Volkswagen Golf 2021 Owner's Manual page 274

— Never exceed the load and permis-
sible maximum speed rating of the
tires → page 284, Tire labeling.
Always keep aggressive chemicals
—
including grease, oil, gasoline and
brake fluid off the tires, including
the compact spare wheel →
Replace missing valve caps imme-
—
diately.
Unidirectional tires
Unidirectional tires are designed to
rotate only in one direction. Unidir-
ectional tires have arrows on the
sidewalls that show the direction of
rotation → page 284, Tire labeling.
Unidirectional tires must always be
mounted according to the specified
direction of rotation in order to de-
liver their best grip, braking per-
formance, low road noise, and good
wear as well as good hydroplaning
resistance.
If you have to mount a tire opposite
to its proper direction of rotation,
you must drive more carefully, since
the tire is no longer being used as
designed. This is particularly impor-
tant on wet roads. You must replace
or remount the tire as soon as possi-
ble in order to restore the correct di-
rection of rotation.
Rotating tires
To help ensure even wear on all
tires, regular tire rotation according
to the diagram →
mended. In this way all tires can
have about the same service life.
272 Tires and wheels
.
www.carobook.com
fig. 175 is recom-
Volkswagen recommends that you
have your tires rotated by an author-
ized Volkswagen dealer or author-
ized Volkswagen Service Facility.
Tires more than 6 years old
Tires age even if they are not being
used. Physical and chemical process-
es reduce tire strength and perform-
ance and cause them to harden and
become brittle. Old tires can fail
suddenly and without warning.
Volkswagen recommends replacing
tires that are 6 years and older. This
also applies to tires that look new
(including the tire on the compact
spare wheel) or that seem to still be
usable with tread depth that has not
yet reached the legal minimum
depth → .
The age of each tire can be deter-
mined with the manufacturing date
that is part of the U.S. DOT tire iden-
tification number (TIN) → page 284,
Tire labeling.
Tire storage
Mark tires before removing them to
help make sure that the previous lo-
cation (left, right, front, rear) and
rolling direction can be maintained
when remounting them. Store tires
in a cool, dry and preferably dark
place. Do not store tires mounted on
wheels standing up.
Tires not mounted on wheels should
be covered to help protect them
from dirt and stored vertically (sit-
ting on the tread).