200 Tires and wheels
contribution to good road holding and safe
handling when in good condition and properly
inflated
¢ ,& .
We recommend that all work on tires and
wheels be performed by an authorized Audi
dealer. They are familiar with recommended
procedures and have the necessary special
tools and spare parts as well as the proper fa
cilities for disposing of the old tires.
Authorized Audi dealers have the necessary
information about technical requirements for
installing or changing tires and rims.
Replacing tires and wheels
Tires should be replaced at least in pairs and
not individually (for example both front tires
or both rear tires together).
Be sure to read and heed the information to
the tire pressure monitoring system
¢page 201.
Always buy replacement radial tires that have
the same specifications as the tires approved
for your vehicle by Audi. Replacement tires
must always have the same load rating speci
fication as the original equipment or approved optional tires listed in the table
¢page 193.
Audi-approved specification tires are specially
matched to your vehicle and its load limits,
and can contribute to the important road hold
ing, driving characteristics, and safety of the
vehicle. The table(¢
page 193) lists specifica
tions of the tires approved for the Audi mod
els covered by your Owner's Literature .
The tire pressure label located on driver's side
B-pillar (
¢ page 193, fig. 151) lists the speci
f ications of the original equipment tires in
stalled on your vehicle at the time it was man
ufactured.
Federal law requires tire manufacturers to
place standardized information on the side
wall of all tires¢
fig. 153. This information
identifies and describes the fundamental
characteristics, the quality grade of the tire
and also provides a tire identification number for
safety standard certification and in case of
a recall.
Tire specifications
Knowledge of tire specifications makes it eas
ier to choose the correct tires. Radial tires
have the tire specifications marked on the
sidewall, for example:
P235 / 35 R 18 91 Y
This contains the following information:
P Indicates the tire is for passenger cars
235 Nominal tire width in mm of the tire
from sidewall edge to sidewall edge. In general, the larger the number, the wider
the tire
35 Height/width ratio in percent (aspect ra-
tio)
R Tire construction: Radial
18 Rim diameter code (in inches)
91 Load rating code
Y Speed rating letter code
XL (or "xl", "EXTRA LOAD", or "RF") indicates
that the tire is a"Reinforced" or an "Extra
Load" tire
M+S (or "M/S") Indicates that the tire has
some mud and snow capability
The tires could also have the information of
direction of rotation¢
page 189.
Tire manufacturing date
The manufacturing date is also indicated on
the tire sidewall (possibly only on the
inner
side of the wheel):
"DOT ... 2210 ... " means, for example, that
the tire was produced in the 22nd week of 2010.
Speed rating (letter code)
The speed rating letter code on the wheels in
dicates the maximum permissible road speeds
¢ .&. in Winter tires on page 204.
P up to 93 mph (150 km/h)
Q up to 99 mph (158 km/h)
R up to 106 mph (170 km/h)
S up to 110 mph (180 km/h)
206 Tires and wheels
conditions. Ask your authorized Audi dea ler
for more details.
The low aspect ratio of these tires is indicated
by a numeral of
55 or less in the tire's size
designation. The numeral represents the ratio
of the tire's sidewall height in relation to its
tread width expressed in percentage. Conven
tional tires have a height/width ratio of 60 or
more.
The performance of low-aspect -ratio tires is
particularly sensitive to improper inflation
pressure. It is therefore important that low
aspect ratio tires are inflated to the specified pressure and that the inflation pressure is reg
ularly checked and mainta ined. Tire pressures
should be checked at least once a month and
a lways before a long t rip
~ page 195, Check
ing tire pressure.
What you can do to avoid tire and rim
damage
L ow aspect ratio tires can be damaged more
eas ily by impact with potholes, curbs, gullies
or ridge5 on the road, particu larly if the tire i5
underinflated.
I n order to minimize the occurrence of impact
damage to the tires of your vehicle, we recom
mend that you observe the following precau
tions:
- Always maintain recommended inflation
pressures. Check your tire pressure every
2.000 miles (3.000 km) and add air if neces
sary.
- Drive carefully on roads with potholes, deep
gullies or ridges. The impact from driving
through or over such obstacles can damage
your tires. Impact with a curb may also cause damage to your tires.
- After any impact, immediately inspect your
tires or have them inspected by the nearest
authori zed Audi dealer. Rep lace a damaged
tire as soon as possible.
- Inspect your tires every 2.000 miles (3.000 km) for damage and wear . Damage is not al
ways easy to see. Damage can lead to loss of
air and underinflation, wh ich could eventu
ally cause t ire failure . If you believe that a tire
may have been damaged, replace the
tire as soon as possib le.
- These tires may wear more quickly than oth
ers.
- Please also remember that, while these tires
deliver responsive handling, they may ride
less comfortably and make more noise than
other choices .
Reduced performance in winter/cold
season conditions
All tires are designed for certain purposes.
The low aspect ratio, ultra high performance
t ir es originally installed on your vehicle are in
tended for maximum dry and wet road per
formance and handling . They are not suitable
for cold, snowy or icy weather conditions . If
you drive under those c ircumstances, you
should equ ip your vehicle w ith winter t ires,
which offer better traction under those condi
tions . We suggest yo u use the recommended
snow tires specified for your vehicle, or their
equivalent.
Refer to~
poge 203 for more detailed infor
mation regarding winter tires.
Ti re pressure
monitoring system
General notes
E ach tire, including the spare (if provided),
shou ld be checked monthly when cold and in
flated to the inflat ion pressure recommended
by the vehic le manufacturer on the vehicle
placard or tire inflation pressure label (If your
vehicle has tires of a different si ze than the
size indicated on the vehicle placard or tire in
flat ion pressure label, you should determine
the proper t ire in flation pressure for those
t ir es .) .
As an added safety feature, your vehicle has been equipped with a tire pressure monitoring
system (TPMS) that illum inates a low tire
pressure telltale when one or more of your
tires is significantly under-inflated. According
ly, when the low tire pressure telltale illumi
nates, you shou ld stop and check you r tires as
Ill>-
218 What do I do n ow ?
-On hard, slippery sur face (such as tiles)
use a rubber mat or similar to prevent
the jack from slipping.
- To help prevent injury to yourself and
your passenge rs:
- Do not raise the vehicle unti l you a re
sure the ja ck is sec urely engaged.
- Passenge rs must not rema in i n the ve
h icl e when it is ja cked up.
- Make sure t hat passengers wait in a
safe p lace away from the vehicle and
well away from the road and traffi c.
- Make sure jack position is correct , ad
just as necessary and then continue to ra ise the jack.
CD Note
A floo r jack or the pads on the hoist arms
m ust
n ot be posit ioned at the points
shown
-arrows-.
Remov ing the wheel
Follow these instructions step-by-step for
changing the wheel.
F ig . 161 Wh eel ch an ge : alignment pin in side the t op
hole
After you have loosened all wheel bolts and
ra ised the vehicle off the ground, perform the
following steps to remove and rep lace the
wheel :
Removing the wheel
" Use the
hexagon al socke t in the screwdri v
e r handle
to comp letely turn out the top
most wheel bolt and set it as ide on a
clean
surface . "
Sc rew the threaded end of the
al ignment
pin
from t he tool kit hand-tight into the
now vacant bolt ho le
c::> fig . 161.
" Then completely unscrew the other wheel
bolts as described above.
" Take off the whee l leaving the a lignment pin
in the bolt hole
c::> (D .
Putting on the wheel
"Lift the spare whee l and carefully s lide it
over the alignment p in to guide it in place
c::> (D .
" Use the hexagonal socket in the screwdriver
ha ndle to screw in and tighten a ll whee l
bolts
slightly .
"Unscrew the alignment p in and inse rt and
tighten the rema ining wheel bolt slightly
like the rest.
" Turn the jack hand le counter-clockwise to
lower the vehicle until the jack is fully re
leased.
T he wheel bo lts must be clean and turn easily.
Check the contact s urfaces of whee l and hub .
Remove contaminants on these surfaces be
fore insta lling the wheel.
T he hexagonal socket in the screwdriver han
dle makes it easier to handle the w heel bo lts.
The reversible blade shou ld be removed .
When mounting
u nidire ctional ti res, observe
the d irection o f rotation
c::> page 216.
CD Note
When remov ing or inst alling the whee l,
t he r im cou ld hi t the b ra ke ro tor and dam
age the rotor . Work caref ully an have a
second person help you.
(D Tips
Never use the he xagonal socket in the han
dle of t he screwdriver to loosen or tighten
the wheel bo lts .
Tightening wheel bolts
.,. Fit the wh eel b olt wrench ove r the wheel
bolt and push it down as far as it will go
1l.
.,. Close your grip around the
end of the
wrenc h handle fo r maximum torque and
turn each wheel bolt
clockwi se u nti l it sits
t ight.
H ave the
tightening torque of the whee l bolts
checked as soon as possible with a torque
wrench . It shou ld be 120 Nm.
Chec k the
tire pre ssure as soon as possible.
Return the vehicle tool kit to its proper place.
A WARNING
Loose ning t he wheel bo lts is prohib ited;
da nger of an accident!
@ Tips
- Never try and use the hexagona l socke t
i n the handle of the screwdr iver to loos
en or tighten the w heel bolts.
- If yo u have dete rm ined t hat wheel bolts
a re cor roded and difficult to t urn, the
bo lts must be rep laced befo re checking
the to rque.
- Unti l the tig hte ning torque is checked,
d rive at redu ced speeds as a pre caution.
Notes on wheel change
Pl ease read the information¢ page 199, New
tires and replacing tires and wheels,
if you are
going to use a spare tire which is different
from the tires on your veh icle.
Afte r you change a tire:
- Check the tire pressure on the spare imme
dia tely after mounting.
- Have the whee l bolt t ightening torque
chec ked w ith a torq ue wrench as soon as
poss ible by your author ized A udi dealer or a
qu alified service sta tion.
1 ) You need th e appropr iate adapter to tighte n the a nti
t h eft wheel bolts
c:, page 216.
What do I do now? 219
- With stee l and alloy whee l rims, the whee l
bolts are correctly tightened at a torque of
90 ft lb (120 Nm) .
- If you notice while changing a tire that the
wheel bo lts are corroded and difficu lt to
turn, then they should be rep laced before
you check the tightening torque.
- Replace the flat tire with a new one and
have it installed on your vehicle as soon as
possible. Remount the wheel cover.
Until then , d riv e with e xtra care and at re
duced speeds.
A WARNING
- If you are going to equ ip your vehicle
with tires or rims which differ from those
which were facto ry installed, then be
sure to read the information ¢
page 199,
New tires and replacing tir es and
wheels.
- Always sto re the tools secu rely in lug
gage compartment. Othe rwise, in a n ac
cident o r su dden maneuver they cou ld fly
forwdrd, CciU5ing injury to pd55enger5 in
the vehicle.
(D Note
Do not use comme rcially avai lab le tire
sea lants. Otherwise, the e le ctr ic al com po
nen ts of t he tire p ressu re monitoring sys
tem * wi ll no longe r work proper ly an d the
sensor fo r the tire pressure mon itor ing
system will have to be rep laced by a quali
fied wor kshop.
Jump-starting
General
If necessary, the engine can be started by
connecting it ta the battery of another vehi
cle.
If the engi ne should fail to start because of a
discharged or weak battery, the battery ca n be.,.. •
•