Red dots and Yellow sticker's ? RESOLVED!

[Big Dog Daddy]

Hi all, My 21 is coming up on 30k miles now and I intend to replace the tires before the snow flies. I will be replacing them with either the o.e. Goodyear or Michelin tire of the same size.

So, here's my question. There was a small yellow sticker on each wheel when the truck was delivered, I saw them as my truck was unloaded from the car carrier at delivery and they were peeled off during prep. What do these stickers reference? Is this the heavy point of the wheel? or the low point of wheel runout? Is this point also marked somehow internally on the wheel?

Now, the red dot on the tire. What does this mean? Everything I read says this dot should be 180 degrees opposite the valve stem when the wheel and tire are assembled, for best balance and the least amount of weights to be added. But looking back at pictures of my truck on delivery the red dots on all 4 were close to 180 degrees offset from the valve but not exactly, nor did the yellow sticker align with red dot or yellow sticker. On all 4 the yellow sticker and red dot are opposite the valve but not exactly. What does all of this mean?

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[Kanuck]

I am thinking that those dots are targets for the robots installing the tire on rims or when they are installed onto the trucks.

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

I am thinking that those dots are targets for the robots installing the tire on rims or when they are installed onto the trucks.

My guess would be there's a robot that mounts the tire on the wheel, but wouldn't you think a robot would align things more exactly?
The wheels are hand installed on all trucks at Dearborn and Kansas city. Check out this video @ 3:19

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

Kansas city plant 2024 the sticker and dot are aligned exactly and 180 degrees from the valve stem.

 

[powerboatr]

Well used to be the dots indicated the heavy spot on tire, so you put it opposite the valve stem
On airplanes we did this as tires and wheels were never balance like road vehicles

but then again...the green dots on tires were to signal where the valve stem was to be located
who knows its all a rainbow

 

[Superstock 3740]

I remember back in the mid 80's having to explain those dots to Tire America when they were working on my new Corvette. Back then, the dots were the high spot of the tire. They matched the high spot of the tire to the low spot of the rim for the best overall balance and roll-out. I copied the section from my master repair manuals and sent it to their main offices.
Most good tire shops now have "road force" balancers which do essentially the same thing as the stickers.

 

[zx6roclet]

Dude with the mallet at 5:53 should be fired Jesus Christ

 

[22Platinum]

Kansas city plant 2024 the sticker and dot are aligned exactly and 180 degrees from the valve stem.

He goofed; it's the lightest point of the tire and should be aligned with the valve stem to offset. Yellow dot goes to valve stem, red dot is high point and goes to sticker on wheel; he's got it exactly right.

https://www.tyrebaydirect.com/knowledge-base/tyres-explained-red-dot-vs-yellow-dot/

 

[fordtruckman2003]

Not all tires have dots. Some are just built same all the way around. Dots are an old fashioned thing that only some manufacturers still use. I did not have any dots on the last few sets of tires I have bought.

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

@fordtruckman2003 @Kanuck @powerboatr

So I pissed away my afternoon today and obtained some real answers on this topic.

I spoke to, technical support at Goodyear Tire and Rubber, technical support at Yokohama Tire, and customer service at Tire Rack. Here's what I found out.

Vehicle manufacturers are extremely concerned about tire balance and vibration in there new vehicles and don't want issues. For this reason OEM tire suppliers are required by most manufacturers to supply tires marked with the red dot. This dot represents the point of maximum radial force variation. Conversely the wheel manufacturers are required to mark each wheel with the lowest point of radial runout. Some wheels are permanently marked with a small dimple others, such as Ford only require a sticker.

Every OEM tire gets this additional testing at the tire manufacturer before leaving the factory. Each tire is inflated and spun up to speed and measured for radial force. If the tire isn't within the specification it's rejected and scraped. A tire that passes is marked and shipped. This process of testing takes 29 to 36 seconds per tire on a multi million dollar peice of equipment. This testing is costly and is only done on OEM tires.

When purchasing tires from a source such as Tire Rack after selecting your vehicle all tires that fit will be displayed, after that you can click on show OEM tires only. These tires will be the same as the OE tires that were supplied and have the red dot. When mounting these tires the Ford wheels are not marked, if you want to maintain the factory location of the run out point the wheel should be marked with a piece of tape before dismounting the old tire. If your wheel is marked you're good to go. The process is called uniformity method mounting.

To see the tires being tested and marked watch this video starting at 15:43. The testing machine is made by a company called Astec FX and it's the industry standard for tire testing.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

@fordtruckman2003 @Kanuck @powerboatr

So I pissed away my afternoon today and obtained some real answers on this topic.

I spoke to, technical support at Goodyear Tire and Rubber, technical support at Yokohama Tire, and customer service at Tire Rack. Here's what I found out.

Vehicle manufacturers are extremely concerned about tire balance and vibration in there new vehicles and don't want issues. For this reason OEM tire suppliers are required by most manufacturers to supply tires marked with the red dot. This dot represents the point of maximum radial force variation. Conversely the wheel manufacturers are required to mark each wheel with the lowest point of axial runout. Some wheels are permanently marked with a small dimple others, such as Ford only require a sticker.

Every OEM tire gets this additional testing at the tire manufacturer testing before leaving the factory. Each tire is inflated and spun up to speed and measured for radial force. If the tire isn't within the specification it's rejected and scraped. A tire that passes is marked and shipped. This process of testing takes 29 to 36 seconds per tire on a multi million dollar peice of equipment. This testing is costly and is only done on OEM tires.

When purchasing tires from a source such as Tire Rack after selecting your vehicle all tires that fit will be displayed, after that you can click on show OEM tires only. These tires will be the same as the OE tires that were supplied and have the red dot. When mounting these tires the Ford wheels are not marked, if you want to maintain the factory location of the run out point the wheel should be marked with a piece of tape before dismounting the old tire. If your wheel is marked you good to go. The process is called uniformity method mounting.

To see the tires being tested and marked watch this video starting at 15:43. The testing machine is made by a company called Astec FX and it's the industry standard for tire teasting.

Yeah, that last sentence in that screenshot. This is why there are wheel weights.

I really didn't think auto tires still had dots. I haven't seen them on my last set. That could have just been a covid thing though. I haven't put tires on my current truck yet.



On my motorcycles I'll spin rim by itself and note where the heavy spot is located, then align dot appropriately if there is one. Get a perfectly balanced tire doing that. The spot is not always where it should be, which resulted in one bike years ago having 16 wheel weights on the rim. I started doing my own tires after that... Many MC tires stopped using dots and just equally balance tire all the way around. Thought autos moved to same system, but I'll see on my next set of truck tires.

 

[powerboatr]

@fordtruckman2003 @Kanuck @powerboatr

So I pissed away my afternoon today and obtained some real answers on this topic.

I spoke to, technical support at Goodyear Tire and Rubber, technical support at Yokohama Tire, and customer service at Tire Rack. Here's what I found out.

Vehicle manufacturers are extremely concerned about tire balance and vibration in there new vehicles and don't want issues. For this reason OEM tire suppliers are required by most manufacturers to supply tires marked with the red dot. This dot represents the point of maximum radial force variation. Conversely the wheel manufacturers are required to mark each wheel with the lowest point of radial runout. Some wheels are permanently marked with a small dimple others, such as Ford only require a sticker.

Every OEM tire gets this additional testing at the tire manufacturer before leaving the factory. Each tire is inflated and spun up to speed and measured for radial force. If the tire isn't within the specification it's rejected and scraped. A tire that passes is marked and shipped. This process of testing takes 29 to 36 seconds per tire on a multi million dollar peice of equipment. This testing is costly and is only done on OEM tires.

When purchasing tires from a source such as Tire Rack after selecting your vehicle all tires that fit will be displayed, after that you can click on show OEM tires only. These tires will be the same as the OE tires that were supplied and have the red dot. When mounting these tires the Ford wheels are not marked, if you want to maintain the factory location of the run out point the wheel should be marked with a piece of tape before dismounting the old tire. If your wheel is marked you're good to go. The process is called uniformity method mounting.

To see the tires being tested and marked watch this video starting at 15:43. The testing machine is made by a company called Astec FX and it's the industry standard for tire testing.

freaking you are the MAN
what a great piece of investigative action
gold star for you today

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

freaking you are the MAN
what a great piece of investigative action
gold star for you today

Gold star and maybe a red dot! ?

 

[ReverendQ]

My guess would be there's a robot that mounts the tire on the wheel, but wouldn't you think a robot would align things more exactly?
The wheels are hand installed on all trucks at Dearborn and Kansas city. Check out this video @ 3:19

Gotta say, Dearborn looks better than the Kansas line.

 

[Big Dog Daddy]

Gotta say, Dearborn looks better than the Kansas line.

Most definitely! Dearborn is there show piece.

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