260 Tires and wheels
-Vehicles with front-wheel drive experience
more tread wear on the front wheels com
pared to all-wheel drive (quattro ®).
- Please rotate tires as shown
¢fig. 207.
- Extra care must be taken when rotating di-
rection-specific tires
¢ page 2 78.
Wheel balancing
The wheels on new vehicles are balanced .
H owever, various situations during everyday
driving can cause them to become unbal
anced , resu lting in vibrations you can usually
feel through the steering wheel.
Unba lanced wheels must be rebalanced to
avoid excessive wea r on steering , suspens ion
and tires . A wheel must also be rebalanced
when a new tire is installed.
Incorrect wheel alignment
Incorrect whee l alignment can cause exces
sive tire wear, impair ing the safety of the vehi
cle .
If tires show excess ive wear, have the
wheel alignment checked by an authorized
Audi dealer or qualified workshop.
All Wheel Drive
Vehicles with quattro® must always have ti res
of the same size, construction and tread type.
F or details see
¢page 203.
A WARNING
Sudden tire failure can lead to loss of con
trol, a crash and serious personal injury!
- Never drive a vehicle when the tread on
any tire is worn down to the wear indica
tors.
- Worn tires are a safety hazard, they do
not grip well on wet roads and increase
your risk of "hydrop laning" and loss of
control.
- Always keep chemicals that can cause
tire damage, such as grease, oil, gasoline
and brake fluid away from tires.
- Tires age even if they are not be ing used
and can fail suddenly, especially at high
speeds. Tires that are more than 6 years old can only be used in an emergency and then with specia
l care and at lower
speeds.
- Never mount used tires on your vehicle if
you are not sure of their "previous histo
ry." Old used tires may have been dam
aged even though the damage cannot be
seen that can lead to sudden tire failure
and loss of vehicle control.
New tires and replacing tires and wheels
New tires and wheels have to be broken in.
Fig. 208 Tir e spec ificatio n codes on the s idewall of a
tire
No.
©
®
®
0
®
®
@
Description
Passenger car tire (where applicable)
Nominal width of tire in mill imeters
Ratio of height to width (aspect ratio)
Rad ial
Rim diameter code
Load index and speed rating
U.S. DOT tire identification number
Aud i Original tire
Sever snow conditions
Tire ply composition and materials
used
Maximum load rating
CD Note
Do not lift the vehicle by the sill. Position
the vehicle jack only at the designated lift
ing points on the sill. Otherwise , your vehi
cle will be damaged.
(D Tips
The vehicle jack mode switches off auto
matically at speeds above 10 km/h .
Taking the wheel off/installing the spare
Follow these instructions step-by-step for
changing the wheel.
Fig. 222 C h ang ing a w hee l: u sing t he sc rew drive r han
d le (w it h th e blade remov ed) to tu rn th e bolt s
Fig. 223 C h ang ing a w hee l: alig nme nt pin inside the
top hole
After you have loosened all wheel bolts and
raised the vehicle off the ground, remove and
replace the wheel as follows:
Removing the wheel
.. Use the hexagonal socket in the screwd riv
er handle
to completely remove the top
most wheel bol t and set it aside on a
clean
surface ¢ fig. 222 .
What do I do now? 27 7
.. Sc rew the threaded end o f the alignment
pin
from the tool kit hand-tight into the
empty bolt hole
¢ fig. 223 .
.. Then remove the other wheel bolts as de
scribed above.
.. Take off the wheel leaving the alignment
pin in the bolt hole
¢(D .
Putting on the spare wheel
.. Lift the spare wheel and carefully slide it
over the alignment p in to guide it in place
¢ (]).
.. Use the hexagonal socket in the screwdriver
handle to screw in and tighten all wheel
bolts
slightly.
.,. Remove the a lignment pin and insert 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 .
.. Use the wheel bolt wrench to tighten all
wheel bolts f irmly
¢ page 2 75. Tighten
them
crosswise, from one bolt to the (ap
proximately) opposite one, to keep the
wheel cente red.
CD Note
When removing or installing the wheel,
the rim could hit the brake rotor and dam
age the rotor. Work carefully and have a
second person help you.
@ Tips
Never use the hexagonal socket in the han
dle of the screwdriver to loosen or tighten
the wheel bolts.
- Pull the reversible blade from the screw
driver before you use the hexagonal
socket in the hand le to turn the wheel
bolts.
- When mount ing tires with
unidirectional
tread design
make sure the tread pat
tern is pointed the right way
¢page 278.
- The wheel bolts shou ld be clean and easy
to turn. Check for dirt and corrosion on
the mating surfaces of both the wheel
