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Happen about a fortnight ago. I didn't even know straight away due to the stiff walls on these tyres but the car just felt "a bit funny" and the mpg was down. Only driven on 30mph limit roads, parked up to meet some friends and one of them said "I think your tyres flat". I looked to see the rear drivers side tyre was well down. After a quick feel around the tyre a screw was found to have bedded itself in the tyre. Great, I thought, its a saturday afternoon and I'm no where near a tyre depot. Then I remembered that when I brought the car they managed to flog me the wheel and tyre insurance (at a massive discount I may add) so into the glovebox to retrieve the paperwork. A quick phone call later claim form e mailed to me and advised I need to contact their preferred repairers which are ATS, local Audi Dealership or E tyres. Anyway, it was about three miles back to my home so I got the compressor out of the boot and pumped the tyre back up and waited to see how quickly it went down. Left it about half and hour and it had lost about 10lb of pressure. So I pumped it up again and headed home as it only takes 10 mins. Got back and as I was at least 30 miles away from the nearest ATS or Audi dealership I contacted E Tyres. Nice bloke, took my details, explained the process and then told me they would be out on MONDAY to fix it. So that was a thankyou but no conversation so I then rung the nearest ATS depot. Got told "sorry we don't do call outs but ring the other depot in the area because they do". Rung them, no answer, checked on the internet and they were closed. Anyway, this had taken another 45 mins and time was getting on. Went and check the tyre again it had lost around 12lb of pressure. So stuff this, pumped it up to 45lb and set off for the nearest decent tyre depot around 12 miles away. Arrived there, told them the problem, took the wheel off and reckoned it would be repairable. Then they took the tyre off to find that all inner sidewall had disintergrated due to running on it when flat, so new tyre required

Luckily they had one (only one) in stock. 30mins later new tyre on and a nice bill for £222. Fair play though, the guy who did the tyre did a really good job, not a mark on the alloy and was really careful so they have got a good chance of getting my business when the tyres wear out. So I got them to fill their part of the claim form in and sent it off anyway thinking they would try and get out of it as I didn't use their preferred supplier. To my surprise, got a cheque yesterday for the full cost of the tyre

Pictures of the tyre

THE CULPRIT



WHATS LEFT OF THE SIDEWALL



So now of course everytime I go out to get in the car a quick walk around to check all the tyres are up.

This is the first car I've had for three years that didn't have tyre pressure monitoring, sods law I guess but I think it should at least be an option, shame on you Audi

All I can say is that you don't really notice the flat tyre straight away, maybe down to the extra load side walls or quattro, not sure, also if I had driven on open road limits it might have been more noticable, but just be aware if you see the mpg drop off and the handling slightly not quite the norm then this could be the problem.

Ouch! Glad it's sorted.

TPMS is an option, I ticked it. Only belly aches when it notices a difference between wheels. So if all four are down you won't know.

EDIT: I'm dreaming!! I'm sure TPMS was an option, but I can't find it.

doodlebug wrote:Ouch! Glad it's sorted.

TPMS is an option, I ticked it. Only belly aches when it notices a difference between wheels. So if all four are down you won't know.

EDIT: I'm dreaming!! I'm sure TPMS was an option, but I can't find it.

It was initially but was deleted ages ago

I really wanted it ..

Thanks, I thought I'd lost the plot!

It was 85 quid as I recall.

The lack of fitment of TPMS to the RS3 is a big mistake. The tyrewalls on the tyres make it more or less impossible to tell if you have a puncture or underinflated tyre at a glance and even if you push the tyrewall with your thumb on an underinflated tyre, there is not much difference.

It's an odd omission. Not exactly complex.

This is good to know.....I too took out the tyre and wheel insurance but was unsure if in reality it would pay out.

rcm63 wrote:.....I too took out the tyre and wheel insurance but was unsure if in reality it would pay out.

I can't find a link to this tyre & wheel insurance on the Audi website, and my Audi dealer has'nt offered it on my new car (coming next week ) ... is it dealer (company) specific ?

Has anyone got recommendations / links etc... ?

Given the price of the RS3 alloys and tyres it sounds like a good thing to have

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RSphantom wrote: All I can say is that you don't really notice the flat tyre straight away, maybe down to the extra load side walls or quattro, not sure, also if I had driven on open road limits it might have been more noticable, but just be aware if you see the mpg drop off and the handling slightly not quite the norm then this could be the problem.

I drove for two days on a flat in my 8L S3. Including motorway driving!

The main indication was an increase in vibration.

JonG wrote:

rcm63 wrote:.....I too took out the tyre and wheel insurance but was unsure if in reality it would pay out.

I can't find a link to this tyre & wheel insurance on the Audi website, and my Audi dealer has'nt offered it on my new car (coming next week ) ... is it dealer (company) specific ?

Has anyone got recommendations / links etc... ?

Given the price of the RS3 alloys and tyres it sounds like a good thing to have

Mine was done through the dealership and is with Primia Solutions Ltd. I think I can make up to ten claims over a three year period or something like that. Don't remember the exact cost but I got a discount and I think it was around £200, so its paid for itself already