2003 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF Owners Manual

AND
Removing the spare wheel
order to have both hands free when re­moving the spare t he stor­
age tray su pport from its mounti ng and
hook the support into the opening of the
tray povided for this purpose. see page 56.
Loosen the
strap and remove the foam
piece .
Turn the
F irst thread the strap th rough the in
the tire rim-see The spare
nut tire into the tir e
is equipped with standard
suspension and
with
either or you can
use the just it
Vehicles with sports suspension* and road wheels
is equipped with the sports su spension, it be factory ­
equipped with road and a This fits in the spare
than the road next
page for impo rtant and infor­
mation .
Turn the mounting nut the
t ire is in
and secu re the strap .
Unhook and the
NOW?-----------------59

is stored under
the carpeting in the
using the spare a n ote the
steel spare
steel spare wheel sup­
plied with your vehicle. road wheels with steel rims and
steel spare.
road wheel can
cause loss of vehicle control and serious personal injury.
The
with sports suspension and
-- ---------------WHA T

Tires
Tires are important but often abused parts
of a vehicle. They not
Be sure to inspect your tires at
Damage to you
as soon as tire damage can never get better or it can
to tire
for advice and assis­
tance.
Mark tires before removing them. Re­
mount tires on the same
uneven wear and damage.
Tires which are not on New tires
New tires may have different tread
depths due
to the configuration and design
by the tire manufacturers. When
tires, use ones with matching tread depth.
New tires tend to be and cannot of­
fer
Avoid fol­

Tire service
The service
factors:
Tire pressure
. Required tire pressures are
Low tire pressures increase fuel consumption which is detrimen­
tal to the environment.
pressures. Never exce ed
the maximum tire pressure
on the tire pres­
sure means: the vehicle has been standing
for at
The on new vehicles are When driving, however, various conditions
can cause a to become
This may be noticed as vibrations in the
steering .
have your if a new tire has
been mounted or a tire was repaired.
pressures be checked at once a month and
you do not
need to remove the extender .
check tire pressures when the tires
are When the tires are be higher. Do not reduce the pressure of warm tires.
Don't forget to check the spare
causes exces-
sive and uneven tir e
impairing the
safe ty of the you notice exces­
sive tire contact your authorized
WHAT

AND
Tire wear
The original tires on your veh icle have built­
in wear indicators. They are molded into the
bottom of the tread grooves and appear as approximately 1
a triangle
or other symbols) show
the locations of the
wear indicators .
When the indicators appear in
two or more
adjacent
t he tires wear down this far. Worn tires canno t grip the road surfac e
sudden deflation and loss of vehicle control.
hicle may tend to hydroplane
sooner.
Wheel Bolts
The wheel bolts must always be clean and easy to turn when you're
removing or installing them. Never oil or lubricate wheel bolts.
Check the wheel bolts whenever you change a
ginal factory installed equipment
will adversely affect the safe ation of your vehicle and may cau-se an accident and personal injury.
me loose and cause an accident
during vehicle operation! Extremely high torques can dama-ge the wheel bolts and/or their threads.
64-----------------WHAT

lire rotation
then you must rotate the front tires with the rear tires as shown in the
tion . By doing have
Tires
when tires show wear su ch as
feather-edging th ey be rotated
tion. The rotation direction is ide n tified by
arrow markings on the side s of th e tires. rota tio n directio n must not be reversed . these tir es cannot be switched in
GEN seNice department.
After rotation adjust tire pressure and torque
on page 72 for
and tires approved by the turer have been to the road ­
the spare tire is differe nt from the tires
that you have mounted on your
(for winter tires or wide
Fitting and repairing tires requires expert
and be perfo rmed by a
We recommend that you have your tires
changed by a authorized
beca use they have the
GEN
For safety reasons, tires in pairs and not The tires
with the deepest tread be
mounted on the front
WHAT I