wheel bearing woes

[Mrk_Mickey]

So I've replaced my rear wheel bearings at least twice each. I am still getting a horrific whirring noise coming from somewhere at the back end, and it's matched to my speed. It almost feels like a grinding at low speeds, and then when speeding up it's just a loud wheel bearing sort of noise.

I was eventually going to replace the stub axles, brakes and rotors as both a refreshment and a big trial and error tackle, but I'd like to see if anyone has had any similar troubles before that they have a fix for?

Cheers guys.

[DubSteve]

Must be rocket science........................

[MattyT]

Is it matching rev speed or vehicle speed?

[njg02]

What were the bearings like that you changed, pitted, burnt, wear marks? Have you over greased them? Correct tightening torque? Have you jacked the car up and spun the wheels, front and back? Rotated tyres front to back? A mate just put new tyres on his Captiva with same as what was on it, 18" dunlops, and the tyres are very noisy, same tread pattern too.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Is it matching rev speed or vehicle speed?

vehicle speed.

What were the bearings like that you changed, pitted, burnt, wear marks? Have you over greased them? Correct tightening torque? Have you jacked the car up and spun the wheels, front and back? Rotated tyres front to back? A mate just put new tyres on his Captiva with same as what was on it, 18" dunlops, and the tyres are very noisy, same tread pattern too.

No signs of bad damage on old bearings. Changed again once or twice each, again no signs. No naked-eye-visible marks on the spindles either. Not sure about over-greasing. Correct torque yep. Haven't gotten around to spinning back wheels, spun the front and no problems. I have wider rear wheels so can't rotate.

The only thing I can think of is that the first set of bearings wore the spindle on the stub axles and warped them with heat or something which I can't see from sight...I've got no other ideas.

[Bora Sport]

Do you know anyone else with a Mark 3 Golf or Vento? Swap the rear wheels and see if the noise is still there. Tyres particularly if the are left on the back and not regularly rotated can cause a very loud noise similar to what you are decribing. Also some tyres just get noisy as they wear.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Do you know anyone else with a Mark 3 Golf or Vento? Swap the rear wheels and see if the noise is still there. Tyres particularly if the are left on the back and not regularly rotated can cause a very loud noise similar to what you are decribing. Also some tyres just get noisy as they wear.

I've got three sets of wheels!

...I don't think this could be it because I had the noise before, but could bad toe alignment play a part? I've got camber shims which, with my ride height, incur visible toe when they shouldn't lol

[mk3pete]

i had a similar problem mickey
originaly i thought it was the front wheels that were making the noise but infact it was the rear, replaced the bearings and no probs
maybe it sounds like its the rear but its your fronts
jack your car up and spin each wheel see if you can feel the roughness

sure your wheels arnt too wide

[Mrk_Mickey]

i had a similar problem mickey
originaly i thought it was the front wheels that were making the noise but infact it was the rear, replaced the bearings and no probs
maybe it sounds like its the rear but its your fronts
jack your car up and spin each wheel see if you can feel the roughness

sure your wheels arnt too wide

I'm fairly certain the noise is in the back as I've had this problem before... Besides, I've changed both front bearings once or twice anyway. Stupid things...

I'll go and check all the wheels tonight, and change wheels to eliminate tyre noise.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Surprise surprise, rear nuts for bearings were way too loose.

Jacked the car up and both wheels were basically ''loose'' to jiggle around - turns out the cotter pin was just there to look retarded (no, it can't even look pretty). I bent them inward to keep the two sides of the pins pushed into the grooves in the spindle nut cover thingo. Still makes noise, not as much now, definitely no more grinding - but I dare say the bearings will need re-doing for the third time sometime soonish.

So sick of this driveline. VW, make some decent stuff already argh