A tire uniformity machine, comprising: an apparatus for receiving and rotating at least one control tire, which has a known spring constant, said apparatus including opposed spindles (32,34) for receiving, inflating and rotating the control tire, and a load wheel applied to the rotating control tire to generate a load wheel characterization waveform by measurement of forces detected by at least one load cell associated with said load wheel and from an angular position of the load wheel monitored by a load wheel encoder, the machine further comprising a spindle alignment assembly associated with said opposed spindles (32,34) to angularly align said spindles (32,34) with one another each time a control tire is received, comprising; a flag associated with one of said opposed spindles (32,34); a proximity switch adapted to observe said flag and to generate a proximity signal; and wherein the machine further comprises at least one characterizing device associated with components of said apparatus configured to characterize forces of said opposed spindles (32,34) that contribute errors into tire uniformity measurements of the control tire engaged by said load wheel and to generate a spindle characterization waveform; and a computer adapted to control said spindle alignment assembly so that said first and second spindles are angularly aligned with one another based on said proximity signal and adapted to receive said spindle characterization waveform and remove said spindle characterization waveform from tire uniformity measurements of subsequent production tires wherein said load wheel characterization waveform was previously subtracted from said spindle characterization waveform. an apparatus for receiving and rotating at least one control tire, which has a known spring constant, said apparatus including opposed spindles (32,34) for receiving, inflating and rotating the control tire, and a load wheel applied to the rotating control tire to generate a load wheel characterization waveform by measurement of forces detected by at least one load cell associated with said load wheel and from an angular position of the load wheel monitored by a load wheel encoder, the machine further comprising a spindle alignment assembly associated with said opposed spindles (32,34) to angularly align said spindles (32,34) with one another each time a control tire is received, comprising; a flag associated with one of said opposed spindles (32,34); a proximity switch adapted to observe said flag and to generate a proximity signal; and wherein the machine further comprises at least one characterizing device associated with components of said apparatus configured to characterize forces of said opposed spindles (32,34) that contribute errors into tire uniformity measurements of the control tire engaged by said load wheel and to generate a spindle characterization waveform; and a computer adapted to control said spindle alignment assembly so that said first and second spindles are angularly aligned with one another based on said proximity signal and adapted to receive said spindle characterization waveform and remove said spindle characterization waveform from tire uniformity measurements of subsequent production tires wherein said load wheel characterization waveform was previously subtracted from said spindle characterization waveform.