Table of Contents
Advertisement
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 driving style .
Tread
Wear
Ind ica tor (TWI)
Fig. 274 Tire tread:
tread wear indic ators
(TWII
Fig. 275 Rotating tires
for more even wear
The origina l tires on your vehic le have 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) high "wear
indicators"::::, fig. 274 run ning across the tread. Depending on the
make, there will be six to eight of them evenly placed around the
tire. Marks on the tire sidewall (for example "TWI" or other symbols)
indicate the positions of the tread wear indicators. Worn tires must
be rep laced. Different figures may apply in other countries::::,
&-
Tire pressure
Incorrect tire 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 331.
Dri vi ng style
Driving fast around curves, heavy accele ration 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 rotation intervals. Please
remember the following:
•
Tire rotation intervals may differ from the vehicle service inter-
vals outlined in your Warranty & Maintenance booklet.
•
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 manufacturer 's suggested tire rotation intervals .
•
Vehicles with front -wheel drive experience more tread wear on
the front wheels compared to all -wheel drive (quattro®l .
•
Please rotate tires as shown
~
fig. 275.
•
Extra care must be taken when rotating direction -specific tires
::::, page 357.
Wheel
balancing
The wheels on new vehicles are balanced. However , various situa -
tions during everyday driving can cause them to become unbal -
anced, resu ltin g in vibrations you can usually fee l through the
steering wheel.
Unbalanced wheels must be rebalanced to avoid excessive wear on
steering, suspension and tires. A whee l must also be rebalanced
when a new tire is insta lled.
...
Vehic le care
I
I
Technical data
Advertisement
Table of Contents
