VW Vortex - Volkswagen Forum banner

How to change a flat tire on a Phaeton

52K views 66 replies 34 participants last post by  Paximus 
#1 · (Edited)
This might at first sound pretty self-evident – just remove the flat tire, and put the spare tire on – but there are a few extra steps that have to be taken due to the air suspension system on the Phaeton. So, here is a step by step illustrated guide. You might want to print it out, put it in a zip-lock bag, and toss it into the spare tire well of your Phaeton.
Your first hint that you have a problem with a tire will likely be a warning message that looks like this. It is possible that the message will be displayed in a different colour (and with different spelling of the word ‘tyre’) depending on what country you are in.
Flat Tire Warning Message

If you press the VEHICLE button on the infotainment system, you can see which tire has the problem. The Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) is quite sensitive, and will detect the problem before you can tell which tire has the problem simply by looking for a flat one.
Detail showing which tire has the problem.

The first action to take is to dig out the owner manual. It provides pretty good step by step instructions, beginning on page 66 of section 3.2 of the manual
Owner Manual Instructions

You MUST put the Phaeton suspension system into the special ‘Jacking Up Mode’ (Tire Changing Mode) before you jack the car up. If you don’t do this, the car will notice the difference in height of the corner of the car you are jacking up, and attempt to push the wheel back down onto the ground by sending air into that shock absorber. You don’t want that.
To put the car into ‘Tire Changing Mode’, press and hold both of the suspension control buttons on the middle console for 5 seconds or longer. You will see a message in the Y24 display between the speedometer and tachometer confirming that the car is now in ‘Jacking Up Mode’
How to Invoke ‘Jacking Up Mode’

Now, set the parking brake, so the car does not roll around when you are trying to change the tire. It would be very annoying if it rolled enough to fall off the jack.
Set the Parking Brake

You can make the whole process a lot simpler if you take all the stuff you will need out of the car before you start work, and set it up on the ground beside the problem tire. If your tire happens to go flat in a Hilton parking lot, like mine did, don’t forget to go inside and get a cup of coffee to drink as you do the work.
Get everything you will need out and in place before you start work.

Here are some photos that show trick and tips to make getting all the stuff out of the spare tire well as painless and simple as possible. First, be aware that the chrome handle on the spare tire well cover is designed to clip onto the top of the trunk opening, to hold the cover open and out of your way.
How to keep the spare tire well cover open while you work.

Before you attempt to take the spare tire out of the well, remove the entire semi-circular foam tray that contains all the tools, and carry it around to the problem tire. This way, you have all the tools handy, in a holder, so you don’t lose anything. It’s also a heck of a lot easier to get the tire out of the well if you have first removed the semi-circular tray that holds the tools.
Remove the tool tray before you remove the spare tire.

Tool tray and spare tire, ready to begin work.

Remove the decorative caps from the wheel bolts, using the special tool that is provided. Note that one of these caps is different (on the inside) than the others. This is the one that fits over the special locking nut. Remember this later on, when you put these caps back on.



BEFORE you lift the car up with the jack, use the wrench to loosen the bolts. The idea here is that you just ‘crack’ the bolts off – perhaps a quarter turn only – before you jack up the car. This way, you are not reefing on the bolts and shaking the car around after you have jacked it up.
Now put the jack in place. The owner manual shows exactly where the jack should go. There is a special cut-out (recess) in the bottom edge of the car where the jack goes.
Find the recess

Put the jack in place

And lift up the car.

Now that the dead tire is up in the air, you can remove the wheel bolts that you previously loosened, remove the dead tire, and install the spare tire.

Volkswagen provides a small plastic guide tool to make it easier to fit the replacement tire onto the wheel hub. The idea is this: You screw this small plastic guide into place on any of the holes where the bolts go, then install the new tire, using this plastic guide to help you get the bolt holes in the tire lined up with the bolt holes on the hub. It is a useful, clever little device.



The rest is pretty simple – install the 5 bolts, tighten them gently with the wrench, then remove the jack. Once the car is back down on the ground (no longer supported with the jack), you can firmly tighten the 5 bolts. The target torque is 120 Newton meters. After you have tightened the 5 bolts, put the decorative caps back on. Put the dead tire in the spare tire well first, then install the semi-circular tool tray second – it’s much easier if you do it in that sequence.
Most likely, your Phaeton suspension will look pretty strange after you have removed the jack. The body will be much too close to the tire that you just changed – the car will look ‘slammed’ in that corner, and when you get into the car and start it, you will get a warning message about the suspension, to the effect of “Stop – vehicle too low”. Don’t worry about this, the fix is simple: Just press the suspension height button, then turn the big knob on the infotainment screen to set the car to the highest possible height, and push the big knob. This will do two things: First, it will de-activate Jacking Up Mode, and second, it will lift the car back up so that everything looks normal again. Once the car has been lifted up to the highest setting, you can then put it back to the normal setting.
Looks a bit low, after removing the jack

…and now we see this message.
The easy fix for this is to just lift the car up to the highest suspension mode, using the suspension height button, then lower it back down to normal.

After all this work is done, you still have two minor issues to attend to. First is getting the wheel bolts properly torqued, because it is not likely that you happened to have a torque wrench in the trunk. Any garage can do this for you, so just stop when convenient and ask them to torque the 5 bolts to 120 Newton meters (88 foot-pounds of force). The second problem is that the Tire Pressure monitoring system will complain that the tire in the spare tire well is now flat – as if you didn’t know this already. If you don’t plan on having the tire repaired right away, or, if you have to drop the spare tire off to get it repaired, and pick it up later, you can recode the Tire Pressure Monitoring Controller to indicate that there are only 4 tires on board, not 5. Instructions about how to do this can be found here: Tire Pressure Monitoring System - watch 4 tires, or 5? How-to...
Michael
 
See less See more
21
#52 ·
Losing your lug nuts.
When you have your lug nuts off and either lose them in a snowy ditch or muddy field or some other way, remember you can take one lug nut off each of the other wheels and use the three lug nuts to drive slowly to the nearest garage or home ...


Modified by Aren Jay at 9:40 PM 11-17-2009
 
#54 ·
Archival Note: See also this post, which provides details about Corrosion Prevention Precautions when removing and replacing Phaeton wheels.

It is unlikely that you will have a can of spray wax handy if you ever have to change a tire unexpectedly - but, later on, when you get the flat repaired, you can re and re the spare and apply the wax. I have two sets of wheels and tires (summer and winter), and I apply the wax each time I change wheels.

Michael
 
#55 ·
I have two sets of wheels and tires (summer and winter), and I apply the wax each time I change wheels.

Michael
Me too - but the wax is hard to apply... it coagulates in the spray nozzle (or the tube attachment) and refuses to apply... it's easier in the summer than the winter... but still fiddly. And any excess, if not caught, spins out onto the alloy of the wheel and stains it. Sometimes I'm not sure that doing the right thing is the right thing to do... Still, I'll soldier on...
 
#59 ·
I noticed today, when applying the "jacking up mode" nothing actually happend and after a few seconds i get a failure warning. Manually selecting to the highest level works fine however.

What could be wrong here?
Hi Wouter:

I don't think anything is wrong. "Jacking Up Mode" is just a fancy way of saying 'turning off the suspension controller'. Thus, it is kind of understandable that the car might give a suspension failure warning if the controller is turned off by invoking the 'Jacking Up Mode'.

Changing the height of the car (with the other button) simply wakes up the suspension controller and turns it on again, that's why it clears the fault message.

Michael
 
#61 ·
Just celebrated my acquisition (at last!) of a spare wheel and tyre at a reasonable price by searching this gem out and following Michaels advice ref printing out and storage of same.

Given that we have quite a few new owners on the forum recently, I thought it worthwhile to bring this back to the front page as anyone could be forgiven for expecting the procedure to be a little simpler than it is in reality.

All best,
Steven
 
#63 ·
Spare tire well....

After reading a great pic. post on changing a flat tire I decided to make sure I had all the factory tools, I have owned the car for just 2 weeks.

Well that's an exercise is gymnastics....the tire fits like a glove nested in its alcove in the trunk, is heavy and the darn cover on the well is totally in the way.

Removed the tool shroud, yup everything is where it should be, including the key for the anti theft lug nuts. Now hold the cover up with the top of your head, hold the laser light in your mouth and manhandle and leverage that spare wheel out. It is awkward and at least a two beer project.

I would suggest all you owners a least try it some weekend under ideal conditions in your driveway rather than waiting for a dark stormy night when you have to do it roadside.

Retired senior...I need a chauffeur....;)
 
#67 ·
It's much easier to use the hook provided to keep the cover over the spare tyre well held up and out of the way.
It doesn't stay in place when the foam trunk liner is in use, it releases and bangs your head. But that's hardly surprising. I need my head banging for leaving it in situ... :p

Chris
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top