directorguy7

Hi, so the weather is getting colder, and not tire pressure starts to lower due to that. I got a TPMS warning after a 10 min drive to check all 4 tires. PSI is reading exactly 32 PSI accross all tires. The manual says to check the door sticker for the correct PSI, but that is saying 38 front and 41 rear. That seems quite high. The actual tires show 51 as the MAX PSI so the sticker may be correct. Around 32ish has always been what ive been told is the correct PSI for normal car tires, not sure if it needs higher PSI due to a heavier car? Basically, whats the recommended PSI for these tires?

A6 Prestige, 3.0T. 18 inch Continentals, 245/45 R18 100H

Picture of door sticker attached.

uberwgn

The door jamb sticker only shows MAX LOAD for cars sent to the USA. You'll have to open up/read the Owner's Manual ... it will have the correct values for Normal Load/wheel size. You may need to see reset your TPMS in the MMI.

directorguy7

Manual says to check door for proper PSI. If the door has the MAX PSI then it is incorrect as the actual tires say a different number. Anyone else have any suggestions?

last911

You need to look a little further in the owner's manual. It's in there. For my 19 inches it indicates 36F/33R.

tenspeed

Never go by the max pressure on the tire. The tire manufacturer does not know what car the tires are to be installed on.

It's been covered before that the door card is the pressures used when the car is loaded with 1102 pounds. Snagit found the lower pressures for less loads in the manual somewhere.

edit: thanks to Dan I have a manual to look for things. I found the chart on page 240 in the "Tire and Wheels" section.

Normal Load pressures - up to three occupants
V6 17, 18, 19" All Seasons - 35F/32R
19" HP - 36F/33R
20" HP - 39F/36R

last911

When you put max load on the seats and trunk, the center of gravity shifts rearward. I suspect that the engineers at Audi have taken this into account.

tenspeed

I concur. I figured that out when looking for the normal tire pressures. It's sort of strange that only the max pressures are on the door card - at least for U.S. drivers. No wonder some people complain about the ride being rough if their tires are maxed out.

last911

Do you recall the Ford Explorer / Firestone tire debacle of a few years ago? Those tires were failing due to under inflation. That's why TPMS is standard on all cars today, and I suspect why the manufacturer only puts the full load pressure on the placard. This gives a better probability that even drivers too lazy to check their tires might have higher pressures rather than lower.

snagitseven

There are also safety and liability reasons for showing the MAX LOAD tire pressure on the door label. I suspect It may be a certification requirement that this label reflect this info.
Since most of us do not drive around the majority of the time loaded to the max, the manual will indicate the manufacturer's recommended normal load tire pressure (a driver and a passenger with perhaps some groceries in the trunk) for the tire type (summer or all season), wheel and tire size. Therefore, unless you're going to load up the trunk with anvils and carry 4 passengers around full time, the manual will always trump the door label. It has always been this way.

That said, using the manual can be a guide - you can add some pressure to improve handling but at the expense of ride comfort. Each car I've had, I've experimented with the pressures with different tires. I would always try to reach the best settings that gave me the best compromise between the two. Keep in mind though, you should never go below the manufacturer's user manual recommendations or above the max load pressures found on the door label for tire wear and safety considerations.

I'm still playing around with it but I seem to have landed for now on 35 psi front, 33 psi rear for my 19" UHP all season tires. Non-jarring ride on rough roads (as can be found here in New England) and still respectable handling in the twistys. Having a small electric air compressor in my garage and an accurate electronic tire gauge makes this easy to do (I highly recommend both).

One exception: I used to own Jeep CJ's and when we were in a group 4-wheeling on the sand, we would drop our tire pressures down to 15 PSI to allow the Jeep to "float" on the sand vs. sinking in. I wouldn't recommend taking your A6 into sand dunes, however, unless you have a winch mounted on the front bumper.

directorguy7

Very weird, My manual does not have that. Snagit, are you seeing this on 240 or elsewhere? In my manual, 240 is just saying how to store the new pressure into the TPMS. Thanks for posting the PSI though, I will use that.