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6. If your vehicle will be towing
a trailer, load from your trail-
er will be transfe rred to your
vehicle. Consult this manual
to determine how this re-
duces the available cargo
and luggage load capacity of
your vehicle.
... check the tire sidewall
(q
page
254,
fig.
204)
to de-
termine the de signated load
rating for a specific tire .
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.
Fig. 202 Tire tread: tread wear indi cators (TWI)
Fig. 203 Rotat ing t ires for more even wear
Tread Wear Indicator (TWI)
The original tires on your vehicle have
1/16 inch (1.6 mm) high "wear indicators"
Tires and wheels
253
¢
fig. 202
running across the tread. Depend-
ing on the make, t here will be six to eight of
them evenly placed around the tire. Marks on
the tire sidewall (for examp le "TWI" or other
symbols) indicate the positions of the tread
wear indicato rs. Worn tires must be replaced.
Differe nt figures may apply in othe r countr ies
~ A .
Tire pressure
Incorrect t ire pressure causes premature wear
and can cause sudden tire blow-out. For this
reason, tire pressure must be checked at least
once a month ¢
page 249 .
Driving style
Driving fast around curves, heavy accelerat ion
and hard braking increase tire wear.
Rotating tires for more even wear
For all four tires on your vehicle to have the
same service life, we recommend that the
front and rear tires are rotated according to
the tire manufacturer's suggested tire rota-
tion intervals. Please remember the follow-
ing:
- Tire rotation intervals may differ from the
vehicle service interva ls outlined in your
Warra nty
&
Maintenance booklet.
- The longer one tire is used in one location
on the vehicle, the more it wears at certain
points ; therefore, we recommend t hat you
follow t he tire manufacturer's suggested
tire rotation intervals .
- Vehicles w ith front-wheel dr ive experience
more tread wear on the front wheels com-
pared to all-wheel drive (quattro) .
- Please rotate tires as shown ¢
fig . 203.
- Extra care must be taken when rotating di-
rection-specific tires ¢
page 2 71 .
Wheel balancing
The wheels on new vehicles are balanced.
However, various situations during everyday
driv ing can cause them to become unbal-
anced, resulting in vibrations you can usually
feel through the steer ing wheel.
..,.
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