Most motorcycle tires I've mounted have had a small painted "balance dot" to indicate the lightest side of the tire. You typically put the dot at the heaviest side of the wheel (valve stem) to minimize the amount of weight you need to balance the assembled wheel/tire combination.
The Pilot Powers I've recently mounted don't have a painted mark. There is a small bar coded sticker on bead surface, but I can't find any info on Michelin's web site about this.
So, are Michelins so good they don't have a heavy side??? Is the bar coded sticker the balance dot?
Thanks!
My understanding is that the small elephant on the side is to be inline with the valve stem. the last ones I mounted I did not do that and it still took very little weight to balance.
I haven't mounted any of these, but I did hear a rumor somewhere about dots being painted on the inside of the tire bead instead of the sidewall, may want to check there.
teleskier, on Apr 2 2006, 01:03 PM, said:
My understanding is that the small elephant on the side is to be inline with the valve stem. the last ones I mounted I did not do that and it still took very little weight to balance.
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I am certain your talking about Metzler with the elephant. I always used the bar code as the heavy point.
I used the bar code aligned with valve stem, and it only took 1/4 oz. to balance, so I'm happy.
Thanks everyone. :beer:
HispanicSlammer, on Apr 2 2006, 01:37 PM, said:
I am certain your talking about Metzler with the elephant. I always used the bar code as the heavy point.
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you are absolutely right. I did confuse that as I have a set of Metzlers on my ST1300.
I did however just look at an unmounted set of new Pilot Powers and they do not have any dots on the inside of the bead. There is the bar code though on the outside.
A quick search of the Michelin site returned no information on dots. I remember looking for the dots myself when mounting, and don't remember what I did. I think there were dots on the fronts, just not the rears.
I spooned on a new front Pirelli Strada last night. I balanced the wheel first, then put on the tire to see if there would be any difference. The "light spot" didn't make any difference as it was still balanced after mounting. I guess the marked spot was lighter, but not enough to make a difference.