Correct tire pressure? Basic issue, conflicting information...

[4wheelpilot]

So here we go.
Did a search and found conflicting information from members with many different Audi models.

I have the oem 18" rims with Pirelli Cinturato P7 all-season tires.
At the last service dealer pumped the tires to 44 psi all around.

However, this is different than door jam sticker (41 all around) and much different than owner's manual (normal load, 36 front, 32 rear).

I know that many drivers often adjust the tire pressure to personal preferences.
So there's a BIG difference between 44 psi all around and 36 front with 32 rear.

But which tire pressures are "correct"? or optimal? and why?

While we're at it...
What psi do you ride based on roads, performance, season, load, etc.---please specify whether your rims are 18" or 19" or 20" and whether your tires are all season or summer only.

[Dakkath]

Weird my door cars reads 38/38 unless I am just stupid and missing something. I filled OEM 19's contis at 40 warm and call it a day. They were at 32/32 from the sales lot so it's quite a more enjoyable ride now. Much more responsive and don't tram line as much.

[vaa4]

41 PSI, as indicated in the door jamb, was way too rough. I set mine to 36 PSI.

[jimrobbington]

Mine also shows 41 on the door, and that's what I run on all 4. It's higher than any tire pressure I ran on previous cars. I ran 36 in my A4.

[jygesq]

For my 18" 36 front. 32 rear, all seasons coni's

[TexasDfwS4]

19" 39 front 33 rear

[amz]

My '11 A4 read: 42/42
My '12 S4 reads: 42/40

My manual reads: 32/32 for both the A4 and S4...

[14S4GWM]

Mine says 41 for all four. I run them at 40. 19 inchers.

[Motown_Dub]

2014 manual says 33 rear 39 front up to 3 occupants and 41 all around for a fully loaded car. This is for the 19" wheel/tires

[Braknglases07]

my 2012 s4 says 41 all the way around. I had an escalade with 24's and I only ran 35psi, I have OEM wheels and conti tires, I alot of road noise and the ride is crappy i was thinking of going down to 32 all the way around. the tires are so stiff already being only 35's

[14S4GWM]

^ OEM conti tires suck.

[Braknglases07]

what does everyone have for tires??? I want something quiet and performs well, we don't have really any bad weather here in south carolina except rain.

[Dr GP]

Higher tire pressures will give you a higher load capacity , less compliant ride and greater tread-life, as long as you do not excessively over fill the tires. That will cause uneven tread-wear with center of tire wearing faster than the outside tread. Sidewalls on UHP tires are so stiff that you can lower tire pressure to get a softer ride., at the expense of tread-wear. BTW, I run 39 psi front and rear on my 19" Conti DWS tires.

[Braknglases07]

In an S4 I dont see the need for load capacity

[cspcrx]

My 12 S4 says 41 all around on the door. I set them to 38 psi all around and call it a day.

[chaos2984]

read your door sticker it will tell you what to set them at

[superswiss]

You can thank the US government for the rather useless door jam sticker. The pressure indicated on the sticker is the manufacturer recommended tire pressure for the OEM tires if the car is loaded to the brim with passengers and luggage. If you are only riding in the car by yourself or a couple of passenger, this pressure will lead to an unnecessary uncomfortable ride. You can still ride around like that if you prefer (I do sometimes), but don't expect a comfortable ride quality. For a normal loaded car for daily driving, the normal load tire pressure in the user manual is the recommended tire pressure. Don't expect the service departments to know that. Always check the tire pressure the next morning after service and properly adjust it.

For comparison, here's an example of the sticker that you'll find in places such as Europe with the much more detailed information even for different tires as recommended by the manufacturer.

[4wheelpilot]

You can thank the US government for the rather useless door jam sticker. The pressure indicated on the sticker is the manufacturer recommended tire pressure for the OEM tires if the car is loaded to the brim with passengers and luggage. If you are only riding in the car by yourself or a couple of passenger, this pressure will lead to an unnecessary uncomfortable ride. You can still ride around like that if you prefer (I do sometimes), but don't expect a comfortable ride quality. For a normal loaded car for daily driving, the normal load tire pressure in the user manual is the recommended tire pressure. Don't expect the service departments to know that. Always check the tire pressure the next morning after service and properly adjust it.

For comparison, here's an example of the sticker that you'll find in places such as Europe with the much more detailed information even for different tires as recommended by the manufacturer.

Your post and photo illustrates the comprehensive and proper tire pressures.
What a stark contrast to the oversimplified and more often than not, wrong numbers listed on our door jams.
This is a sad commentary on the lack of confidence our government has in a typical owner's awareness to change tire pressure based on load.
And to think that even dealerships are unaware of the correct tire pressures is very sad and inexcusable., simply pumping up our tires to the absolute MAX.
As we all know, suboptimal tire pressure affects many things including ride, handling and safety.
Thanks for posting.
Well done superswiss!
And based on your post, our owner's manual lists the proper tire pressures.
Any changes to these pressures are driver preferences.

[JohnEnglish]

The sticker on my 2013 S4 door jam is similar. It gives the recommended "normal" and "fully loaded" tire pressures for the 18" and 19" tires.

[chaos2984]

Your post and photo illustrates the comprehensive and proper tire pressures.
What a stark contrast to the oversimplified and more often than not, wrong numbers listed on our door jams.
This is a sad commentary on the lack of confidence our government has in a typical owner's awareness to change tire pressure based on load.
And to think that even dealerships are unaware of the correct tire pressures is very sad and inexcusable., simply pumping up our tires to the absolute MAX.
As we all know, suboptimal tire pressure affects many things including ride, handling and safety.
Thanks for posting.
Well done superswiss!
And based on your post, our owner's manual lists the proper tire pressures.
Any changes to these pressures are driver preferences.

What are you talking about wrong numbers listed in our door jams??? The sticker in our door jams is correct for our cars. So look at your door jam either drivers or passenger side has it and it will tell you what to set the tires at. He just gave you an example of what it looks like. The door jam sticker is knowledge of the gods. Now if you like something a little different from the pressures listed there that's up to you and your preference. But most dealers inflate to whatever is listed on the door jams. If not you would get a tire pressure light.

[4wheelpilot]

My door jam has one pressure listed...41 psi.
This is different than my owner's manual which lists 36 front, 32 rear for the 18" oem rims with all season tires for normal load.

[superswiss]

The sticker on my 2013 S4 door jam is similar. It gives the recommended "normal" and "fully loaded" tire pressures for the 18" and 19" tires.

Where are you located? The typical sticker in the US looks like this. It only lists the full load tire pressure for the tires the car shipped with. This one is from my 2013 RS5. Then compare it to what it actually says in the owners manual.






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[Dakkath]

Where are you located? The typical sticker in the US looks like this. It only lists the full load tire pressure for the tires the car shipped with. This one is from my 2013 RS5. Then compare it to what it actually says in the owners manual.






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It's just 'cus our American asses are generally fat :-) Soooooo a couple extra PSI here and there, LOL.

[ebarberena]

This is the sticker on my "Mexican" 2012 S4. It only has info for 18" tires thought. Not much help for those of you with 19".

[superswiss]

But most dealers inflate to whatever is listed on the door jams. If not you would get a tire pressure light.

Not true. Whenever you inflate your tires you are supposed to reset TPMS so it learns the actual tire pressure. Dealers do this. It's even listed on the work order. Besides, TPMS doesn't alert for over-inflation and it only alerts for 20-25% under-inflation.

One of the issues with dealers inflating your tires is that generally when you bring in your car, the tires are warm, because you drove there. It takes 3+ hours for tires to cool down to the point where it's ok to check and adjust the tire pressure. Better is to leave the car sit over night and check first thing in the morning. I usually decline for them to adjust my tire pressure. Sometimes I forget and then it's usually wrong once the tire have cooled down over night, because they adjusted the tires while they were too warm.

[BlownOne]

36psi COLD on any 19" tire is more than enough air imo. That's what I set mine to and the door jam says 41

[Midnight_Rider]

People don't look at tires for tire pressure anymore these days?

[chaos2984]

Not true. Whenever you inflate your tires you are supposed to reset TPMS so it learns the actual tire pressure. Dealers do this. It's even listed on the work order. Besides, TPMS doesn't alert for over-inflation and it only alerts for 20-25% under-inflation.

One of the issues with dealers inflating your tires is that generally when you bring in your car, the tires are warm, because you drove there. It takes 3+ hours for tires to cool down to the point where it's ok to check and adjust the tire pressure. Better is to leave the car sit over night and check first thing in the morning. I usually decline for them to adjust my tire pressure. Sometimes I forget and then it's usually wrong once the tire have cooled down over night, because they adjusted the tires while they were too warm.

Interesting. Most of the systems i have worked on while working at dealers had the pressure spec hard coded into the system. I guess ours just work a little different. Which is kinda good for less lights and ease of relearn and no sensors for pressure too

[superswiss]

Interesting. Most of the systems i have worked on while working at dealers had the pressure spec hard coded into the system. I guess ours just work a little different. Which is kinda good for less lights and ease of relearn and no sensors for pressure too

Don't remember Audi ever having hardcoded tire pressure. Up till 2009 they where using pressure sensors in the tires, and it was the same thing there. Reset TPMS to set the actual pressure. Later Audi switch to indirect TPMS which measures frequencies in the wheel assembly and does a spectrum analysis to determine if the tire pressure is low.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire-p...#Indirect_TPMS

[Midnight_Rider]

Don't remember Audi ever having hardcoded tire pressure. Up till 2009 they where using pressure sensors in the tires, and it was the same thing there. Reset TPMS to set the actual pressure. Later Audi switch to indirect TPMS which measures frequencies in the wheel assembly and does a spectrum analysis to determine if the tire pressure is low.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire-p...#Indirect_TPMS

This is correct. They determine by the rotation, and something else.

[14S4GWM]

This is correct. They determine by the rotation, and something else.

It's in the link you quoted

[bberg22]

My Door Jam sticker says 41 PSI front and rear on a 2013 with 18 inch stock wheels.

[VenturiRS]

I do 38-40 on the 19s, 40-42 on the 18 winters.

[Arn560]

As the door sicker says, 41 psi at all 4 corners ( 19" Peelers)

[Senseless]

Thanks for explaining that! I reduced my 18"s from 41 all around to 39 front, 35 rear as per the manual for normal load. The ride is noticeably more pleasant and the tires will probably survive potholes better.

[JohnEnglish]

Where are you located? The typical sticker in the US looks like this. It only lists the full load tire pressure for the tires the car shipped with. This one is from my 2013 RS5. Then compare it to what it actually says in the owners manual.






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I'm in Canada and my door sticker looks like the table in the manual.

[TexasDfwS4]

This has been a thread for years and for the life of me, I can't figure out why people don't pull out the owners manual and read up on this. Audi has posted their concerns about this and still people max it out at 41 psi. The Manual on the 2013 19" is 39 front and 33 rear, and I would suspect that's because there's more weight in front then the rear.

[4wheelpilot]

This has been a thread for years and for the life of me, I can't figure out why people don't pull out the owners manual and read up on this. Audi has posted their concerns about this and still people max it out at 41 psi. The Manual on the 2013 19" is 39 front and 33 rear, and I would suspect that's because there's more weight in front then the rear.

The very different psi numbers in the owner's manual versus the door jam is what prompted me to start this thread.
I searched beforehand and couldn't find a clear answer to this very basic yet very important issue.
What concerns has Audi posted about these discrepancies?
Thanks

[TexasDfwS4]

Audi post the max psi on the door but they have gone the distance to add their recommendations (concerns) in the owners manual. If Audi didn't have any concerns about the handling they wouldn't have added the tire pressure to the owners manual, that's all I meant by this.

[Senseless]

Why would I consult the manual if the PSI is listed on the door jam? There's one line that says "consult manual for additional information", but nothing that says "this is the recommended pressure for fully loaded vehicle".