Blue Dot On Rim

[Sklyn]

Hey.

One of my rims has a spot of light blue paint....I thought this was just from some useless person somehow getting it there.

But lately I have noticed pictures of others with the same colour dot. This got me thinking there may actually ba a reason for it.

Does anyone know of any reason why someone would put a spot of paint on ur rim?????

[(B1) MR_fanny]

i know the put dots on the tyres and such for balancing and alignment. care to post up a pic. ive never come across a blue dot on the rims before

[666DAN]

Is it a stock rim and is the dot on the inside (or mostly out of pain view)

[Sklyn]

I have stock rims from a 350z. The dot is on all 4 rims. It's on the outside clearly visible.

[Yo-Yo]

On a lot of cars there will be the dot on the rim and sometimes one on the tyre almost directly opposite

Dunno why though

[HotPlates]

I have the same on my 350Z rims. I think it is to signify that it has passed a quality inspection from the factory.

[Sklyn]

yeah I was thinking it would be something like that. It's really annoying..

[KiwiRS4T]

Hey.

One of my rims has a spot of light blue paint....I thought this was just from some useless person somehow getting it there.

But lately I have noticed pictures of others with the same colour dot. This got me thinking there may actually ba a reason for it.

Does anyone know of any reason why someone would put a spot of paint on ur rim?????

When an auto manufacturer receives wheels from their wheel supplier, and tires from their tire supplier, they perform what is referred to as "match mounting." Both the wheels and tires are put on balancing

machines- SEPARATELY. Both will be very slightly "out of balance" in some way, even if it's a miniscule defect.

The "high point" in balance of the TIRE is marked near the bead with a small dot of water-soluble paint. Then, the "low point" in balance of the WHEEL is marked with - you guessed it- a small dot. In our case, a blue one.

Matching the HIGH point of the tire's defect with the LOW point of the wheel's defect can work to cancel out both, providing a more balanced wheel and tire combination.

Confusingly it seems not all wheel and tyre manufacturers use the same conventions. For after market tyres e.g. Falken say

either match the yellow dot on the tyre with the valve

or match the red dot on the tyre with the mark on the wheel (if any)

[Sklyn]

Thanks very much for clearing that up...