Steve Thompson

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004, JPB357 wrote:

> Do you have any need for snow traction?

Oh yes; I live in upstate New York. I have Dunlop Winter Sport M2's
mounted at the moment (205/55-16 on steel wheels), with which I am quite
pleased. The combination of quattro and winter tires leads to the worst
aspect of Audi ownership: no matter how bad the weather is, you can still
get to work

-steve

Ian S.

"Mike" <ihate@spam.com> wrote in message news:c00qtr015rk@drn.newsguy.com...
> Hi,
>
> I have a 2002 A4 3.0 Quattro, and before that had a 2000 A4 2.8 Quattro. I
just
> took in for my second round of service with 18,500 miles.
>
> While the sticker recommends lower, I keep the tire pressure at 38 psi and
check
> every couple weeks. Alignment on the car has seemed fine with no drift or
> anything, and no abnormal driving conditions.
>
> An issue that recently developed is abnormal wear on the front passenger
side
> tire, and is at the point where Audi service now tells me I need four new
tires.
> They also indicated the tires should be rotated every 5,000 miles,
something
> which had never recommended to me before. At the same time, they don't do
tire
> rotation when bringing the car in for routine service at 10K, 20K, etc.

What is the nature of the "abnormal wear"? Is it even or uneven across the
tread? The fact that it's only one tire suggests an alignment problem. I got
50,000 miles out of the original Dunlops on my 98 A4 2.8q. Only a couple of
rotations and a couple of balancings plus one alignment in all that mileage.
I watch my tires carefully and keep them inflated to 40 psi. I did not see
excessive center tread wear and the wear bars were not quite showing when I
replaced them with Kumhos. Rotation is no cure for a fundamental alignment
problem which is what you may have had. Usually, you can feel an alignment
problem but I understand that is not a hard and fast rule. Get the proper 4
wheel alignment from your Audi dealer and a set of Kumho Ecsta Supras -
great tire for a great price.