wheel alignment AUDI A8 2012 Owners Manual

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. 185 Tire tread: tread wea r ind ica tors (TWI)
f r-------~
{ \ .___ _____ ___,,
Fi g. 186 Rotat ing t ires fo r m ore even wea r
Tread Wear Indicator (TWI)
The origina l tires on your veh icle have
1/16 in ch (1.6 mm) high "wear ind icators"
c::> fig . 185 run ning across the tread. Depend ­
ing on the make, there will be six to eight of
them evenly p laced around the t ire . Marks on
the t ire s idewall (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 other countries
c::> & .
Tir e pressure
Incorrect tire pressure causes premat ure wear
and can cause sudden tire blow-out . For th is
reason, tire pressure must be checked at least
once a month
c::> page 241.
Dri ving sty le
Driving fast around curves , heavy acceleration
and hard braking increase tire wear. Tires and wheels 245
Rotating tires for more even wear
For all four tires on your ve
hicl e 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 inte rvals. Please remember the follow ­
ing :
- Tire rotation intervals may differ from the
veh icle 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 you
follow the tire manufactu rer 's suggested
tire rotation intervals .
- Vehicles w ith front-wheel dr ive exper ience
more tread wear on the front wheels com­
pared to all -wheel d rive (quattro ®).
- Please rotate tires as shown
c::> fig. 186.
-Extra care must be taken when rotat ing di-
rection-specific tires
c::> page 264 .
Wheel balancing
The wheels on new veh icles are balanced .
However, various situations during everyday
driving can cause them to become unba l­
anced, resulting in vibrat ions you can usually
feel through the steer ing wheel.
Unbalanced wheels must be rebalanced to
avoid excessive wear on steering, s uspension
and t ires. A whee l must also be reba lanced
when a new tire is insta lled.
Inco rrect wheel alignment
Incorrect wheel alignment can cause exces­
sive tire wear, impair ing the safety of the vehi­
cle . If tires show excessive wear, have the
whee l alignment checked by an authori zed
Audi dealer or qualified workshop.
All Wh eel Driv e
Vehicles wi th quattro ® mus t always have tires
of the same size, construction and tread type. For details see
c::> page 191.

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.
(D Tips
The vehicle jack mode switches off auto ­
matically at speeds above 10 km/h.
Taking the wheel off/installing the spare
Follow these instructions step-by-step for
changing the wheel.
Fig . 201 Chang ing a whee l: using the screwdrive r han ­
dle (with the blade removed) to turn the bolts
Fi g. 202 Ch anging a wheel: alignment pin inside the
top hole
After you have loosened all wheel bolts and
raised the veh icle off the ground, remove and
replace the wheel as follows:
Re moving th e wh eel
.. Use the hex agon al so cket i n the s cre wdr iv ­
e r handle
to completely remove the top­
most wheel bolt and set it aside on a
clean
surface ¢fig. 201.
What do I d o now ? 263
.. Sc rew the threaded end o f the alignment
pin
from the tool kit hand-tight into the
empty bolt hole¢
fig. 202 .
.. Then remove the other wheel bolts as de­
scribed above.
.. Take off the wheel leaving the alignment
pin in the bolt hole
¢ (D .
Putting o n the spare w heel
.. Lift the spare wheel and carefully slide it
over the alignment p in to guide it in place
¢(]) .
.. Use the hexagonal socket in the screwdriver
handle to screw in and tighten all wheel
bolts
slightly.
.,. Remove the a lignment pin and insert and
tighten the rema ining wheel bolt slightly
like the rest .
.. Turn the jack hand le counter-clockwise to
lower the vehicle until the jack is fully re ­
leased .
.. Use the wheel bolt wrench to tighten all
wheel bolts firmly¢
page 261. Tighten
them
crosswise, from one bolt to the (ap­
proximately) opposite one, to keep the
wheel cente red.
CD Note
When removing or installing the wheel,
the r im cou ld hit the b rake rotor and dam­
age the rotor. Wor k carefully and have a
second pe rson help you.
@ Tips
Neve r use the hexagonal socket in the han­
dle of the screwdr iver to loosen or tighten
the wheel bo lts.
- Pull the reversible blade from the screw­
dr iver before you use the hexagonal
socke t in the hand le to turn the wheel
bolts.
- Whe n mount ing tires w ith
unidire ctional
t read de sign
make sure the tread pat ­
tern is pointed the right way
¢page 264.
- The wheel bo lts s hou ld be clean and ea sy
to turn . Check for dirt and corrosion on
the mating surfaces of both the wheel