Balancing Metzler tires

[Gregori]

As Jamie has noted in a previous post, he likes to mark the wheel (sans tire) light spot, to help align it with the tire's light spot, when so marked.

 

Over the weekend, with his help, I replaced a set of the Metzler 880s (very worn, 10K miles) on my 1150RT with a set of the Roadtec Z6s.

 

We noted a number stamped inside the tire, opposite the 'light spot' marks. With some experimentation, we came to the conclusion that the number stamped is at the heavy spot, with the weight (in Grams) that the tire is out of balance. This should make it easy to calculate the weights to a close approximation, without a lot of guesswork. (And it would ALSO be nice to look for the number when BUYING tires, to find one that won't need a lot of balance work.)

 

Jamie's new Pilot Roads (Michelin) were not marked this way, but the 880s I pulled off were marked. So this MAY be just a Metzler thing. If anyone out there has data that refutes or supports these observations, please contribute!

 

Grins,

Greg

[Bob Palin]

My new ME880 rear has the number 17 on the inside of the tyre opposite the two red dots. In sensible units that is less than an ounce, when matched up with the right part of the wheel I bet I don't need any weights to balance, I haven't for the last few sets of Metzeler tyres.

[RFW]

Jamie's new Pilot Roads (Michelin) were not marked this way, but the 880s I pulled off were marked. So this MAY be just a Metzler thing. If anyone out there has data that refutes or supports these observations, please contribute!

My old Metzeler 330, and 880 were marked with the white dot, and so were my Michelin Macadam 50s that are on the bike now.

 

This is not just a "Metzeler thing".

 

Bob.

[Bart Anderson]

As Jamie has noted in a previous post, he likes to mark the wheel (sans tire) light spot, to help align it with the tire's light spot, when so marked....(snip)

 

Picking a nit to avoid confusion: I trust you meant to say mark the wheel's heavy spot to align with the tire's light spot.

[Gregori]

(...) Picking a nit to avoid confusion: I trust you meant to say mark the wheel's heavy spot to align with the tire's light spot. (...)

Consider this nit, picked - you are correct. That's what I meant, not what I said...

Align the tire's light spot with the wheel's heavy spot. (Often NOT the valve stem, which is the 'assumed' heavy spot by many.)

 

RFW: I was referring to the actual WEIGHT being marked, not the little red or white dots. The *dots* are pretty ubiquitous.