quattro tyre wear
Discussion
Hi guys just curious is to how important it is with Audi 4WD cars to keep the tyres an even tread, I remember from the Impreza forums on here when I was a member that certain 4WD systems have to have an even tread on all 4 tyres or it can bugger up the 4WD but other cars it doesn't matter, any truth in this?? cheers, oh also while I'm here I notice when I do a so tight turn on full lock, it feels like the tyres scuff as I pull away, is this normal on these cars? tracking as far as I know is plumb dead straight so I've eliminated that possibility (2003 S4 Avant by the way)
When I bought my C6 quattro, it needed a new rear diff as the previous owner had fitted different tyres across the axle.
I'm guessing he had a puncture as the one odd tyre had a lot of tread, the other three did not.
He could have got a decent part worn tyre for less than the one budget tyre he had fitted.
This all worked to my favour as I negotiated a huge discount on the cost of the car because of the diff whine and got it rebuilt for a fraction of the cost of a new one. It was still perfect 60k miles later.
I'm guessing he had a puncture as the one odd tyre had a lot of tread, the other three did not.
He could have got a decent part worn tyre for less than the one budget tyre he had fitted.
This all worked to my favour as I negotiated a huge discount on the cost of the car because of the diff whine and got it rebuilt for a fraction of the cost of a new one. It was still perfect 60k miles later.
.lucky you, well I had a puncture in the shoulder of the tyre that couldn't be repaired on the back, the front tyres have done less than a thousand miles and the back were half worn, just to keep me going I put a part worn tyre on the back, I was thinking I'd need to replace all 4 so they are the same, but what i'll do is buy a pair and put them on the front and the front ones on the back as the front should wear quicker so should catch them up in no time :-), any one have any ideas as to what the scuffing is when I'm pulling away slowly on full lock?
The requirement to keep wear levels within reasonably similar levels is to minimise wear in the diffs, particularly across an axle. The need for identical tyre types /tread patterns is to help ensure predictable handling (quattros can handle strangely on mismatched tyres – BTDT). The stuff about always replacing all four at once is b
ks, IMO, the fronts will always be wearing faster than the rears, from the moment they're fitted.
ks, IMO, the fronts will always be wearing faster than the rears, from the moment they're fitted. In my experience with a number of VAG cars, mostly quattro, if you rotate the tyres once in their life then all 4 will wear out at the same time anyway.
Audi recommend keeping to the same brand and model, as tyre construction varies and a different, but nominally 'identical' size tyre, can have a significantly different rolling radius to a new tyre matching the ones already on the car.
The advice in ElsaWin is to take average tread depths from each tyre, average across each axle, the difference between thos averages front to rear should be no more than 2mm. In theory you can replace 1 tyre with new and still be within acceptable limits for the diffs.
The only exception is where the diff has electronic control (ie ADS with quattro sport diff) in which case you should keep the tyres on that axle much more closely matched on tread. I can't recall if there's a figure for acceptable difference, but I know it was pointed out as more important than on a car without.
I needed 1 tyre on our old C5 A6 and got hold of a suitable part worn with similar tread depth to match the rest.
Ref tyre wear/scrubbing - it varies a lot by tyre construction and wheel size. I've scrubbed fronts on 17" wheels with Conti SC5 tyres in no time. The outer edge of the tread is very soft. Run 20s on both quattro Audis and have Michelin Super Sports on both - they don't scrub anything like others I've had. Also worth a proper wheel alignment check using Audi gear (my local indy has the factory stuff) as that can influence how the tyre wears a lot!
Audi recommend keeping to the same brand and model, as tyre construction varies and a different, but nominally 'identical' size tyre, can have a significantly different rolling radius to a new tyre matching the ones already on the car.
The advice in ElsaWin is to take average tread depths from each tyre, average across each axle, the difference between thos averages front to rear should be no more than 2mm. In theory you can replace 1 tyre with new and still be within acceptable limits for the diffs.
The only exception is where the diff has electronic control (ie ADS with quattro sport diff) in which case you should keep the tyres on that axle much more closely matched on tread. I can't recall if there's a figure for acceptable difference, but I know it was pointed out as more important than on a car without.
I needed 1 tyre on our old C5 A6 and got hold of a suitable part worn with similar tread depth to match the rest.
Ref tyre wear/scrubbing - it varies a lot by tyre construction and wheel size. I've scrubbed fronts on 17" wheels with Conti SC5 tyres in no time. The outer edge of the tread is very soft. Run 20s on both quattro Audis and have Michelin Super Sports on both - they don't scrub anything like others I've had. Also worth a proper wheel alignment check using Audi gear (my local indy has the factory stuff) as that can influence how the tyre wears a lot!
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