Chaps, Problems afoot with the Mk2 - 1991 8v GTi. Have a read and let me know what you think ... Front brake disks and pads were past their best, so yours truly bought the bits and went from London to Worcestershire (large garage at parents house) to fit 'em. Upon removal of front N/S wheel, I found a small heap of CV joint grease, and the outer CV boot resembling a pair of net curtains. So, refitted wheel, drove smartly to local motor factors and bought a new CV joint and returned home. New CV joint fitted, new brake disks and pads fitted, took it for a spin up the road. And the resulting noise can best be described as sounding like a continuous "Woowoowoowoowoo", related to road speed. Most noisy between 30 and 40 mph, and seems to be making the "woo" noise once for every wheel revolution. It seems strongly to be coming from the front N/S (where the CV joint was replaced) and gets much quieter on left hand corners, and slightly louder on right hand corners. It's not a clicking, as I would expect from a defective CV joint, and is getting (slightly) louder (having driven it round Shropshire, round Birmingham and now back to London since it started!) I can't see anything wrong. The CV boot isn't catching on anything, and I have removed and refitted both brake disks in case they weren't sitting quite flat against the hub. (I have even refitted the old disks to see if that cured it, and it didn't, so I refitted the new ones.) It doesn't make the noise when the corner is jacked up, and the wheel spun, either spun under power or by hand. Any ideas? My thoughts currently are that either we have fitted a defective CV joint (possible, but unlikely. I removed the new boot after the first road test, and checked the grease was in the right places - it was. I even squeezed some more CV joint grease right into the middle of it, to be sure. Didn't cure it though.) It could be that I have managed to disturb (or damage) the inner CV joint by waggling the outer one around while changing it, but it's not a CV-ish noise, and inner joints aren't meant to be affected by cornering. Or it could be a wheel bearing - but this was fine before I did the job, and the wheel doesn't seem to have much play if the car is jacked up. Any one any ideas? Oli. P.S. Apologies for cross-posting. Edited by: zcacogp
Dave of the destructive nature - I hope not! Never had one of these go on me before (no, that's a lie, I have, but it had different symptoms.) And I hope it isn't this again. Panzer - yeah, my thoughts. Thanks. Why do you think this, out of interest? Anyone any more ideas? Oli.
Sounds like Wheel bearing mate. did you check for any play in it when you had the wheel off the ground??
Coming at the wheel bearing thing from a different angle: Did U tighten the hub nut sufficiently? Those things have to be b45t4rd tight other wise the wheel bearing will have slop in it and give you those symptoms. If tightening doesn't work I'd replace the wheel bearing before checking out the diff. It's the cheaper of the two jobs and it's probably more knackered than the rest cos of roundabouts anyway.
Chaps, Many thanks all for your comments. Consensus is that it's the wheel bearing. (Thanks for your comment about the tightness of the hub nut, Mr Seizure. It's as tight as my weedy muscles on the end of a long torque wrench could make it, but it's worth investigating this before going to town on changing the bearing.) Having said that, a new bearing is awaiting fitting, we'll see where we go from there. Thanks again for your help. Once again I realise what a good thing this forum is, keep up the hard work to keep it as it is chaps. Oli.
Chaps, A quick update (for anyone who is interested.) It was the wheel bearing. A new part, installed on Saturday (and what a pig of a job it is to do!) has cured the peculiar noise I was concerned about, and made the car considerably quieter as well. Therefore, many thanks for your sage advice and guidance chaps, it was appreciated, and I am once again a happy chappie! Shadowman - does this mean I owe you a quid? Oli.
