Just had two new tyres on my A3 and they balanced them with steel weights, not lead as they are toxic and not allowed to be used any more incase anyone eats their wheels!
Since then my ASR light flashes when I pull away and has to be turned off and on in order for me to carry on driving.
Could the weights be affecting the ASR or worse still could it affect my ABS when I need it most?!
My garage is looking into it, but this could help if they find nothing and others too in the future.
Thanks
Sly
First thought: this guy is nuts. Second thought, maybe not!
OK, so you can't use lead... This is 100% correct, there are numerous instances of smaller children chewing wheels and ingesting the lead weights. Shocking but true, I read it on the Internet...
OK, seriously:
Yes, it is *remotely* possible that they are affecting the traction control especially if they are magnetized! Try to find a heavy metal other than steel of the same weight and substitute these for your steel weights. You can stick them on with double sided foam tape (that's still legal where you are, I hope!) making sure the wheel is clean first. (One thought on a weight material is stainless steel flat bar stock). You'll need a scale to weight each weight so your replacements are the same weight.
And what country now doesn't allow proper wheel weights? I'd like to avoid that country if possible--I have a low tolerance for extremists!
No, your new tyres are slippy and need to bed in. Take it easy for a while. Steel weights are standard these days (EU Directive). It meant I couldn't have stick-on weights on my A3 with 15" wheels as they fouled the calipers.
I guess the ASR is correct; new tires have very little grip and wheels will spin.
Ronald
I had an ABS light after changing wheel bearings. VAG system showed left front with a low reading compared to the other three wheels until it reached ten mph.
Turned out that the ABS sensor had been bumped so that it had twisted about 15 degrees out spec. I twisted it back straight and the problem was fixed.
Sly wrote:
It's the UK I'm afraid. We just don't like lead no more.
Took the family to Wales for the weekend so have covered over 500 miles and it still occurs. It is indeed tight with the calipers, the mechanic tried sticking one weight on the other and that would have fouled so he had to stick them alongside each other. They're right in the cap between the spokes as well, quite unsightly but they'll soon muddy up to match the rest of the car!
I watched the guys doing the job, friendly local garage, so I'm sure there was no damage. It was purely wheel off, wheel on again. I will check though if all else fails, thanks.
I meant Gap!
What was the alternative to stick on weights for you? If you don't mind me asking!
Normal clip-on ones that they hammer over the rim. I don't like them as they *always* mark the rim a little, but had no choice.
Oh, wouldn't be able to (or want to!) fit those to my alloys then. Thanks anyway. Have to find some lead somewhere!
Had an idea, I'm going to put the fronts on the back and vice versa and see if it fixes it. I think the backs are good old fashioned toxic ones! Will let you know...
As others have said I'd still suspect soft compound, colder, wetter and slightly icy surfaces. UK is one of the few places we all insist on driving all year round on 'all season' tyres and to be fair they are pretty hopeless at this time of year.
Have you changed brands of tyre at the same time, so you are also judging the old tyres capabilities to the new tyre?
I'd suspect putting the backs on the front will prove more about the tyre compound than the balancing weights. Might believe it was the weights if the problem went away running the fronts with no weights.
My A3 manual says you must change all four tires at once so they're the same size. The computer probably doesn't know how to compensate for much difference in wheel rotation speed.
Hmmm, maybe, but surely when the front wear quicker than the rears, there would be that slight difference anyway.
My garage is also going along with the weights being the problem now and is trying to get some of the old ones for me. Tyres have done over a thousand miles now so definately not down to slipping. Funny thing is it only does it for about the first few minutes after starting off. I turn the ASR off then on again and it won't do it again even if I pull to a complete stop and start off again. It's only when the engine has been switched off. Perhaps the ECU for the ASR learns to ignore certain repeated signals?
Are you sure it says *must*?
It probably says something like ideally all 4 tyres should be of equal tread depth, or at least a maximum tread depth difference front to rear of 4mm.
It probably also says you should ideally have the same type of tyre (size, make and tread pattern), between front and rear, and definitely in identical matched pairs on axles.
The ESP computer should re-calibrate itself, everytime you first drive off from a cold start, in two stages, the first around
5mph, and the second stage at around 30mph (it could be 30kmh). This really needs to be done on a straight flat road - could be difficult if you live on a steep hill, or hairpin bend!One of the other posters I think mentioned you need to *run-in* new tyres - on the front - 100-200 miles, on the rear (of a front wheel drive) 500-600 miles - to remove the releasing agent the rubber is coated in when the tread is moulded during manufacture.
Rgds, Sean
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