RoadTTripper

Added my thoughts out to AoA about the lack of a spare.and got back a non-response, but thought it worth a try. Thier response was I could always change over to a run-flat tire. Or if that wasn't what I wanted, I always have the roadside assistance for the first 4. That wouldn't do me much good in the wilds of the east coast (no cell service) or in the west (where is the nearest TOWN never mind a tow). Or I could always store the spare in my garage or at the dealer.

guess I will just throw in an extra wheel on those long trips....

duggo

This has probably been suggested before (I've owned a 2010 TT for a grand total of three weeks!) but has anybody considered simply carrying an extra unmounted tire and having any nearby garage, gas station or tow truck operator mount the new tire? This would also eliminate the need to carry a jack and wouldn't require nearly as much trunk space as a mounted tire. Just wondering...

Cheers,

Duggo

Vegas-roadster

where it is not unusual to be 25-100 miles from the nearest place that could change a tire. You would stil wait at least 1-2 hours for a tow. That assumes that you had cell phone coverage which is not a good assumption if you get more than 10 miles from an interstate. My first TT flat was a bent rim on the edge of Death Valley = a 20 mile walk to the nearest phone, no cell coverage, would have had to wait hours for a tow, and I still would have been stranded by your solution because the rim was bent. The positive of your solution is that once you get to a shop, you are not stranded for hours or days finding new rubber. Keep in mind that if you have run-flats, most small shops do not have the special tire changer needed. For my money, you might as well cary the rim at the expense of a few pounds since you are already giving up most of the space the rim would occupy. Your siolution has the added advantage of allowing you to store more stuff inside the tire.

duggo

Thanks Vegas, I defer to your superior judgement and experience. It's apparent from your previous posts that you've given this subject a lot of thought. Since I live in the middle of New York City, within a 300-mile radius I'm never very far from a tow truck or garage. Do you also carry a jack with you and if so what type? And just out of curiosity, how did your Death Valley episode conclude?

Cheers,

duggo

Vegas-roadster

You are never far from a tow and then you then don't have to find new rubber. However, there are those legendary rim-eating NYC pot-holes

The Death Valley flat came in the first week of buying my first new 2001 TTR
in the Spring of 2001. I decided to take a day trip out of Vegas to put the car through its paces. I had just entered Death Valley and hit what I thought was a small pot-hole at about 55 MPH but I must have hit it wrong because it bent my rim. Fortunately it was Spring and in a Mk I which had a jack & compact spare. A half hour later I was on my way back the 100 miles to Vegas although at the compact spare recommended speed of 50 MPH.

Yes I have a jack. If you look under the TT rocker panels you wil see 2 indents made for an Audi jack. However, the Audi scissors jack in my Mk I was single sided (think of a single pair of scissors opening up) which I don't care for so I got a traditional double-sided scissors jack which fits easily under the floring in the indents in the foam area.

IMO, the MK 2 trunk under-floor is an abortion. Obviously a compact spare was in the plans, otherwise why spend the extra manufacturing cost for the spare mount etc. My guess is that Audi planned substantial sales of the 3.2 engine in the Mk 2. The Mk I TT with the 3.2 is the only Mk I that did not come with a compact spare because they had to move the battery into the trunk so shoehorn the engine into a space that was not designed for it. The Mk 2 has the same configuration but you can see that there is plenty of room for the battery under the hood with the 2.0 engine. Audi will tell you they did it to help weight balance, BS! Wiring the engine to the trunk in this way added a lot of manufacturing cost for a minimal shift in weight. It would have been much cheaper to add the weight of the compact spare to the rear of the car if balance was a driving force. Most folks think the 3.2 died because of US fuel economy rules coupled with the development of the improved 2.0 engine installed in 2011+ models which has performance comparable to the 3.2, better gas mileage, and better weight distribution due to the lighter weight engine.

Keona

How about Audi A3 space saver/compact spare? Will it work?

Vegas-roadster

.

duggo

After Vegas put the fear of God into me about flat tires, I bought an unmounted 245/40/18 Pirelli and tossed it into the trunk. Without the rim, a low-profile tire takes up little trunk space and you can store lots of stuff in the opening. And although the TT currently has the same size (Pzero Nero) runflat Pirellis mounted, they allegedly require special equipment to mount. So instead I bought the same Pzero Nero in the non-runflat configuration which can be mounted easily and by nearly any gas station, dealer or garage. Before buying the spare, I discussed the idea with a techie at Pirelli who gave me his blessing saying "If it were my car, I would do the same thing". Although it's not as elegant a solution as laboriously modifying the trunk to accommodate a compact spare, IMHO it's more practical because you can carry a full-size tire which almost any clod (but I) can mount on the car and you aren't limited to the 100 or so miles of a compact spare.

Pax,

Duggo
Manhattan New York

Vegas-roadster

A little laborious but it gets the job done. I'm going to be talking with Audi USA reps about this (again) at TT West next month.

Vegas-roadster

Audi USA responded to my request for a Mk II TT compact spare conversion kit in the magazine. They said they could not do it recommended using an A3 compact spare. As posted below, an A3 spare will not work on the Mk II because its diameter is too small, Granted that I only checked a few models of the 2013 A3 but usually the diameter of the tire is the same irrespective of model. The 2009+ A4 compact spare does work as posted below. Other options include carrying a unmounted full size spare rubber and an "almost full size" spare (what I use). There are pros & cons to each but they are all better than the pump & goo that Audi gave us.

In the response, Audi essentially said "We do it this way because other manufacturers do". My response to them was that we expect Audi to be better than everyone else.