Balancing tires - How to find light spot on tire?

[Guest]

I just got new Avon RoadRaiders and they don't seem to have any mark on the carcass to locate the light spot....I thought all tires had this? Any tips on how to locate it or should I just mount it up and balance to the rim.

/\/\ac

[slip]

I just got new Avon RoadRaiders and they don't seem to have any mark on the carcass to locate the light spot....I thought all tires had this? Any tips on how to locate it or should I just mount it up and balance to the rim.

/\/\ac

Yeah, they usually do. It is usually a dime size red or yellow circle . But sometimes it is really hard to see. Try looking at it under a light.

[Killer2600]

Even if you do find the spot it's best to still balance the rim and tire combo.

[Macmatic]

Yeah I want to balance the tire/rim combo but the way I learned it you put the paint spot over the valve stem (or the actual heavy spot if you check the rim) and balance from there. I looked at both tires in daylight and florescent light and I don't see a hint of a mark. Guess mine were made on training day.

/\/\ac

[Nessism]

Roadriders don't have the spot and in my experience, they don't need one.

[Mysuzyq]

Some of the newly designed tires don't have the yellow dot ....they are supposedly perfectly balanced form the factory. Take that FWIW....I would still give them a spin and proceed from there....or throw in some Dyna beads, and call it done.

Tony.

[Nessism]

The wheels are NOT perfectly balanced so you still need to balance the assemble. The Avon tires are very good as far as balance is concern so they don't put a spot on them, mount where ever you want and then balance the assembly.

[bwringer]

Yeah, what they all said.

You can balance the bare wheel if you want, then mount up the tires and it'll still be dead on. It's a little unsettling how unbalanced some wheels are, and often the wheel's heavy spot is nowhere near the valve stem.

I did this on the first couple of sets I installed before I believed it. Now I just balance the whole shebang after the new tires are on, and if I install RoadRiders again, I don't bother rebalancing.

[Joe Nardy]

I have to disagree with the 'perfect' balance idea with Avon RoadRiders, or any other tire. I hate the tires that don't have marks. I have had several occasions, one recently with RoadRiders, where the wheel/tire combo would have taken more weight to balance than I like. In each case, I broke the beads, spun the tire 180 degrees, and then was able to balance with considerably less weight. The tires obviously weren't perfectly balanced.

Thanks,
Joe

[Macmatic]

Thanks for all the input, now I can stop going all CSI looking for that mark. I'll balance the rim and then mount up and check balance again and see how it comes out. Personally I think its a bunch of carp that they are "perfectly balanced", far better than my Cheng Shins probably but perfect I doubt. We'll see if it still smells fishy next weekend.

/\/\ac

[Nessism]

In my experience Roadriders balance pretty well. I suspect that Avon has checked enough of their tires to be able to judge whether or not a mark is necessary; I don't think it's a matter of the tire being "perfect", but rather good enough to avoid the extra cost of measuring the tire and marking the light spot.

[Macmatic]

...but rather good enough to avoid the extra cost of measuring the tire and marking the light spot.

As your sig says, to measure is to know. I'm sure they are "good enough" but I'm still surprised that they don't go the extra yard to mark the tire like everyone else. I assume that its a pretty much automated process for any tire manufacturer. Maybe its partly a hype thing, "Our tires are so good we don't have to check the balance" and partly factual in that their tires are balanced to within X% of perfect out of the mold.

Has Avon always been this way or is this a new thing? I've never bought Avon tires before.

I'll follow up when I get them balanced and we'll see.

/\/\ac