Question on tire mounting, tire balancing and tire valves

[eyepea]

Got 4 new tires. They had a red dot and a yellow dot marked on the tire wall. Tire shop guy mounted 3 tires on the wheels such that more or less the red dot was aligned with the tire valve. On those tires, the yellow dot was quite close to the red dot. So perhaps it could be the yellow dot that was aligned with the tire valve. But as I see it, the red dot was closer. On the 4th tire, the angle of separation between the red dot and the yellow dot was a bit less than 180 deg. Tire shop guy aligned the yellow dot with the tire valve. I asked why not the red dot and the guy said it should be yellow dot. Subsequently all wheels were balanced. Also all tire valves (whole valve - stem and all - rubber type) were replaced too.

Afterwards on googling info on red dots and yellow dots, what I gathered from  a few sites was that when mounting the tire, the yellow dot should be aligned with the tire valve but if a red dot  is present, that should be aligned with the tire valve.

(1) Is this correct? Then the tire shop guy was wrong and knew only part of the method.

(2) Now that the 4th tire is "balanced", does it matter whether the valve stem was aligned to the yellow dot and not the red dot ? I did not test out at highway speeds yet, but did not feel any significant vibration upto say about 70 kmph. But am no expert. If this matters, I will need to get the tire re-mounted and balanced before the dots get fully wiped off.

(3) Is it recommended to change the whole tire value when replacing with a new tire? I ask because, afterwards, I heard some bad stories of cheap tire valves failing.. So wondered if the tire valves that came with the car from japan, even though old (say 10 years or more) would have been better than new cheap tire valves available in tire shops. I can not turn back time, but for other vehicles I can be more cautious.

Thanks

 

[jerryda]

https://www.car-auto-repair.com/tires-balancebridgestone-tires-red-yellow-dots/

Edited January 17, 2020 by jerryda

[Davy]

1. Yes, the red dot takes precedence over the yellow dot.

2. If you did a wheel balance, it doesn't matter now. The dots are there so that you have a good starting balance. This helps because the number of wheel weights that need to be added to balance the wheel is less. 

3. If the valve stem isn't damaged and doesn't leak, keep it.