Removal of Paint Dot on New Tires

M

Milestones

New member
I got 4 new Bridgestones Potenza RE 960 tires put on my Mazda 6 today ($156.00 per pop).



When I got home I noticed that 2 of the tires each had 1 small but noticeable round yellow paint dot on the side walls. It was as if whoever was storing the tires had marked them for inventory purposes.



I'm a bit ticked that I bought tires this nice and I have distracting yellow paint dots on the side walls. Is this typical?



What is the best/easiest way to remove these paint dots from my side walls without damaging the tires?



Paint thinner? Paint remover?



Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
It definitely depends on what kinda of marker they used. Try the least aggressive method first, a heavy dilution of car wash soap and water, and a LOT of scrubbing. If that doesn't do anything, you can step up to a tire cleaner like Eagle One.
 
Thanks mike.



I've got some Eagle One sitting on the shelf that I rarely use because I keep my tires and wheels so clean that I rarely need something that aggressive.



I guess if heavy dilution Meg's GC soap and a stiff brush doesn't get it off - I'll hit it with Eagle One and let it sit for a several minutes - then scrub and rinse.
 
That sounds like the "heavy point" marking, the heaviest spot of the tire, which is supposed to be put opposite the valve stem to reduce the amount of weight that must be added for balance purposes. I wasn't sure they were still doing that.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
That sounds like the "heavy point" marking, the heaviest spot of the tire, which is supposed to be put opposite the valve stem to reduce the amount of weight that must be added for balance purposes. I wasn't sure they were still doing that.
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I wasn't aware they did that - but only 2 of the 4 tires were marked that way.
 
Yeah I've got them too. I've tried a couple of different cleaners and a tire brush and no luck. I don't think you're going to get them off that easily if at all. As a side effect my tires are really clean.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
That sounds like the "heavy point" marking, the heaviest spot of the tire, which is supposed to be put opposite the valve stem to reduce the amount of weight that must be added for balance purposes. I wasn't sure they were still doing that.
Click to expand...





Actually, on MOST tire brands the dot is supposed to be lined up with the valve stem.



~John
 
2KLS1 said:
Yeah I've got them too. I've tried a couple of different cleaners and a tire brush and no luck. I don't think you're going to get them off that easily if at all. As a side effect my tires are really clean.
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That would suck.



I would not be happy at all about buying expensive new tires that I hope to get 40,000 miles out of and having to live with visible yellow marks on the side walls.
 
GranPrix said:
Good luck trying to take that dot off, it's normal. If anything, use a permanent marker.
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Actually, that's not a bad idea at all - Use a permanent black marker to mark over the permanent yellow mark.



If all else fails - I'll go with that option.
 
I called the place that installed the tires and they said the mark is a guide for the valve stem installation - but if its not the best place to put they valve stem in when they are installing the don't use it.



Interesting I've had multiple vehicles over the years and bought lots of replacement tires and I don't ever remember encountering this before.



Oh well - I guess I should just chill out and realize that the non-Autopian 99% of the population would never even notice a mark like this in the first place.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Are they directional tires? If so the mark may be on the inside on the other two...just a thought.
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They are directional tires - so I undoubtedly have the marks on the inside wall of the other two tires as well.
 
I first learned about this on GM cars in the 70's, because it was right in the factory manual that it told you what the yellow dot was for and where to place it relative to the valve stem. It was used less on aftermarket tires than on OEM, and I actually thought the tires today were so well balanced as a result of improved mfg. techniques that they didn't need to do this anymore. Usually those marks wore off in a few weeks, so I imagine you'll be able to scrub them off.
 
They are on a lot of tires. Like someone said above, that's that spot is for lining up the valve stem to help in balancing. I've scrubbed those dots off, I'm not sure what I used, but Simple Green comes to mind.



- Jason
 
Eagle One all wheel and tire cleaner is pretty powerful/acidic stuff - if that and a good brush won't get it off, I'll probably go the permanent black marker route.
 
FWIW, I had a a Y dot on a couple of my tires when they were new, I just checked and they are no longer there. I use FK1 Ultimate APC 20:1 occassionally and ONR with a MF the rest of the time if that helps.
 
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