I've been mounting my own tires at home and for lots of others for a few years now. I've mounted dozens if not hundreds of tires. For a while whenever I mount a set of tires I take the time to "index" the wheels. The "rule-of-thumb" for years has been to align the balance dot on the tire with the valve stem on the wheel. This assumed that the heavy spot of the wheel is most often at the valve stem. This is not the case in my experience. After demounting the old tires I put the wheel on the balance stand with no tire on it. I have found that way more often than not the heavy spot of the wheel is not aligned with the valve stem and sometimes is completely opposite. After finding the true heavy spot I mark it with tire chalk or touch-up paint on the inside of the rim. Then when mounting the new tire I align the balance dot with the actual heavy spot on the rim, not the valve stem as many do. By doing this I have reduced the amount of weight used to balance the wheel and tire by sometimes as much as 2 1/2 ounces or more. Some tires will balance with no weight at all. FWIW, the only set of wheels that have been even close recently are the wheels on a '04 R1. Note: none of this applies to Michelin tires as they do not have a balance dot that I know of. Supposedly they are so close that it doesn't matter how they are mounted. Any thoughts? Bruce
That's an interesting point. I did the same thing and checked a rear wheel with no tire on it and same as you, the heavy spot was not where the valve stem was. I have almost never mounted a tire and aligned the dots and had it be in balance with no weights (except michelins). That would probably save time to mark a spot on the rim with a crayon where the actual heavy spot is and reference that....
At the AMA rounds Dunlop balances just the rim with the stem. They put a special aluminized tape over that weight and tell you not to touch it. Then when they put the light part on the stem they usually only have to add one or two blocks to balance the whole assembly.
Buddy showed me this trick and its the only way I have ever done it, I marked the heavy spot on my rims with a paint marker. I have had my fair share of tires requiring no weight.
When I worked at the Toyota plant in college that is how they mounted the tires also. The rims and tires came marked from the manufacturer with paint dots and the machined lined them up during assembly, pretty cool.
I recently mounted a set of Pilot Powers on my SV and was initially horiffied at how much weight was needed to balance the rear tire (I think it was 4oz). I then broke the bead down and spun the tire on the rim and the heavy spot moved. After another time spinning the tire on the rim I got it to where I only needed a 1/4 oz (one stick-on weight). This is my first experience with Michelins but they definitely have a heavy spot (at least the rear does). By the way I am using these on a trackday bike and I am very pleased with the level of grip that they offer.
