2004 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF tire pressure

3.2 Tips and Advice
Displays in the instrument
Display Meaning Act io n -and warni ng T hi s warning shows a rapid loss immediately! In spect the wheels of p ressure in least for external damage and for eign bodies
o ne tir e. and check th e tire pressure for th e wheels. If it is not necessary to change a wheel on the spot, you pro ceed at
reduced s p e ed to the nea re st
and warnin g TIRE The warning ind ic a tes that at Check th e tire pressure at four wheels
sure at least
Warn ing After the ignition is switched on. Check th e tire pressure at four wheels a slow loss of pressure is in di-ca tcd in at le a st one tire.
T here is a malfunction in the your authorized Volkswagen
sys tem. dealer o r
comes o n
disrupted by superposi-
tion from transmi tters in the
the same frequency range (e.g.
rad io equipment. phone).
Load condition
Followi ng
each change in th e load conditio n of
th e yo u have check or adjust tir e sure s. can
page
mus t communicate th e load condition to the sys te m for the tire pressure monitoring system to operat e correctly. the bullon 16 for lo nger th an two seconds to
If you press the bullon briefly. th e monitoring status is shown in the display.
66
wheel
If the vehicle is equipped the fac tory with a
spare wheel in th e same tire /wheel s ize
you re place the w heels o n the at the factory. make sure that the new
w heels are equipped with se nsors whic h are compatible with the factory-installe d tire sure monitoring sys te m. The val ve in each tire is equipped with
mus t be dri ven for a while above mph (25 km/h ) after it has s tood fo r about

you are using tires w ith inflatio n
p ressures than those recommended by the tory, the tir e press ure val ues must be re pro­grammed. swagen dealer or q ualified workshop.
you mount wheels whic h d o not have sen sors or have incompatible sensors . th e sys tem cannot recognize the wheel s. The tir e pressure monitoring sys te m is not abl e to measure infla ­
tion press ure. A malfun ction is di sp la ye d.
S t
oring tires
T he se nsors se nd signa ls to t h e tir e press ure
monitori ng sys te m only whi le you arc driv ing .
D eclaration of complianc e
Siemens declares that the product is in full c onfo rmit y w ith the essen­tial requi rements and the other re levant prov i­
sio ns of directi ve 19 99/5/EG.
WARNING
In correc t tire pressures and/or unde r- infla­ti o n can lead t o
an d can
Incorrect t ire p ressures and/o r under-i n­
flatio n ca n also lead to sudden tir e failure, bl owout and sudden d eflati on, causing loss of ve hicl e control.
Always make sure that a ll tires are properl y
inflat ed t o tire press ures fo r th e tires o n
t h e vehicl e and the kind of driv in g yo u plan to
do.
WARNING
The d rive r is responsib le for the correct tire
press ures for all tires on th e ve hicle. The cable pressure values arc loc ate d on sticke r
o n the dri ver's sid e page 61.
correctly.
The use of in correct tire pressure values can lead to acci den ts or other damage. There­
f o re it i s esse ntial that the d river observe the
s p ecified tire p ressure va lues fo r the tires an d
Booklet 3.2 Tips and Advice
WARNI NG (continued)
the correc t pressures fo r the functi on of the
W hen the
the ti re is not flat and you do no t have to
c h an ge a w heel immed ia tely, drive
required fig. 15.
WARNING
Incorrect tire pressure can result in sudde n
t ire failur e loss of control, co llisio n, seri ous
personal i njury an d even death.
A lways in flat e tires to the recommended and correct tire pressure before dri ving
D rivi ng with unde rinfl atc d ti res b end m ore, le ttin g them get too h o t res ulting in tread sep aration, sudden tire failure and loss
o f co ntrol .
Exces sive speed and/ overloading can cause heat build-up , sudden tire fa ilure a nd
l oss of control.
not handl e we ll.
Missin g valve ste m caps can resu lt in damage to th e va lve and sensor s in the tire pressure mon itorin g sys te m. To pre vent t his, alwa ys dri ve
with valve stem caps that are the equi valent of th ose insta lled va lve
s te m caps.
Whe n switc hin g to t a in that the va lve s and the sensors not aged.
For the sake of environment
Low tire pressures also increase fuel consump­
tion.
The tire pressu re monitoring syste m checks
th e tires for the fac tory recommend ed inflation

3.2 Tips and Advice
pressures. The recommended values are on the
s ticker on th e open edge of the driver's door 61, fig. 1 5 .
yo u are driving on tire s other than those in­
s tall ed at the factory, have the inflation pres ­
sures entered in the pressure monito rin g sys te m by a Volk sw agen Serv ice® fac ilit y if they are dif­
ferent . O nl y one va lue can be save d in the syste m for partial or full load.
The tire pressure monitoring sys te m shuts it­self off if a se t of tire s w ithout wheel sensors is mounted on the vehicle and it cannot receive sensor s ignal s. As soon as th e sys te m recei ve s at
tir e press ures at regular interva ls. even though yo u have the monitoring sys te m. Inspect the tire s for damage (punctures. cuts. tears and blister s). Remove foreign bodies from the tire
tread .
sensors have to be repla ced. have the valve s changed at the same time.
Discre pancies may occur betwee n th e pres­
sures read on the pressure gauge when inflating the tires and the pressure s read b y the tire pres­
sure sensors. The e lectroni c tire pressu re moni­
torin g sys te m is more accurate.
The corr ect tire pressure for the tires originally installed on your vehicle is Liste d on
th e tire pr
essure label on the open edge of the driver's door.
The recommended tire pressure s arc on the tire
pres sure lab el and in the page 6 1, T hi s means that the pressure must be c hecke d and adjusted w hen tire has not been driven for more t han a couple of miles (k ilometers ) at low speeds during the previo us three hours. Air in the tires
expands when the tire heat s up as a result of in­
ternal friction as it flexes in use. The tire pressure is high er w he n the tir e has war med up than when it is
tir e that counts. There for e, you should nev er le t a ir out of
a warm tir e to matc h p a ge 61. The tire s
would the n be underinflatcd and could fail sud­
denly.
The tir e pressure la b e l o n your Volkswagen lists the recommended co ld tire inflation pressures for the new, orig in al equipment tires we re on yo ur ve hicl e at the tim e it was m anufa ctured.
For the location of the page 61, fig . 15 .
Most tir
es lose air naturally over time. They can
also lose some air if you drive ove r a pothole or h it a c urb whil e pa rking. is usually not possible
t o see w hether the radia l tires u se d today are un­
derinflated jus t b y looki ng at them.
Therefore, be sure to check tire pressur es at least once a month and always be for e goin g on a lo ng
68 Checking and
trip. Mak e sure to ta ke the numbe r of p eople and the amount of lu ggage into ac count whe n ad ­justing tire pressure for a trip -eve n one that you wou ld not consider to b e page and ve hicle load for more impor­tant information.
Vehicles that h ave full hub caps have va lve ex­
t ende rs in stead of dust caps. To ch ec k tire pres­sure or add ai r. yo u do not need to remove the
extender. Be sure to re in stall v a lve dus t cap s
aft er checkin g or adjustin g tir e pressure.
A lways use an
accurate tire pressure gauge whe n manually c hecking and adju sting inflatio n pres -sures.
let air our of the tire slowly with the edge of the tir e and keep checkin g the pressure until you rea ch the pressure that is correct for the load (passenge rs
and lu gga ge) and kind of dri vin g yo u pla n to do.
th e pressure in an y tire is to o low, no te the dif­
fere nce be tween the pressure in the co ld tir e and the pressure you need and add the air that yo u
need to r e ac h the correc t p res sure for the ve hicle
lo ad (passengers and luggage) for the tires on
your ve hicle as listed on the on your ve hicl e and in thi s manual and th e kind of dri vin g yo u plan

Never excee d the maximum inflation pressure listed o n the tire sidewall for
that the ve hicle manufacturer. no t the tir e m anufacturer. determines the co rrect
tir e
pressure for the tire s on your vehic le
the required tire pressure from the tire pressure label on the open ed ge of the driver's
door.
Place the air pressure gauge on the dust caps -the re is no need
The tire pressures should only be ch ecked when the tires are co ld. T he s lightl y raised pres­
sures of warm t ires mus t not be red uced.
Adjust the tire pressure to the load you are
carrying.
Vehicle with
Head the required tir e pres sure from the tire
pressure on the ope n edge of the driver's
d oor.
Turn the va lve stem cap counter-cloc kwise to
remove i t from the ti re va lve.
Place the air pressure gauge on the valve.
The tire pressures should onl y be c hecked and adjusted when the tire s are cold. The slightl y
raised pressures of warm tires must not b e re­
duced.
Adju st the tir e pressure to the load you are
carryin g.
the valve stem cap on the valve.
When should check the tire pressure?
The correct tire pressure is especi ally important
at high speeds. The pressure sh oul d there fore be ch ecked at least once a month and always before
s tarting a journey. Do not forge t check the tire pressure on th e spare whee l7l
When should odjust the tire pressures?
Adju st
the tire pressure to the load you are car­
ry ing. Af ter changing a
addition on vehicles with TPMS,
yo u should sp ecify new tire
sudden tire failure loss of control, collision, serious personal injury even death.
Always fill tires to the recommende d and correct tire pressure before dri ving ofT.
Driving with underinflated tires bend m ore, letting them get too hot resulting in
tread separation, sudden tire failure tire
failure and loss of control.
Excessive speed and/or overloading can heat build-up, sudden tire failu re in­cluding a blowout and sudden deflation and
loss o f co ntrol.
If the tir e pressure is too low or too high, the tires w ill wear prematurely and the ve hicle
will not handle we ll.
with tire pressure monitoring system To prevent this, make sure that factory
For the sake of environment
Tip s
For vehicles
may find differences between the pres­
s ur e read ings fro m a hand-held pressure gauge
a nd the pressure readings disp laye d in the in­
s trument The tire pres sure monitoring syste m is more acc urat e.
the is too
applicable =Tire press ure monitoring
applicable
69

Tires and
There arc limits to th e amount of load or weig ht that any vehicl e and any tire can carry. A ve hicle that is overloaded will not handle well and is mor e to stop. Overloading can not only
lead l oss of ve hicle control. but ca n al so damage including a blowout
and s udden d eflatio n th at can cause the vehicl e
to crash .
Your safet y
and that of your passengers also de­
pends on making sure th a t l oad limit s arc not ex­ceeded. load in cludes everybody and ev­eryth in g in and on the vehicle. These load limit s are technically refe rred to as th e vehicle' s Gr oss Ratin g
includes the weight of the basic ve­all factory installed accessorie s. a full tank of coolant and other fluids plus max­imum load. The m ax imum load incl udes the number of passengers that the ve hicle is in ­tended to carry lbs. (68 kg) for each pas­senger at designation seating position and the
total wei ght of a ny lu ggage in the ve hicle. yo u the weig ht of the trailer hit ch and the tongue weight of the loaded trailer mus t be included o f the ve hicle load.
T he Gross
Axle is the m aximum load th at can be ap plied at each of the
veh icle's two
has 5 seat ing pos ition s, 2 in the front and 3 in the rear for seating ca­paciry of 5. Eac h seatin g posit ion ha s a sa fe ty bookle t2.1
and
The fact that there is an upper li mit to your ve­
hi cle's Gross Hating means that the total weight of whatever i s bein g carried in the vehicle (in cluding the weight of a trailer hit ch and the tongue weig ht o f the load ed
t railer) is limited. The more passengers in the ve­
hicl e or passengers are heav ier than the standard weig hts assumed mean that less weig ht can be carried lu ggage.
The tire pressure on your Volkswage n also lists the maximum combined weight of all of the occupants and
page fig . 15 .
WARNING
Overloading a ve hicl e can cause loss of vehicle control, a crash or other accident, serious pe r­
sonal injury, nnd even dent h.
more weight than your vehicle was d esig ne d to carry will prevent th e ve hicl e
fr om handling properl y and increase the ri sk of th e loss of ve hicl e control.
The brakes on a ve hicl e that has been over­loaded may not be abl e to sto p the ve hicle
w ithi n a safe di stance.
o n a ve hicle that has been overloaded can
Alway s make sure that the to tal load bein g transported-including the weight of a trail er hitch and the tongu e weight of a loaded trail er -does no t m ake th e ve hicle heavier t11e
ve hicl e's Gross Vehicle Rating .

3.2 Tip s and Advice
Tire service
The serv ice life of tires depends on a lot of different things including proper
lation and balancing, correct tire pressure and driving style.
Fig. 17 Tire tread : tread wear indicators (TWI)
T re ad
Wear Indicator {T W I)
The original tires on your ve hicle have 1/16 inch
(1.6 mm) high fig . 17 ning across the tread. Dependi ng on the m ake, there will be six to eight o f them evenly placed around th e tire.
he tread
Tir e press ure
In correct tire pressure cau ses premature wear and ca n cause sudden tire blow-out. For this
reason , tire pressure must be c h ecke d at least once a page 68.
D riving style
Driving fast around curve s, heavy acceleration and hard braki ng increase tire
Rota ting tires for m ore even wear
If the front tires arc worn considerably more than the rear ones. rotate them shown 18 . All the tires will then last for about the same amount of time.
A
ll four tires should h ave the same amount of wear. All four w heels mus t have th e same ro llin g
circumference.
72
Fig_ 18 Rotat ing tires for more even wear
Wheel balanci ng
The wheels on new vehicles are balanced. I low­vario us s ituation s during everyday driv ing can cause them to become unbalanced, re­
s u lting in vibrations you can usu ally feel through
t h e stee ring wheel.
tire wea r. impairin g the safe ty of the ve hicl e. tires show excess ive wea r. have the w heel a lig n-
m ent checke d by Volkswagen
d ealer or qualified works ho p.
Sudden tire failu re
Never drive ve hicle when
Worn tires safety
and loss of comrol.
Always keep chemical s that can cause tire
damage, s u ch as grease,

eq uipped with Tire Monitoring
Always buy replacement rad ia l tires that have the same s p ecifica tions as the tires approved for your by
th e original equipment or approved op­tional tires listed in the page
and its load
limits, and can contribute t o the important road holding, driv ing characteris tics. and safety of the vehi cle. The page 6 1) lists specifications of t h e tires approve d for the Literature.
T he tir e pressure label on the open edge of th e driver's page fig. 15lis ts the s pecifica­tions of the o riginal equipment tires installed o n your ve hicl e at the time it was manufactured.
Federal law requires tire manufacturers to place standardized information on the sidewall of all page fig. 19 . This information identi­fies and describes the fundamental characteris­tics, the qualit y grade of the tire and also pro­vides a tire identificatio n number for safety stan ­dard certification and in case of a recall.
Tir e
specifications
K n
owledge of tire specificatio ns makes it easier to choose the correct tires. Rad ial tires have the
tir e specifications marked on the sidewall, for exampl e:
R 17 91 W
T
his example contains the follow ing informa­
t ion:
rat ing letter code
(o r Indicates that the tire has some mud and snow capability
The tires coul d also have the information of di­rection of page 86.
Speed rating letter code
The speed rati ng letter code o n the wheels indi­cates the maximum permissible road speeds in o n 77.
up to 93 mph
km/h )
R
up to km/h)
up to mph
mph
krn /h)9l
W
up t o 168 mph
Tire Identification Number and tire manufacture dote
T
his i s the t ire's begi ns with th e letters
mean tha t the tire was produced in th e 18th week
fabric in the tire. In gen ­the g reater the number o f plies, the m ore weight tire can support. Tir e manufacturers
a lso must indicate the materials in the tire, which include steel, nylon, polyes ter, and others.
system)
For tires with maxim um sp eed over t49 mph (240 le tt ers
74 Checking and

Maximum Load Ratin g
This number indi cates the maximum load in and pounds that can be carried b y th e
tire. Tire
and temperature resistance.
Tire quality grading for tr ead wear, traction,
and temperature resistance
Tread trac tion tempe rature grades
Maximum Permissibl e
su re that sh o ul d ever be put in t he tir e under normal driv in g con d itio ns.
Replacin g tire s
or rims on
stantly monitors the air pressure in sid e the tire , and then transmit s thi s information to th e
you arc goin g to replace the wheel
rims on your ve hicl e, have these se n sors. The sensors must be compatibl e with the sys te m on yo ur hicle .
you rims. which do not sors, or have sensors w hi ch are not compatibl e,
then the TPM S will no t wo rk properly. wo uld not be able to monit or the tir e pressure o r you if it i s necessaty.
senso rs mus t b e rep laced at sp ecific va ls.
yo u ch an ge sen sors, yo u have to new valv es.
driv e wi th the stem caps curely m ounted . valve stem caps. your authorized Volk swage n dealer to re p lace lost va lve stem caps.
T he in stallat i
on of replacement ti res w ith steel cord p lie s in th e tire sidewal l may cause m alfuncti on of the tire pressure monitoring sys te m and is no t recomme nded (cord material inform ation in molded o n the tir e
if your ve hicle was equipped with r un-flat tires. rep la cin g them
wi th tire s that are not identical to th ose fill ed may cause mal function of the
3.2 Tips and Advice
and i s not recommended. Run-flat ti res should not be used to replace regular tires.
indicator after p la cing o ne or more tire s on you r ve hicle. the m alfu nctio n indi cator is is
not working p ro perly. Your r eplacement tire
m ight be incompatible with system,
o r some component of the be age d.
Usin g incorrect or unmatch ed tires and I or wheels or imprope r tire and wheel
use tires , rims and wheel b o lts that meet the sp ecificatio ns o f o ri ginal
Tires age even if they are n o l b eing used and can fail suddenly, especially a t hi gh
s peeds. Tires that arc m ore tha n 6 years old can only be used in an em erge ncy and then
w ith special care and lower speed s.
Never moun t used tires o n your ve hicl e if you are not sure o f their
four whee ls mus t be fitt ed with radial tires o f the same ence) and the same tread pattern. Dri ving with different tires reduces vehicle and can lead t o loss of contro l.
If the s pare wheel is no t the sam e as the tires that are m ounted on the vehicle-fo r ample with winter tires-on ly usc th e spare w heel fo r a short perio d of t im e and drive with extra care. Refit the normal road w heel as s oo n
a s safe ly possibl e.
Neve r drive fa ster th a n the maximum
speed f or which the tires on your ve hicl e are
r a te d because ti res that are driven faste r than their ra te d speed can suddenly.
Ov erloading tires cause heat build -up,
sudde n tire failure, including a blowout and sudden d eflati on and loss of control.