2012 AUDI A8 wheel bolt torque

252 Tire s and wheel s
chains because the vehicle will be ex­
tremely low. If you do drive with snow
chains on while the vehicle is at this lev­
el, the snow chains might severe ly dam­
age the wheelhouse and other parts of
the veh icle.
(D} Tips
Where snow chains are mandatory oncer­
tain roads, this normally also applies to ve­hicles with All Wheel Drive.
Wheel bolts
Wheel bolts must always be tightened to the
correct torque .
The design of whee l bolts is matched to the
factory installed r ims. If different rims
are fit­
ted, the correct wheel bolts with the right length and correctly shaped bolt heads must
be used. This ensures that wheels are fitted
secure ly and that the brake system functions
correctly .
In certain circumstances, you may not use
wheel bolts from a different vehicle -even if it
is the same mode l
¢page 282.
_& WARNING
Imprope rly tig htened o r maintained whee l
bolts can be come loose ca using loss of
contro l, a co llision and serious persona l in­
jury.
- Always keep the wheel bol ts an d the
threads in the wheel hubs clea n so the
wheel bolts can tu rn easily and be prop­
er ly tightened .
- Never grease or oil the wheel bo lts and
the threads in the wheel h ubs. They can
become loose w hile driving if greased or
oiled, even if tightened to the specif ied
torque.
- Only use wheel bolts that belong to the rim being installed.
- Never use different whee ls bolts on your
vehicle.
- Always maintain the correct tighten ing
torq ue for the wheel bo lts to reduce the risk of a whee
l loss. If the tightening tor­
que of the wheel bolts is too low, they
can loosen and come out when the vehi­
cle is mov ing. If the tighte ning torque is
too high, the wheel bolts a nd threads
can be damaged and the whee l can be­
come loose.
([) Note
The specified torque for the whee l bolts is
90 ft lb (120 Nm) with a tolerance of± 7,4
ft lb(± 10 Nm). Torque whee l bolts diago­
nally. Afte r changing a whee l, the torque
must be checked as soon as possible wi th a
torque wrench -pre ferably by an au thor­
ized Audi dealer or qualified workshop .
Low aspect ratio tires
Your Audi is factory-equipped with low aspect
ratio tires. These tires have been thoro ughly
tested and been se lected specifically for your
model for their superb performance, road fee l
and hand ling u nder a var iety of d riv ing condi ­
t ions . As k your author ized Audi dealer for
more details.
The low aspect ratio of these tires is ind icated
by a numeral of
55 or less in the tire's s ize
designation . The numeral rep resents the ratio
of the t ire's s idewa ll height in relation to its
t read width ex pressed in percentage. Conven­
tiona l tires have a he igh t/w idth rat io of 60 or
more.
The performanc e of low -a sp ec t-ratio tires i s
pa rticularly sensitive to improper inflation
pre ssure . It is therefore important that low
a spect ratio tires are inflated to the specified
pre ssure and that the inflation pressure i s
regularly checked and maintained. Tire pre s­
sures should be checked at least once a month and always befo re a long trip
¢ page 241, Checking tire pressure .
What you can do to avoid tire and rim
damage
Low aspect ratio tires can be damaged more
easily by impact w ith potholes, curbs, gull ies .,..

260 What do I do now ?
in its storage area properly and tighten
the knurled retaining screw securely.
@ Tips
Before changing the wheel, you m ust acti ­
vate t he jacking mode , so that the auto­
matic controls for the Adaptive Air Sus­
pension do not make it more diff icu lt to
lift the vehicle with the jack
q page 262.
Changing a wheel
When you change a wheel, follow these­
quence de scribed below s tep-by-s tep and in
exac tly tha t order.
1. Act ivat e the vehicle jack mod e
¢page 262.
2. Remove the de corat ive wh eel co ver* . For
more details see also¢
page 260, Deco­
rative wheel covers
or ¢ page 261 ,
Wheels with wheel bolt cops.
3 . Loosen the wheel bolts¢ page 261 .
4. Locate the proper mo unt ing po int for the
jack and align the jac k below that point
¢ pag e 262.
5. R ais e the car with the jack¢ page 262.
6. Remove the wheel with the fl at tire and
then in stall
the spare ¢ page 263 .
7. Tigh ten all wheel bol ts ligh tly.
8 .
Lo wer the veh icle with the jack .
9 . Use the whee l bolt wrench and
firml y
tighte n all whee l bolts ¢ page 261.
10. Replace the decorative wheel c over*.
11. De activate the veh icle jack mode in the
MMI:
! CARI function button> Ca r syst em s
control button > Se rv icing & chec ks > Air
sus p.: jack mode > Off.
The vehicle jac k mode sw itches off automati­
cally at speeds above 10 km/h.
A WARNING
Always read and follow all WARNINGS and
information
¢ &. in Raising the vehicle on
page 262
and ¢ page 264.
After changing a wheel
A wheel change is not complete without the
doing the following .
.,. Alw ays store the vehicle tool kit, the jack*
and the repl aced tire in the luggage com­
pa rtment
¢ page 130.
... Check the tir e pres su re on the spare wheel
immed iate ly afte r mounting it.
.,. As soon as possib le, have the
tight ening
torque s
on all whee l bolts checked with a
torque wrench . The correc t tightening tor ­
que is 90 ft lb (120 Nm).
... Hav e the flat tire
repl aced as soon as possi­
ble .
@ Tips
-If you notice that the wheel bo lts are
corroded and difficult to turn while
changing a tire, they should be rep laced
before you check the tightening torque.
- Dr ive at reduced speed until you have the
tightening torques checked.
- After changing a whee l, the t ire press ure
in all four tires must be checked/correct­
ed and the tire pressure monitoring ind i­
cator must be stored in the MMI
¢ page 255.
' Decorative wheel covers
Applies to vehicles: w ith decorative whee l covers
The decora tive wheel covers mus t be removed
first to access the wheel bolts.
Fi g. 1 96 Chang ing a whee l: Re mov ing th e w hee l cov er
Removing
.,. Insert the hook (prov ided with the vehicle
too l kit) in the ho le in the whee l hub cover . .,..

264 What do I do now?
and the hub. Remove all dirt from these
surfaces before remo unting the wheel.
Tires with unidirectional tread design
Tires with unidirectional tread design must be
mounted with their tread pattern pointed in
the right direction.
Using a spare tire with a tread pattern
intende d fo r use in a specific direction
When using a spare tire with a tread pattern
intended for use in a specific direction, p lease
note the fo llowing:
- T he direction o f rotation is marked by an a r­
row on the side of the tire.
- If the spare t ire has to be installed in the in ­
correct di rection, use the spare tire only
temporarily since the tire will not be able to achieve its optimum performance character­
ist ics with regard to aquaplaning, noise and
wear.
- We recommend that you pay particular at­
tent ion to this fact during wet weather and
that you adjust your speed to matc h road
condit ions .
- Replace the flat tire w ith a new one and
have it installed o n your ve hicle as soon as
poss ible to restore the handling advantages
of a un id irect iona l tire .
Notes on wheel changing
Please read the information i:> page 246, New
t ires and repla cing tires and wheels
if you are
going to use a spare tire which is differen t
from the tires on your ve hicle.
Afte r you cha nge a tire :
-Check the t ire pressure on the spare imme ­
diately after installation .
- Have the wheel bolt tightening torque
checked with a torqu e wrench as soon as
possib le by your authorized Audi dealer or
a qualified servi ce station .
- With st eel and alloy wheel rims , the wheel
bolts are correctly tightened at a torque of
90 ft lb (120 Nm) . -
If you notice that the wheel bolts are cor­
roded and difficult to turn while chang ing
a tire , they should be repl aced before you
check the t ightening torque.
- Repl ace the flat ti re w ith a new one and
have it installed on your vehicle as soon a s
possible. Remount the wheel cover .
Until then , dri ve with extra care and at re­
duced speeds.
A WARNING
- I f you are going to equip your vehicle
with tires or rims which differ from those
which were factory installed, then be
sure to read the information
i:> page 246,
New tires and replacing tires and
wheels.
- Always make sure the damaged wheel o r
even a flat tire and the jack and tool ki t
are properly secu red in the luggage co m­
p ar tment and are no t loo se in the pas­
senger compartment .
- I n an accident or sudde n maneuver they
could fly forward, injuring anyone in the
veh icle.
- Always s to re dam aged wheel, j ack a nd
t oo ls sec urely in the l uggage compa rt­
men t. Othe rwise, in an accident or s ud ­
den maneuver they could fly forwa rd,
causing injury to passengers in the vehi­
cle.