232 Tires and wheels
Tire service life
The service life of tires depends on a lot of
different things including proper installation
and balancing, correct tire pressure and driv
ing style.
F ig. 1 87 Tire tread: tre ad wea r ind icators (TWI)
_____ __,.J)
F ig. 1 88 Rotat ing t ires for more ev en wea r
Tread Wear Indicator (TWI)
The o rigi na l t ires on your veh icle have
1/16 inch (1.6 mm) high "wear indicators"
c::> fig . 187 running across the tread. Depend
i ng on the make, there will be six to eight of
them evenly p laced around the t ire. Marks on
the tire sidewa ll (for example "TWI" or other
symbols) indicate the positions of the tread
wear ind icators . Worn t ires must be replaced .
Different fig ures may apply in o ther countries
c::> & .
Tire p ressure
Incorrect tire pressure causes premature wear
a nd can cause sudden t ire blow-out. For t his
reason, tire pressure must be checked at least
once a month
c::> page 228 .
Driving style
Driving fast aro und curves, heavy acce leration
and hard braking increase tire wear.
Rotating tires for more even wear
F or all four tires on your ve hicl e to h ave the
same service life, we recommen d that t he
front and rear t ires are rotated according to
the tire manufact urer's suggested tire rota
tion intervals. Please remember the follow ing :
- Tire rotation intervals may differ from the
vehicle service inte rva ls o utlined in your
Ma intenance and Warranty Book let .
- The longer one tire is used in one location
on the vehicle, the more it wears at certain
points; therefore, we recommend that you
follow the tire manufact urer's suggested
tire rotation intervals .
- Vehi cles w ith front-wheel dr ive experience
more tread wear on the fro nt w heels com
pa red to all wheel d rive (quattro ®).
- Please rotate tires as shown
c::> fig. 188.
-Extra care must be taken when rotating di-
rection-specific tires
c::> page 250 .
Wheel balancing
The wheels on new ve hicles are balanced .
However, various situations during everyday
driving can cause them to become unba l
anced, re sulting in vibrat ions you can usually
feel through the steer ing wheel.
Un balanced whee ls must be rebalanced to
avo id excessive wear on steering, suspension
and t ires. A whee l m ust also be reba lanced
when a new tire is insta lled.
Incorrect wheel alignment
Incor rect w heel alig nment can cause exces
sive tire wear, impairing the safety of the veh i
cle . If tires show excessive wear, have the
whee l alignment checked by an aut hori zed
Audi dealer or qualif ied workshop .
All wheel drive
Vehicles with q uattro ® mus t always have tires
of the same size, construction and tread type .
For details see
c::> page 181. ..,.
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.
Taking the wheel off/installing a wheel
Follow these instructions step-by-step for
changing the wheel.
Fig. 198 Changing a wheel: using the screwdrive r han ·
die (with the blade removed) to turn the bolts
Fig . 199 Ch anging a wheel: alignment pin inside the
top hole
After you have loosened all wheel bolts and
ra ised the vehicle off the ground, remove and
replace the wheel as follows :
Removing the wheel
.. Remove the topmost wheel bolt completely
with the
he xa gona l socket in the screwdriv
er handle (vehicle tool kit) <=>
fig. 198 and
set it as ide on a
clean surface.
.. Screw the threaded end of the
alignm ent
pin
from the tool k it hand-tight into the
empty bolt hole
r=>fig. 199.
.. Then remove the other wheel bo lts as de
scribed above.
What do I d o now ? 249
.. Take off the whee l leaving the a lignment pin
in the bo lt ho le
r=> (D.
Putting on th e other wh eel
.. Push the whee l over the alignment pin.
.. Screw on the wheel bo lts and tighten them
slightly us ing the hexagonal socket .
.. Remove the alignment pin and insert and
tighten the rema ining wheel bolt slightly
like the rest.
.. Turn the jack handle counter-clockwise to
lower the veh icle until the jack is fully re
leased .
.. Use the wheel bolt wrench to tighten all
wheel bo lts firm ly
r=> page 247. Tighten
them
in a crisscross pattern, from one bolt
to the (approximately) opposite one, to keep
the wheel centered .
.. Perform the steps required after changing
the whee l
r=> page 246, After changing a
wheel.
T he hexagonal socket makes it easier to re
move t he wheel bolts from the rim . Care
shou ld be taken when removing the reversib le
blade .
CD Note
When removing or i nstalling the whee l,
the r im could hit the brake rotor/ceramic
brake rotor* and damage the rotor. Work
carefully and have a second person to help
you.
(D Tips
- When mount ing tires w ith unidi rectional
tread design
make sure the tread pat
tern is po inted the right way
~page 250.
-The wheel bo lts should be clean and easy
to turn. Check for dirt and corrosion on
the mating surfaces of both the wheel
and the hub. Remove all d irt from these
surfa ces before remounting the whee l.
- Do not use the hexagonal socket in the
s cr ewd river handle to loosen or t igh ten
t he whee l bolts.
