TheSamba.com :: View topic - New Hankook RA 18 tires, no red or yellow dot for mounting??

Wed Mar 29, 2023 6:55 pm

I ordered a set of new Hankook RA 18 tires for my 1978 Riviera Camper bus from Amazon, which arrived PDQ. I have mounted my own motorcycle tires for 30 years, and I mounted tires on cars when I worked in gas stations in high school and college in the 1970s, when gas stations were full service. So I decided to mount my tires because I don't think anyone in my little Wyoming town knows how to lift a Bay Window bus correctly and I've done all of my other work on the bus for the 10 years I've owned it, so why not do the tires.
Except, these tires don't have a red or yellow dot for lining up the tire with the valve stem. There is a little white stamp that has some numbers and letters. And one of the tires has no white stamp either.
Any ideas of how to line up these tires? If not, I'll call Hankook tomorrow. I just thought someone here had dealt with this. Thanks.

Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:13 pm

The way I deal with it is to go to my local tire store. They have mounting and balancing equipment I don’t have or want.

Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:20 pm

aeromech wrote: The way I deal with it is to go to my local tire store. They have mounting and balancing equipment I don’t have or want.

I like the challenge. I'm retired and prefer to stay busy.

Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:39 pm

You have talents I don’t.

Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:43 pm

For the benefit of us ignorant ones, what is being "lined up" and why?
Can't say I've ever heard of such a thing before.

Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:54 pm

kreemoweet wrote: For the benefit of us ignorant ones, what is being "lined up" and why?
Can't say I've ever heard of such a thing before.

Supposedly if you line up the dot with the valve stem then you don't have to put as much weight on the opposite side of the rim to balance the tire. I use glass beads to balance my motorcycle tires, with good results, so I'm going to use them in my bus tires. Counteract rep told me to use 3 ounces of beads per tire in my camper bus. I bought the beads at NAPA. Truckers use beads. Harley guys with custom $1000 wheels use them. They don't want lead weights on those expensive rims. So I started using them a few years ago.
8)

Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:57 pm

Please document this for us. I learn something everyday here on the samba

Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:04 pm

aeromech wrote: Please document this for us. I learn something everyday here on the samba

I saw a Pyramid that ranked levels of education. On the bottom of the pyramid was high school education. Next was Bachelor Degree. Then came Masters Degree, Then Doctors Degree. At the top of the pyramid was D.I.Y.ers who watch You Tube and read Forums.

I'll post some pictures. 8)

Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:32 pm

aeromech wrote: Please document this for us. I learn something everyday here on the samba

What did you learn? The beads or the mounting dots? Both are very common.

Thu Mar 30, 2023 8:01 am

What I was told was this (I've mounted and balanced thousands of tires). Red dot is where the tire weighs the most, yellow is the least. This is more of a thing with TPMS sensors are typically the wheel weighs more where the sensor sits. On the other hand, some companies have varying sized holes in steel wheels to make up the difference and others have a welded on weight opposite of the valve stem.

Wheels can be out of balance too. You'll see this as when you stick on a set of tires, the new weights go exactly the same area as the old ones. I have also had the dot thing and found that I get one mounted tire needs 6 oz and I lined up those dots accordingly. Rotate the tire on the rim and all of a sudden, it's 1 oz of weight.

I only offer this from real world experience. The intranets will disagree as they know better.

Thu Mar 30, 2023 8:45 am

I kind of remember seeing red dots, but can't recall seeing them in decades. Maybe just select tire manufactures use them? Years ago when getting flats was way more common, I would end up with a chalk mark on the tire the shop had used to align the tire with the valve stem to keep the balance, today when I have an infrequent flat the shop I use just rebalances the tires, so no chalk marks.

Thu Mar 30, 2023 8:53 am

also - big one. When the lug nuts are over torqued, like with an air gun, it pushes the steel out where the lug nut is, and the center circle is no longer a perfect circle. Depending where and how much the deformation is the balancing cone will not be centered so it will see a different wheel center than the hub. One solution is to take a sanding drum or small rounded file, and a set of calipers, measure the distance on each lug hole to the center, and file the width from the lug hole to the edge of the circle the same on each steel wheels. That makes sure the tire is centered. Measure between the red lines and make sure it is the same on all 5 holes. One wants the circle to be round, and centered in the wheel, not off center caused by the steel being pushed out. The filing is on the 5 protrusions and not the lug hole.

Thu Mar 30, 2023 9:05 am

kreemoweet wrote: For the benefit of us ignorant ones, what is being "lined up" and why?
Can't say I've ever heard of such a thing before.

Some use dots, some don't, some use different colors, sometimes meaning different things. Been going on for a very long time.

https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires-101/maintenance-care-1/mounting-your-tires

Thu Mar 30, 2023 11:09 am

SGKent wrote: also - big one. When the lug nuts are over torqued, like with an air gun, it pushes the steel out where the lug nut is, and the center circle is no longer a perfect circle.

Also years of shop monkeys blasting wheels on with an impact will wear the lug holes out. This causes the lug nut/bolt to tighten on the hub/drum/rotor face and not the wheel. This results in loose wheels.

Thu Mar 30, 2023 7:48 pm

Much food for thought. Thanks!😎👍

Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:57 pm

The first time I ran into the colored dots was when we picked up the Yokohama tires as a retailer for Porsche owners wanting to give them a try. This was the late eighties. I can't say I see many tires with the Colored dots anymore. If Yoko is still doing it, I haven't mounted one of their tires in years. :-k

Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:51 pm

My 8 year old RA08's had dots. My tire guy new all about them.

Fri Mar 31, 2023 5:45 pm

The Pirellis I installed on my Camry two years ago had dots, blue ones. I think dots are alive-and-well.

Sat Apr 01, 2023 11:02 am

Are the glass beads just running inside the tyre , like the ball bearings running in a circular track that are used to balance CDROM drives running at high speed.

The CDROM drive ball bearings move round the track until they balance the disc when it is spinning fast, the vibration drives them into a position where they counterbalance the off-centre plastic disc.