mounting new tires

[Ralph S.]

There is a red dot on the sidewall of the tires, are you supposed to line that up with the valve stem?

[Mike M.]

Re: mounting new tires

you will have to wait till the next full moon, then point the red dot skyward. regards, mike

[Dennis C.]

Mikie, That answer was SO bad... Shame on you *NM*

[Chris H.]

Re: mounting new tires

On newer wheels yes. Not sure when this started. GM was using this uniformity technique in '89.

chris

[Duke W.]

Re: mounting new tires

Late model car wheels have a faint white dot on the outside of the rim flange. A tire with a red dot should be indexed to the white dot on the wheel. This should yield the least radial force variation due to the combination of runout and sidewall stiffness variation.

Vintage wheels are not so marked.

The tires also probaby have a yellow dot of blotch. On wheels that don't have a white dot, index the yellow mark to the valve stem hole.

Duke

[Terry M.]

Re: mounting new tires

Ralph,
I assume you are referring to C3 wheels, knowing your predilections.
There is a small dot (like a BB) on the outer rim of most, but not all, C-3 steel wheels. That red dot (sometimes it is white) is supposed to be lined up with that BB on the rim to give the least force variation that Duke refers to. There was a story in Corvette News in 1970 or 1971 that explained the entire wheel/tire mounting process that was used at the time. There was also an explanation in the four-part wheel story that ran in The Restorer several years ago.