Help. CV joint or bearing. Whomp whomp sound on acceleration.

I forgot, you folks can't see the car from where you are. It's an '85 Golf. 250,000 km. Auto tranny.

-T> Hi,

It depends on which way you pull as to what you are diagnosing. You might feel a loose wheel bearing one direction. You might also be feeling worn strut bearings or mountings, worn ball joints, worn tie rods or actual worn bearings. If the tire shop had their hand on 9 and

3 when they felt looseness I vote for tie rods. 12 and 6 is more likely to show wor bearings. That said I have seen some Vws with over 200,000 miles an no signs of bearing issues.

cv joint or shaft is usually an audible clicking when turning...

I just completed replacing the wheel bearings, hubs, ball joints, tie rods, struts, coil springs, tie rod boots, control arm bushings, and various related nuts and bolts on Both sides of my 81 rabbit. Mine was making a similar noise (and had similar mileage) and I figured that I might as well renew everything while I had it disassembled. Since I did the work myself, it really didn't cost that much, especially considering that the diesel should have another 200000 miles of life. I followed the instructions in my Bently manual. If you are interested, I could tally up the parts cost so you know what to expect. Mine drives like a new one now. I did decide not to replace the CV joint as it passed my inspection. I did clean it and relubricate it and cover it with a new boot. I think that my noise was caused by the bearings. I do think that one of your symtoms (noise linked to acceleration) points to the CVJ. My whomp whomp sound only varied with speed and would continue even when the car was in neutral.

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Hi, Thanks for the tips. On the wheel bearings, did you change them yourself or bring it to a shop for their press? Bentley says use a press which I don't have access to, so will see a local shop will do it for me if I bring them the wheel bearing housing and new bearing.

. I bought the parts today, $146 CDN for wheel bearing, new outer CV joint (not a rebuilt), and new boot for inner CV joint which I figure I might as well replace at the same time. Hmm, wonder if it's the inner CV joint? Do those fail much?

I'm hoping I can preserve the wheel alignment even though I have to take the bearing housing off he struts and re-attach.

On the postings about pulling on the tire at 3 and 9 or 12 and 6 O'clock, I pulled on the top of the tire, 12 O'clock, and could feel some looseness not evident on the right side. Other than the whomp whomp, the car drives nice and tight in the front end.

Thanks all,

-T> I just completed replacing the wheel bearings, hubs, ball joints, tie

I purchased a pre assembled hub/bearing unit from PartsPlaceInc. All I had to do was basically bolt it on. Oh and I did have to cut a slot into the old splash sheild to fit it on the new hub assembly as the new one doesn't come with one.

I hope that your eccentric bolts are in better shape than mine. I had to replace mine ($17 each US)

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You could disassemble the hub assembly, take it down to a machine shop and have them press the bearing(s) for you.

You can detect bad front wheel bearings very easily simply by putting the vehicle into gear with the tires off the ground while you *listen* for crackling type noises where the CV joint enters the hub. You can listen using a mechanic's stethoscope or even a long screwdriver while being cautious of the moving parts. Same goes for the rear, just spin the wheels by hand.

Depending on how anal you are about your personal vehicle's alignment, you *could* get way with marking or notching the prior installed locations and re-installing in the exact same position. Technically speaking though, once removed, your prior alignment adjustments will be thrown off slightly regardless of how straight your eyes tell you your suspension is.

And if the wheel bearings are bad they could allow a camber change. So a wheel alignment is good to do anyway afterwards! ;-)

I usually guess which wheel bearing is bad and then double check it by removing all components off of the hub and then spin it by hand to confirm it is bad.