bob m

This was on the desk in the dealership, by the receptionist desk.

HyperS4

Well, I wouldnt put it past any manufacture to have conflicting information in different documentation.

bob m

Here's the pamphlet.

HyperS4

Thanks for sharing. But yeah, that confirms the type of rotation pattern I was suggesting for AWD(just so happened I used NJ on/off ramps as a reason). Also 5k seems a bit quick but I guess it really depends on how you drive. I generally do 10k but have done it around 7 if I saw quicker wear on one side.

Dan in St. Louis

Funny thing about that is that after the second rotation both of the first two methods wind up in the same place.

mplsbrian

Don't overthink it.

Buy a $5 tire depth gauge and measure twice a year. Like many of you I take my wheels off automatically every 6 months when swapping winters to summers and vice versa, so that's when I do it.

Rotate based on measured wear, with an awareness of your tires' symmetry, directionality, or lack thereof. Typically you will notice that on most cars the front left exhibits slightly more wear than the other 3 tires, and the rear right exhibits the least, so that is where the advantage of rotating the front left tire to the rear right axle comes in if your tread direction/symmetry allows for it. This wear pattern is because of how the car loads when taking exits/offramps/etc -- we take more right turns/curves than lefts. However on cars with quattro the wear is usually astoundingly even and it matters a lot less than it does on a Honda.

drewba

I'm at 26k on my A4 and have never had the tires rotated and the remaining tread is almost identical front to rear. I do have about .5mm more wear on both right tires than the left. The Pirelli P7s that are on the car don't appear to be directional, so I guess that I should get them rotated as per the pamphlet rather than the owner's manual to try and balance them out a bit.

Our Honda's on the other hand have always eaten front tires. I'd guess that the fronts see twice as much wear as the rears, even on an AWD vehicle.

mplsbrian

On a normal quattro car with good alignment this is expected. Many Audis never need rotating. Reason I suggest measuring often even on these, is that it only takes one good pothole hit to jack your alignment and start causing bad wear...best to catch it early before you grenade your torsen diff as the tolerances are only 2 1/32s or so (don't quote me on that...check the manual) of variance between any two tires.

Absolutely on the Hondas, though. They are notorious for understeer and will burn through fronts due to plowing, being front heavy, having part time AWD systems, and lacking any BBTV or clever techniques to steady the chassis.

bob m

Now adding another twist to the confusion. Is the Allroad considered "Quattro With Ultra?"

antsh

Yes, allroads are quattro with ultra, as are manual A4s.