Greasykitchen's compendium of potentially stupid Mk1 Golf questions

[greasykitchen]

I have a bunch of questions so I though I'd keep 'em all in one spot. I'm fairly mechanically inept:

1. What is involved in replacing the vent windows with ones from a cabby? I get sick of gluing up the current ones.

2. There's a noise coming from my front left wheel, not a high pitch squeak or a low rumble, but sort of in between. Only at some speeds and even does it when the engine is off (car rolling). Wheel bearing? Something else. Are wheel bearings easy (ie cheapish) to replace?

3. The steering wants to pull a little to the left. Last service said the right hand tie rod needs to be replaced. Might these be connected? It could just need a wheel alignment (not had one in a while, new tyres recently). Maybe wearing ball joints?

Thanks in advance.

[Preen59]

2. There's a noise coming from my front left wheel, not a high pitch squeak or a low rumble, but sort of in between. Only at some speeds and even does it when the engine is off (car rolling). Wheel bearing? Something else. Are wheel bearings easy (ie cheapish) to replace?

Sounds like a Wheel Bearing to me. They're not too bad on a Mk1 to do. If you're not confident and haven't got someone to give you a hand though, i'd pay a GOOD mechanic to do it for you..

3. The steering wants to pull a little to the left. Last service said the right hand tie rod needs to be replaced. Might these be connected? It could just need a wheel alignment (not had one in a while, new tyres recently). Maybe wearing ball joints?

If the RHS tie rod end needs replacing it would want to pull right if it was that causing a problem.

Does it do it on the highway or just on a convex suburban street? Cars with veer (not pull) left on a convex street because they want to go to the lower side of the road (damn physics). If it is pulling left, it probably just needs a wheel alignment and you may aswell got your tie rod end replaced while you're at it because it's a bit pointless otherwise.


Hope that helps.

[greasykitchen]

Thanks. It's due for a service so I'll get the VW blokes who've been servicing to do the bearing.

As for veering vs pulling left, I'll have check tomorrow. I only really drive on suburban roads. It's not too bad - subtle but noticable and didn't use to do it.

[roccodingo]

Wheel pulling left and noisy bearing probably caused by camber being set incorrectly, or belting it out of alignment in a pothole. The bearing life on the front axles is directly proportional to the accuracy of the wheel alignment ( camber and toe settings) I have found over the years. Adding wheels with huge offset ( low numbers in the case of a MK 1 ) will also minimise bearing life.

Hope it helps, general observation from owning Mk1's since 1978.

[greasykitchen]

Thanks. No off-sets or non-standard wheels, so it's just normal wear and tear I guess. It hasn't had a wheel alignment in the time I've had it so it's probably overdue for it. Would a place like Bridgestone do good alignments? There's one near work so that's very convenient. Getting the car to my mechanic for the other stuff on the other hand is a pain...

Cheers for the input.

[greasykitchen]

Right, the thing with the veer/pull is: I have to have the wheel a bit to the right to go straight. It's a gentle pull to the left, not as dramatic as when I drove my parents' Camira (!) recently when it really pulled to the right (as in towards oncoming traffic)

The golf's steering has gotten a bit sloppier/less responsive lately - it used to be really tight and handle great. Worn tie rod here?