Ink marking on tires?
 

So I'm buying new tires, right, and they have these fluorescent ink markings on the tread... what's that all about?

honestly, i dont have a clue, but the marks wear off eventually thus making me think they are jsut to mark that the tires are new, and not used.

maybe manufactuers use the different color markings to differentiate the tire. its easier to spot like yellow red yellow stripes than it is to read the model on the sidewall, or even recognize the tread pattern.

they're actually meant for something more important.

Usually it lets you know, or rather the tire mounter know, where the tires are lighter and where a highspot is in the tire so the mounter can position things a bit better so they need less weights.

i think the op is talking about the markings that run along the tread, not the dots on the sidewall. but you're correct about the dots on the sidewall!

Good read about sidewall dots.
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=86379&page=3

As for the lines along the tread, I would suspect they have something to do with warehousing.

they are both for warehouse markings and for showing run out of the tire.

the closer the lines are to the center the more perfectly round it is. we're talking like 0.00001" measurements though.

they are for dynamic balancing when installing them on new wheels that have corresponding markings

the right way of mounting a new tire

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2719/dsc03292ay.jpg