Pray you don't get a flat!

[2manycars]

Yesterday I got a flat on my RS6. I have about 1500 miles on the car, and was not pleased to find a nail imbedded in the sidewall.

I went to the dealer after putting the temp. spare on and they said no problem. They did not have a spare in stock but would get me one. Five mintes later the parts manager came out and told me "there are no tires that size in the country, and they are on national backorder." He told me it could take 30 days to get me a replacement tire, since the tire could not be repaired. I called Audi, and blew-up. How can they sell an 82,000 car and not have any replacement tires available. They were sympathetic, but said on such a low volume car they don't keep many replacement parts/tires in stock.

The story does have a happy ending. My dealer found a tire for me, and it will be here "soon." I asked them to please try and get an extra tire and I would pay for it just in case it happened again. The tire costs close to $300.00 mounted and balanced.

On a side note I also tried to get some touch up paint in Daytona Grey. It is available by the quart or more only. Oh well, I still love my car.

The price of exclusivity I guess.

[Erik]

Originally posted by 2manycars
The price of exclusivity I guess.

True. Glad to hear the problem seems to be under some form of control. It all comes down to those small details.

[Finnus]

2manycars,

I had a flat on my maiden journey, late July. I bought two tires and had no problem getting them. (Maybe I cornered the market.)

I have the P Zeroes. Do you have the Dunlops?

Finnus

[Erik]

On the positive side...If your tires are worn and you have a Volvo with the previous AWD sytem (not Haldex) you need to change 2 or 4 tires otherwise the clutch will BURN. :flamed:
It happened to me.

[AvusRS6]

Heck, I would have sold you 2 Dunlops for the price of 1 new...I'm looking to get All Season tires in 18s for the winter.

[john hulbrock]

as far as a spare- I'm going to see if my 17" audi rim fits the rear - if it does I can use it as a full size spare and switch front to rear if i get a flat in the front- has anyone tried the 17" in the rear?
jh

[AvusRS6]

Originally posted by john hulbrock
as far as a spare- I'm going to see if my 17" audi rim fits the rear - if it does I can use it as a full size spare and switch front to rear if i get a flat in the front- has anyone tried the 17" in the rear?
jh

I don't believe your 17s will clear the brakes.

[Muju]

Glad you got your tire solved. 30 days without driving your car(= that would be bad..
you'll have to pay 150000euro for an rs6 here in Finland. TAX sucks :vsad2:

[2manycars]

I got the flat on Monday. it is now Thuirsday, and they still hav enot gotten me the tired-I have the Dunlops. Maybe the p=zeros are easier to get, Im not sure. I am gettign really mad about this whole thing. makes me wonder if having "an exclusive car" is worth the aggravation.

[taipan]

For your info, the RS4 doesn't have a temp spare wheel but a pathetic repair kit with some stupid glue -that requires placing the puncture hole at bottom so it "eventually" fills properly (hey Audi dumbnuts, it's the middle of the night, i'm on the emergency lane of an highway and I've no fecking clue where the puncture is...).

Anyway...

A popular mod within RS4 owners has been to get a full size spare rim with standard 255/35/18 tyre and get it into the spare wheel bucket. It does require a bit of handwork and the trunk floor is like 1/2 inch higher but way better than the repair kit.

Another alternative is to get at least an extra full-size tire in there and put the repair kit in a bag in the center of it -or whatever inflatable can to fix the puncture temporarily- so the WORSE part can be avoided : ie. waiting several days in a remote location on the countryside to get a proper tire to be shipped.

Eric

[iconcls]

Originally posted by taipan
Anyway...

A popular mod within RS4 owners has been to get a full size spare rim with standard 255/35/18 tyre and get it into the spare wheel bucket. It does require a bit of handwork and the trunk floor is like 1/2 inch higher but way better than the repair kit.

Another alternative is to get at least an extra full-size tire in there and put the repair kit in a bag in the center of it -or whatever inflatable can to fix the puncture temporarily- so the WORSE part can be avoided : ie. waiting several days in a remote location on the countryside to get a proper tire to be shipped.

Eric

Being the ingenious Yank that I am, I would just stuff the spare wheel bucket with whiskey and porn, then just wait for Roadside Assistance.

[srosie]

Perhaps you should have them put 4 new p-zero's on those rims? You're right, for $82k you might as well ask forcefully.

[JAXRS6]

It's not just unfortunate but also plain unlucky to get a nail in a sidewall. In 40+ years of driving I've never experienced it or heard of it happening to someone else.

I've had two tire problems so far with my RS6's P Zero Pirellis. I picked up a nail in my left rear tread (not sidewall); it was repaired locally.

The second was a slow leak, trickier to diagnose but based on the way my right rear was losing air, then stabilizing, then losing again, I figured maybe the act of checking the valve for air pressure sometimes stopped and sometimes re-started the leak. Which means the problem was at the valve, even though soap bubbles didn't bubble when so tested. Replacing the valve at the dealer stopped the leak.

But the best news of all is, the slow leak was controlled by using the air compressor located in the trunk, passenger side compartment. Because I had the compressor, I didn't need to either a) use the spare, or b) call for road service. See my other post titled "Air compressor useful -- try yours now" (because you do NOT want to try this at night for the first time).