Red and yellow dots
Paint marks used when the tire is mounted on its wheel: on Yokohama’s tires, the red mark is the point of greatest radial force variation (the high point) and the yellow mark the lightest point.
How to read it
Yokohama says it places red and yellow marks on its tires for match-mounting. The red mark shows the point of maximum radial force variation, and is lined up with the wheel’s point of least radial run-out, often marked on the wheel with a coloured dot or a notch. The yellow mark shows the tire’s lightest point, and is lined up with the valve stem, which Yokohama calls the heaviest point of the wheel. Bridgestone’s glossary describes match mounting as matching the high point of a tire with the low point of its wheel, with a dot or mark on the tire matched to a dot, a sticker or the valve hole. Bridgestone says its own red and yellow dots are there to help minimize radial runout and aid static balance.
Also searched as: dots on tire, red dot on tire, yellow dot on tire.
What each marking means under the standard that defines it. This page describes markings; it doesn’t advise on choosing, fitting, inflating or replacing tires.
What the red mark measures
Bridgestone’s glossary defines uniformity as the amount of radial and lateral force variation in a tire, and radial runout as a measurement of out-of-roundness. The red mark is Yokohama’s pointer to the first of these.
More tire sidewall markings
Browse symbols drawn with circles or curves and waves.
Sources
- Mounting Your Tires, Yokohama Tire Corporation, Mounting your tires
- Tire Terminology, Bridgestone Americas, Match mounting; Uniformity
- What is mount and balance tires? Concentric mounting, Bridgestone Americas (Firestone Commercial), Concentric mounting
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research