Facelift Tyre pressures

[Flying Scotsman]

I have done a wee bit of research on tyre pressures for an S3 19" mag ride. Unfortunately in North America sticker door pressures are shown for full load conditions only and are 42 psi (2.9 bar) front and rear.
I prefer less understeer and was thinking of around 39 psi (2.7 bar ) front and 36 psi (2.5 bar ) rear for partial load conditions which for me is two occupants.
I did note on a couple of 4-6 hour test drives, that the rear suspension on mag ride 19" would on some surfaces feel like harsh or bouncy dependant on suspension setting...due to high inflation on rear tyres with no load?
Do any of you have any thoughts on this matter and my planed tyre pressures. Yes I know test it for yourself, but I am still waiting for delivery and would appreciate owners comments.

 

[Jassyo06]

18"s on 38 psi all round...39 psi on 19's seems pretty sensible,l have always found magnetic ride in all modes to be firmer than my standard bouncy set up

 

[CHCCubs]

39 front and 36 rear are the recommended pressures in the owners manual for the 19's. Can't comment on the ride/handling at that setting on the 19's yet, however I have been running my 18 inch winter set at similar pressures and so far so good.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Thanks CHCCubs.....That is interesting that the Canadian manual shows those pressures as I understand USA models are 42 psi and TireRack state on their website tyres must be inflated to 42 psi for 19" . Different spec for Canadian cars as we are possibly more observant of tyre pressures than the Yanks and read manuals for recommended tyre pressures for different loads. Plus the USA is litigation central...sue, sue and sue again. So they put maximum load pressures only.
I am looking forward to receiving my car hopefully this Thursday

 

[CHCCubs]

I did find it odd that the door stickers only indicate the max pressure as all my previous cars have shown suggested pressures on that sticker. Then again as you mentioned, maybe it is since the US models have different psi recommendations.

 

[allanmb]

I always put in the full load pressures even though it's mainly just me in the car. I corner pretty hard and find the harder pressure wears better for my driving style.

 

[Rob2k68]

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Thanks @Rob2k68, I presume the same for a saloon....interesting pressure difference for snow tyres on 18" rims The only difference it shows is a V speed rating, rather than H and Y...@CHCCubs may find that of interest

 

[CHCCubs]

Thanks @Rob2k68, I presume the same for a saloon....interesting pressure difference for snow tyres on 18" rims The only difference it shows is a V speed rating, rather than H and Y...@CHCCubs may find that of interest

The Canadian manual quotes 38F and 35R for the 18's (either winters or all-seasons). So far I've been using that setting with my winter's and all seems good.

Can't wait for spring to come though so I can finally experience this car with 19's and performance tires.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I am going to temp fate and use the 19" performance tires. We just got over about 7 weeks of very unusual winter weather, highway road closures, a ton of snow, freezing rain etc. for Vancouver and about 3 weeks left for winter normally here. If it does turn for the worse again I will just park it and leave spending $3,500 to next winter, also the snow tires I desired are sold out and no point in just buying alloy rims.

 

[CHCCubs]

Hopefully your winter out there doesn't become like it has here. Up until the last week or so it hasn't been too bad, but since then we've had freezing rain, 10cm of snow on Friday and another 15-20cm today

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Sorry to belabour a question....Received my S3 and as per the norm for North American vehicles the sticker only shows max load air pressures and my sticker shows 44 psi for all 4 tyres rather than 42 psi. May I ask someone in the UK/Europe who has a FL saloon to check their sticker and see if it shows the same values for max/min loads for 19" tyres as @Rob2k68 pic shows for a hatchback
The only reason I can think for the different max pressure is for the very large body frames (other words fat) of North Americans in general or possibly as I declined tyre pressure monitoring system which are not required by law in Canada and Audi spec a higher pressure to be on the safe side as some people rarely check tyre air pressures, much as they do on oil level checking. I am a pretty fastidious on both those checks....a gold star for Dougie

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Hmm.....nobody loves me or has responded on the above question, to make it easier what are the tyre pressure recommendations on S3 8V pre FL saloons 19" tyres for fully loaded and partially loaded as they should be the same as FL saloons with 19" tyres.

 

[Rob2k68]

Hmm.....nobody loves me or has responded on the above question, to make it easier what are the tyre pressure recommendations on S3 8V pre FL saloons 19" tyres for fully loaded and partially loaded as they should be the same as FL saloons with 19" tyres.

@pburv any chance you could post a pic of your tyre pressure sticker ?

 

[pburv]

@pburv any chance you could post a pic of your tyre pressure sticker ?

Give me a couple of minutes...

 

[pburv]

@pburv any chance you could post a pic of your tyre pressure sticker ?

Sorry Rob ...Having issues with the ****** file size again!....Grrrrrrr
I,m working on it..lol

 

[pburv]

Hmm.....nobody loves me or has responded on the above question, to make it easier what are the tyre pressure recommendations on S3 8V pre FL saloons 19" tyres for fully loaded and partially loaded as they should be the same as FL saloons with 19" tyres.

Hi FS..Sorry I haven't replied sooner...Been busy past couple of days..
I'm having the usual issues with loading pics..... 'file size too large'.......
The info I think you are after is normal load=42 psi front / 39 psi rear heavy load=46 psi front and rear....
If I can sort out file size issue with the pics I will put it up..
ps Everybody loves you here....lol

 

[pburv]

Hi FS..Sorry I haven't replied sooner...Been busy past couple of days..
I'm having the usual issues with loading pics..... 'file size too large'.......
The info I think you are after is normal load=42 psi front / 39 psi rear heavy load=46 psi front and rear....
If I can sort out file size issue with the pics I will put it up..
ps Everybody loves you here....lol

Success!...Ha ha
The info you are after is at the bottom of the pic..

 

[Rob2k68]

Success!...Ha ha
The info you are after is at the bottom of the pic..
View attachment 118817

Perfect - thanks mate

 

[pburv]

Perfect - thanks mate

No probs Rob glad to help....As for uploading pics? I don't know what's happened with the forum but something has changed that stops you uploading decent pics...It's one of the reasons I have stopped putting pics of my car..just can't be ***** with all the grief in cropping pics ect..

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Thanks @pburv ....that is very interesting....As you may note above the pressures for the North American market are 44 psi for fully loaded. I will use the 42/39 pressure to remove some understeer including the quattro set in dynamic mode. Many thanks again.