tire rotation / quattro
 

I just purchased an '06 A4 2.0T quattro with 34K miles and the rear tires show a smidge more feathering than the front ones. I must say as a first time Audi owner I am really impressed. This car's engineering is amazing. Do the tires ever need rotated on the quattro? I know that when you replace them you need to replace all four but will the front or rear ones ever wear more than the other?

Yep.. need to rotate.

Thanks ! I'll get those rotated.

Even though the car has all wheel drive, the loading on the tires is not the same on all four wheels. The car has a whole lot more weight in the front of the car that the front tires will induce more wear. The all wheel drive will not make much of a difference in wear over a front wheel drive car unless you are doing a whole bunch of burnouts...

Now not to go off the main topic, I picked up my 06' A42.0T Q 3 months ago. The front tires were showing some wear on the inner and outer edges with some cupping on the inside. Not knowing how long they were on for, i rotated them. What signs do cupping imply, over 15-20k without rotation or worn suspension parts?

I've had Audis for years, and no matter what type/brand of tire I've used, they've cupped. I've had several tire places tell me it's just what Audi Quattros do. Nothing to do with worn parts or type/brand of tire. Just what I've been told, though. Perfectly willing to be proven wrong.

^^ Weird.. mines not cupping...

Uneven wear usually indicates that the positioning of the tire is incorrect. If you have too much wear on the inside or outside of your tire, the car could have too much or too little chamber. This can be corrected by an alignment. If you have too much wear in the middle, then your tires have been overinflated for an extended period of time. If the wear is excessive on both inside and outside but not in the middle, then you have the classic case of the under-inflated tire.