[BiturboS4] Couple of Questions

[John M. Harrison]

Ti and Brent,
I've been rotating the stock Pirelli's using the standard radial method
outlined by Tirerack for non-directional radials (fronts to back and
backs to front changing sides, if I remember correctly).  My Dunlop
Wintersports are directional so just swap them front to back on the same
side of the car.  So far both sets of tires are wearing uniformly and
performing well using this method.  Neither set has all that many miles
yet.  The Wintersports probably have more miles than the stock Pirellis.

My understanding is that many higher performance tires are directional
and need to stay on the same side of the car.  I'm under the impression
that the stock Pirelli P6000 tires are NOT directional and can be
rotated in the traditional radial pattern.  Ti, would you recommend
strictly front to rear for tires not designated with a rotation
direction as well?

I've only got 20,000 miles on the car between BOTH sets of tires.  This
may not be enough miles to see a problem with the rotation I've been
using.  With previous vehicles the tires die of old age long before I
can come close to wearing them out.  I expect this will be the case with
my S4 as well, especially with 2 complete sets.  I may even get a third
set of 18x8.5 S03s at some point.

Mar 2001 S4 Avant 6 speed loaded.  No major issues.  One annoyance
recently - the driver's side seat heater stayed on and drained the
battery.  The rolling dash switch is stuck, so a new one and perhaps
other parts of the circuit need to be checked.  I have the fuse pulled
for the moment until I can schedule an appointment to have this looked
at.  I was surprised that the seat heaters can apparently be on with the
car off and key removed.  Some of you who have had battery drain
problems may want to look into this.

John M. Harrison
University of Wyoming
Space Management Office
Facilities Planning
johnmh at uwyo.edu
307-766-2408


-----Original Message-----
From: Ti Kan [mailto:ti at amb.org]
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 12:17 PM
To: Brent Putzel
Cc: biturbos4 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [BiturboS4] Couple of Questions

Brent Putzel writes:
> ...
> unusually high wear on that portion of the tire.  So I mount the new
S03's
> and then ask the dealer to take a look at the alignment to ensure that
there
> isn't a problem that will cause this kind of wear on the new tires.
They
> claim that the alignment is perfect and that the wear I saw is to be
> expected.  Then they further claimed that Audi recommends against any
form
> of rotating of tires.  I coulda sworn that they rotated my Michelins
at one
> of my scheduled maintenance periods.  Can someone confirm that I
should see
> this type of wear on a "perfect" alignment and that rotating the tires
is
> taboo?

You should rotate the tire between the front and rear, but the
tire should stay on the same side of the car (so that the direction
of tire motion is not reversed).  This will maximize tire life.

> 2) I recently returned from a one week vacation and started my car and
the
> Check Engine light came on and stayed on.  I consulted the owners
manual and
> it said to drive the car as little as possible and get the car checked
ASAP.
> I called Audi this morning for an appointment and the guy says as long
as
> the light isn't blinking I am okay to drive the car and they scheduled
me
> for an appointment for tomorrow.  Can this be correct?  The manual was
> fairly specific and it doesn't say anything anywhere about blinking.

Argh.  I would get a different dealer.

I assume that this is on your S4.  If you have a friend who has VAG-COM
you can hook it up and see what the fault is.  Based on that fault you
can then determine whether it is serious enough to drive the car or not.
Or if this is a possibly a transient or owner-correctable condition.

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
2001 S4 biturbo 6-sp
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0 5-sp
--
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
   ///   AMB Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
  ///    ti at amb.org
 //////  http://www.amb.org/ti/
///

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