wheel alignment AUDI A8 2011 Owners Manual

248 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 86 Tire tread: tread wea r ind icators (TWI)
( r------ ,1
\ ...__ _____ ____,.
F ig. 1 87 Rotat ing t ires for more ev en wea r
Tread Wear Indicator (TWI)
The origi na l t ires on your veh icle have
1/16 inch (1.6 mm) high "wear indicators"
c::> fig . 186 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 th is
reason, tire pressure must be checked at least
once a month
c::> page 244 .
Driving style
Driving fast aro und curves, heavy acce leration
and hard braking increase tire wear.
Rotating tires for more even wear
F o r all four tires on your ve hicl e to h ave the
same service life, we recommen d that the
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
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 y ou
follow the tire manufacturer's suggested
tire rotation intervals .
- Veh icles w ith front-wheel dr ive experience
more tread wear on the fro nt w heels com·
pa red to all-wheel drive (quattro ®).
- Please rotate tires as shown
c::> fig. 187.
-Extra care must be taken when rotating di·
rection-specific tires
c::> page 267 .
Wheel balancing
The wheels on new ve hicles are balanced .
However, various situations during eve ryday
driving can cause them to become unba l·
anced, resulting in vibrat ions you can usually
feel t hrough the steer ing wheel.
Un balanced whee ls must be rebalanced to
avoid 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 wheel alig nment can cause exces­
sive tire wear, impai ring the safety of the veh i·
de . If tires show excessive wear, have the
whee l alignment checked by an authorized
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 194 . ..,.

260 What do I do now ?
Vehicle tool kit
Vehicle tool kit and jack
The vehicle tool kit is located in the luggage
compartment under the cargo floor cover .
Fig. 193 Luggage compartmen t: ca rgo floo r cover
folded upwar d
Fig. 194 Trunk lid: Vehicle tool k it
• Lift the cargo floor by the plastic handle.
• Hook the handle into the luggage compart­
men t weather strip
c> fig . 193.
• Remove the spare wheel to reach the vehicle
tool kit .
• Remove the foam p iece .
The onboard tool kit includes:
- Hooks to remove the wheel covers* or whee l
hub covers
- Plastic hook to remove whee l bolt covers*
- Wheel bolt wrench
- Alignment p in for changing wheels
- Screwdriver with reversible blade
- Towing loop
- Jack
Before storing the jack, make sure it is wound
back down as fa r as it will go.
A WARNING
-Improper use of the vehicle jack can cause
serious personal injuries .
- Never use the screw driver hex head to
tighten wheel bolts, since the bolts can­
not attain the necessary tighten ing tor­
que if you use the hex head, potentially
causing an acc ident .
- The factory-supplied jack is intended on­
ly for your vehicle model. Under no c ir­
cumstances should it be used to lift
heavy veh icles or othe r loads; you risk in­
ju ring yo urself.
- Never start the engine when the vehicle
is raised, wh ich could cause an ac ciden t.
- Support the vehicle securely with appro ­
priate stands if work is to be performed
underneath the vehicle; otherwise, there
is a potentia l risk for injury.
- Never use the ja ck supplied with your Au­
di on another vehicle, particularly on a
heavier one. The jack is only suitable for
use on the vehicle it came with.
(D Tips
- Some of the onboard items listed above
are provided on certain models only or
are optional ext ras .
- Before yo u can raise your vehicle using
the jack, you must activate the jacking mode
c::> page 265 .

266 What do I do now ?
-Make sure that passengers wait in a
safe p lace away from the vehicle and
well away from the road and traffic.
- Make sure jack position is correct, ad­
just as necessary and then continue to ra ise the jack.
- Changes in temperature or load can af­
fect the height of the vehicle.
@ Tips
The vehicle jack mode switches off auto­
matica lly at speeds above 10 km/h.
Taking the wheel off/installing the spare
Follo w thes e instruct ions st ep-by -step for
changing th e wh eel .
Fig. 2 02 Chan gin g a w hee l: u sing t he sc rewdr ive r ha n­
dl e (w it h th e bla de r emoved ) to tu rn th e bolts
Fi g. 20 3 Changin g a w heel : a lignm en t pin inside th e
t o p hole
After you have loosened a ll wheel bolts and
ra ised the vehicle off the ground, remove and
replace the wheel as follows:
R emoving the wheel
• Use the hexagonal socket in the screwd riv­
e r handle
to comp lete ly remove the top ­
most wheel bolt and set it aside on a
clean
surface ¢fig. 202.
• Sc rew the th readed end of the alignment
pin
from t he tool k it hand-tight into t he
empty bolt hole
r::;, fig . 203 .
• Then remove the other whee l bolts as de­
scribed above.
• Takeoff the whee l leaving the a lignment pin
in the bo lt hole
r::;, (D .
Putting on the spare wheel
• Lift the spare whee l and carefu lly s lide it
over the alignment p in to g uide it in place
¢ (D .
.,. Use the hexagonal socket in the screwdriver
ha ndle to screw in and tighten a ll whee l
bolts
slightly .
.,. Remove the alignment pin and inse rt and
tighten the rem aining wheel bol t slightly
like the res t.
• Turn the jack hand le co unter-clockwise to
lower the veh icle until the jack is fully re­
leased .
.,. Use the wheel bo lt wrench to tighten all
wheel bolt s firm ly
r::;, page 264 . Tigh ten
them
crosswise, from one bolt to the (ap ­
proximately) opposite one, to keep the
wheel cente red .
(D Note
When remov ing or installing the whe el,
the rim cou ld hit the b rake roto r and dam­
age t he ro to r. Wor k caref ully and have a
s eco nd pers on h elp you.
{i) Tips
Neve r use the hexagonal socket in the han­
dle of t he s crewdr iver to lo ose n or t igh ten
t he wheel bo lts .
- P ull the revers ible blade from the screw­
dr iver be fore y ou use the hexagon al
so cket in the han dle to tur n the w heel
bolts.
- W he n m oun tin g ti res w ith
unidirectional
tread design
make sure t he trea d pat ­
t ern is poin ted t he righ t way
r::;, page267.
- T he wheel bolts shou ld be clean and easy
to t urn. Check for dirt an d corrosion on
the mating surfaces of both the w heel .,,.