wheel alignment AUDI A6 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. 180 Tire tread: tread wea r ind ica tors (TWI)
Fi g. 18 1 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"
M ....
9 <.7
~
c::> fig . 180 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 recomme nd 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. 181.
-Extra care must be taken when rotat ing di-
rection-specific tires
c::> page 263 .
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-whe el drive
Vehicles wi th quattro ® mus t always have tires
of the same size, construction and tread type. For details see
c::> page 193.

Vehicle tool kit
Vehicle tool kit and jack
The vehicle tool kit is located in the luggage
compartment under the cargo floor cover .
Fig. 187 Luggage co mpa rtmen t: ca rgo f loo r cover
fol ded upwar d/spare t ire
Fig . 188 Trunk lid : Vehicle too l ki t
.. Lift the cargo floo r by the plastic handle
c:> fig . 187.
.. Hook the handle in to the luggage compar t­
ment weather strip .
.. Turn the handwheel counter-clockwise
c:> fig . 187 and remove the spare tire to
reach the vehicle too l kit.
.,. Unhook the ca rgo floor before closing the
rear lid.
The onboard tool kit includes:
- Hooks to remove the wheel covers*
- Plastic hook to remove wheel bolt covers*
- Wh eel bolt wrench
- Alignment pin for changing wheels
- Screwdriver w ith reversible blade
- T owing loop
- Jack
Before stor ing the jack, m ake sure it is wound
back down as far as it will go.
What do I d o now ? 257
A WARNING
Im proper use of the vehicle jack can cause
serious personal injur ies.
- 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 accident .
- The factory-supplied jack is intended on­
ly for yo ur vehicle model. Under no c ir­
cumstances should it be used to lift heavy veh icles or other loads; you risk in­
ju ring yo urself.
- Never start the engine when the vehicle
is raised, wh ich could cause an acc ident.
- 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 jack supplied wit h your Au­
di on another vehicle, particularly on a
heavier one. The jack is only s uitable 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 261.
Space-saving spare tire (compact spare
tire )
The spare tire/wheel is located in the luggage
compartmen t under the cargo floor cover . It
is intended for short-term use only.
T a king out th e spare tir e
.. Lift t he cargo floor by the p lastic handle
<=) page 257, fig . 187 .
.. Hook the handle into the luggage compart­
ment weather strip.
.. Turn the large screw ¢
page 257, fig. 187
counter-clockwise .
.,. Take out the spare tire .

262 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.
Taking the wheel off/installing the spare
Follow th es e ins truc tions st ep-by-st ep for
changing the wheel.
F ig . 194 Chan gin g a w hee l: us ing t he sc rew drive r han ·
die (w ith t he bla de re moved) t o tu rn the b olts
Fig. 195 Chang ing a w hee l: alignm en t pin insid e t he
to p hole
Aft er you h ave loosened all wheel bol ts and
ra is ed the veh icle off the ground, remove and
replace the wheel as follows:
Removing the wheel
.. Use the hexagonal socket in the screwd riv ·
er handle to comp lete ly remove the top­
mos t wheel bo lt and set it as ide on a
clean
surface ¢ fig . 194 .
.. Screw the threaded end of the alignment
pin from the too l kit hand-tig ht into the
empty bolt hole
r::;, fig. 195.
.. Then remove the other whee l bolts as de­
scrib ed above.
.. Take off the whee l leaving the a lignment
pin in the bolt hole
¢ 0) .
Putting on th e spar e wheel
.. Lift the spare wheel and carefully s lide it
over the alignment pin to g uide it in place
¢ (D .
.. Use the hexagonal socket in the sc rewd river
handle to screw in and tig hten all whee l
bolts
slightly .
.. Remove the a lignment pi n and insert and
tighten the rema in ing wheel bolt slightly
like the rest .
.. Turn t he jack hand le co unter -cloc kwise to
lowe r the veh icle un til the jack is fully re­
leased .
.. Use the wheel bo lt wrench to tighten all
wheel bo lts firm ly
r::;, page 260 . Tighten
them
crosswise, from one bolt to the (ap­
proximately) opposi te one, to keep the
wheel cen tered.
(D Note
When remov ing or installing the whee l,
the rim cou ld hit the brake rotor and dam·
age the rotor . Work carefu lly and have a
second pe rson help you .
@ Tips
Never use the hexagonal socket in the han­
d le of the screwdriver to loosen or tighten
the wheel bolts.
- Pull the revers ible blade from the screw·
dr iver before you use the hexagonal
sock et in the hand le to turn the w heel
bolts.
- Whe n mount ing tires w ith unidirectional
tread design make sure the tread pat·
t er n is po inted the right way
r::;, page 2 63.
- T he wh eel bolts s hou ld be cl ean and easy
t o tu rn . Chec k for dirt and corrosion on
t he m ating surfaces of bot h the wheel
an d t he hub . Remove all d irt from these
surfaces befo re remounting the whee l.