygone
Do remember a few (several?) years back General (I think) put vulcanized-in-place "boots" in tires to improve balance. Horrible idea.
Bob
That is pretty much what I was thinking of. Why did it turn out to be a horrible idea?
Do remember a few (several?) years back General (I think) put vulcanized-in-place "boots" in tires to improve balance. Horrible idea.
Bob
That is pretty much what I was thinking of. Why did it turn out to be a horrible idea?
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Typically the RED dot is for runout and it is matched up to the valve hole on the rim. The result is a more "round" assembly. Matching up run outs will not reduce the amount of balance weight required.
Isn't there another dot (yellow or green) that gets put on some of the tires? What does that one signify?
Typically the RED dot is for runout and it is matched up to the valve hole on the rim. The result is a more "round" assembly. Matching up run outs will not reduce the amount of balance weight required.
Isn't there another dot (yellow or green) that gets put on some of the tires? What does that one signify?
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Isn't there another dot (yellow or green) that gets put on some of the tires? What does that one signify?
Once we exclude the red dot from the discussion - which isn't very universal - this starts to get even fuzzier.
If there are identifiable dots on the tires, they tend to be radial high point marks. If there are 2 dots on a tire, the red one tends to be the high point, and the other one the balance. But this second dot is so far away from being used consistently, it's almost not worth talking about.
Nevertheless, if you find a dot on a tire, match it up with the valve hole (or the dot on the rim, if there is one). No harm is done if you do, and it just might be better.
But
Isn't there another dot (yellow or green) that gets put on some of the tires? What does that one signify?
Once we exclude the red dot from the discussion - which isn't very universal - this starts to get even fuzzier.
If there are identifiable dots on the tires, they tend to be radial high point marks. If there are 2 dots on a tire, the red one tends to be the high point, and the other one the balance. But this second dot is so far away from being used consistently, it's almost not worth talking about.
Nevertheless, if you find a dot on a tire, match it up with the valve hole (or the dot on the rim, if there is one). No harm is done if you do, and it just might be better.
But
- Status
