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Beetle rear inside tire wear

I have a 1998 rear-engine, air cooled Beetle from Mexico (swing axle). I have a problem with severe tire wear on the inside of the tire. It wears out under 10,000 miles. I have taken it to three different places, with three different answers. The one with the most believable answer still says there's nothing that can be done short of major re-welding. One place said that it needed a FRONT end alignment- I can't believe that would have anything to do with rear wheel problems. The second place said that the left side wheelbase was not the same distance as the right. Again, even if this were true, I don't see how this would cause my problem. The third place said it was a rear camber or toe-in problem, I can't remember which, but this made the mose sense. But they said that there is no shimming or adjustment that could be done. This is a vehicle which had a new body put on an old center tunnel. Maybe something got messed up in the process, but I want to see what I can do so I don't have to buy new tires every 10K miles.

Reply to
a
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Rear toe-in is adjustable. That's possibly what's wrong. (If wheelbase is different compared to the opposite side of car). Rear camber is by nature, "all over the place" as the suspension travels up and down. No adjustment possible/necessary.

To adjust rear toe: loosen the three BIG (19mm) bolts behind the rear brake drum, they attach the axle to the spring plate. MARK the position of the axle in relation to the spring plate first (white paint marker or even a hammer and chisel). If you take the time to clean the area where the axle meets the spring plate, you should be able to see faint notches or grooves, marked on both. Those should line up, and in an ideal world, then you'd have perfect alignment. In real life however, you adjust each side to where the alignment shop guy says they are ok. (Loosen the nuts, clean and liubricate the threads and tighten them back on, then take the car to the alignment shop.. show the guy these three bolts and tell him that's where toe in is adjusted from. Have him check his books for correct values for SWING axle VW beetle. He would use a hammer to tap/pound the axle either towards the front or the rear, to bring the axle (and thus, the wheel) forward or towards the rear of the car.

Jan

Reply to
Jan Andersson

Thanks for the info, but I'm confused about something in your post: How does moving the wheel forward or back effect the toe? Isn't the toe how far off the wheel is from being parallel to a line from front to rear of the vehicle? That in or out adjsutment would make sense to me as to the wear. But how does the fact that one side of the rear may be closer to the front explain this wear?

Thanks

Reply to
a

The axle doesn't move from the other end. So, by moving the wheel front and back, makes it move in an arc. Not straight front and back. Therefore, you also change the toe in.

jan

Reply to
Jan Andersson

Thanks for the info. I'll get under there and look for myself, and then take a printout of your message to my mechanic and see what he can do.

Reply to
a

Jan, not all springplates are adjustable... Fail to recollect what years now, but mine on the -56 are not...

J.

Ps. The transmission mounts can also affect the rear Toe..

Reply to
BergRace

I don't get it?..................Is there a possibility that you use your car effectively and often, as a Load carrier...............haul stuff a lot?

Are you a pretty large guy/girl? ( no gender suggested as of yet )

It's possible , that if you even carry a load of people constantly, that you are causing the wear type, just from the weight IN the car.

If you take a look at the vehicle, from behind, do the tires seem to lean inward at the top????out at the bottom?

If so this could be a job for the mech to adjust the rearend Height, of the springplates.................adjusted on the torsion springs. This is a bit more involved than forward/rear adjustment. However this is an easy job for a decent mechanic.

Looked at a VW repair manual yet???

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply MUADIB®

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Reply to
MUADIB®

The average weight i carry in the car is usually under 250 pounds- my own body plus miscelaneous items. I occasionally have a passenger, but still no more than 500 pounds total. As for the manual, I'm still looking for one-- this car is much like the late '70's Beetles for sale here in the U.S., but with the swing axle instead of IRS. I've tried contacting VW dealers in Mexico (as this is a 1998 Mexican Beetle) but they don't have the factory repair manuals available like the Bentley manuals here.

Reply to
a

Thanks for the info, I don't know the older models that well. I have replaced the tranny on a 56 not too long ago, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

True. However minor the effect ;)

Jan

Reply to
Jan Andersson

Everything except the engine and electrics is simmilar if not identical to a 1968 german bug... get the bentley for that year and you'll do fine.

Engine ECU comes from a 1996 for-south-america Golf, and electricals are a mix of a 1968 beetle and a 1996 Golf... Digifant 1.84 or 1.74

Reply to
Eduardo Kaftanski

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