GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hey all...I have a quick question...Noticed in the thread http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=14906 that the tires aren't installed to the wheel the way I had always been taught. The Yellow dot being lined up to the valve stem.I understand that the newer model of tires and wheels don't necessarily have the same issues that made the lining up of those 2 points necessary but 2 Summers ago after getting my new wheels, the tire place couldn't balance. I pointed out that the dot and the stem weren't lined up and yes, the machine did show that lining those 2 points up would have yielded a more accurate balance.So, should tires be installed lining these 2 marks up? If not, then why do they still put that dot on the tires? Will it be foolish of me to request these marks be in line when I get my new tires this Fall?Ok, sorry, 3 no so quick questions.Dave

Hope i can help a little. From my experiances installing tires i rarely see Mr Yellow Dot. The tires i remember seeing him on i never had a problem balancing the wheelset. I have never lined up the valvestem with the dot either. My guess is their balancer might have been out of calibration. It can happen with older or over-abused units. Also some rims are just hard to balance even for the best of people. Static balancing isnt very accurate and some rims can not be reliably balanced this way. And some wheel molds just dont make dynamic balancing possible.As far as looking silly or foolish? Who cares. If you want something done your way do it that way. Ive had people request things i thought were foolish but its not like i will see the customer every day. So i dont second guess things. The customer might not always be right, but they are never wrong.

Thanks for replying. My Contenentals have a white dot, the tires in the picture I was refering has it too. Just don't know why the manufacturers would put it on the tire if it didn't symbolize something.Once again, thanks for replyingDave

If at all possible, make sure they line the dot up with the valve stem, it will take less weights to balance the tires.