I had the new tires mounted/Balanced on my Chevy Camaro 2013 that has factory steel rims and the mechanics at the tire didn’t align 3 out of 4 tires with the red dot at the valve stem. The ones that were not aligned took more weight to balance. When I drive at 40mph up to 60mph I get a shake at the steering wheel. Yesterday I switched the front tires to the back and the back tires to the front and the shake/vibration at the steering wheel stopped. Should I go back and have them align the tires so that the red dot is close to the valve stem or are the tires defective? Any recommendations on tire shops that have the road force balancer? I’m located in Miami, Florida zip code 33187.
Regardless of the details if your car is having this symptom you do need a proper balance. If you are not already doing so, try a shop that specializes in this work, rather than a local mechanic. If you can feel the balance issue at 40 MPH it is not even close to done right.
The first question is did you move tires around without returning to whoever mounted the tires to let them solve the problem ? It could be as simple as weights falling off .
I am surprised that a 2013 Camaro even can be bought with steel wheels .
Whenever you see a red spot, match this up with the valve stem unless you happen to have a steel wheel that has a dimple on the exterior side of the rim area. The dimple indicates the wheels’ low spot and is spec’ed by some original equipment manufacturers so that they can match mount tires and wheels installed on new cars at the factory.
You’ll likely find varying opinions on the markings. My Yokohamas have two dots; yellow and red. The yellow dot denotes heaviest point of the tire and red is lightest point. Using the correct dot (if supplied) ensures the least amount of counterbalance weight can be used. One or the other should be lined up with the stem depending on the rim. It would irk me if they paid no attention to it. I’d go back because if they didn’t pay any attention to it, better chance they paid less attention to achieving a decent balance either…
Edit, ItsMe responded while I was typing. He’s right about the dimple so check that as well.
Lemme throw one out at you. Are there weights only on the inside of the wheel? Or are there weights both inside and outside on at least 2 of the wheels? Some tire guys think they are “doing you a favor” by not putting weights on the outside because it looks better. The wheels are only statically balanced that way and for a smooth ride they need to be dynamically balanced.
I would worry less about the dots and more that the guy doing the balancing can’t do the job. I live on the other side of Florida and have the same problem finding a competent tire shop.