Bad CV joint or bad wheel bearing?

So I thought it was one of my bushings, jacked up the car, and found I could move my wheel. Before I go replacing either, just wanted to touch base. Thanks !

NOTE! Turn down your volume. Air conditioning units were on nearby, but if you listen closely, you can hear the chirp that I hear when I roll to a stop sometimes. I think this may also explain my shuddering from a stop on accelerating.

https://youtu.be/JbwYZpRz0q8

Wheel bearing... or the nut is extremely loose!

Is that the whole hub moving or just the rotor? Just the rotor isn't a problem, as the wheel will actually vice the rotor between itself and the hub.
The video is pretty useless as far as audio goes.
The check for CV joint dying is either lots of grease coming out, or noticeable split in the boot. Another good tell-tale, is a mean clicking sound when turning the wheel tight while driving very slow.
Another thought: if you're getting a chirp (sounded more like a click in the video) when coming to a stop, I guess there's a chance that your rotor is actually not seating well onto the hub due to rust and crap between it and the hub. Always wire brush all contact surfaces the rotor goes onto. It's a good idea too in some climates to paint a thin layer of anti-seize onto the mating surfaces.

Sorry for being a bit reliant on the video. Rotor moves and the cv does as well (they move together) while the knuckle stays stationary. To emphasize, not just the rotor moves, when the wheel was fully seated with lug nuts torqued, the same thing was felt.

even if the nut was 100% off the axle, the rotor would not move at all like that and if it did, well it took out the bearing.
100% bearing failure.

I'm curious how many miles on the car.
Things under there sure seem "clean."

Take the wheel off, retract the caliper some with a screw driver and then put the wheel back on and check for movement. Checking movement of the rotor with the wheel and lugs off is a waste of time because there is only one small screw securing the rotor to the hub.

Retracting the caliper gives you better results for checking for movement because the pads are not touching the rotor.

Alternately, you could remove the wheel, retract the caliper, put the lugs back on without the wheel and check for movement. This approach does not give you the leverage you have with the wheel on when you check for movement.

Yes, the rotor moves because, as stated, only one bolt/screw holds it in place. However, toward the end of the flick you can see the CV joint move... shouldn't do that!

OP states that the same results are present when the wheel is fully installed. Was not a waste of time

Steering wheel shimmy on acceleration is an indicator that the inner CV joints are bad. It is hard to say if that is what would be causing this however, because as others indicate, you have a bad wheel bearing, and possibly a bad outer CV as well.

Whatever you do, just don't replace the half-shaft with a chinesium one. You need good CV joints on the original, or a replacement OEM half-shaft. The aftermarket ones will be a disappointment at best, and cause you much more grief after the fact at worst.

Cheers,

PH

Prarieview - 258k. Spent its life in TX, now one winter on the East coast has introduced this concept of rust.

Mongler - Thanks for reading through! I only pulled the wheel after the same was seen with wheel installed.

Andybees - Good eye. Not a professional so I'm glad that part came through.

PH - No steering wheel shimmy, just glubglubglub. Chased it through motor mounts and dogbone. Minimized but still there. This is a chinesium one but will be replacing it soon.

WB scheduled replacement for Thursday. Hopefully knuckle is good. Will report back.

Just remembered that I actually have an EHA transmission flange on this side. In the event that I need a new axle, does that mean I need one built for a 1.8T instead of the TDI?

When I did the clutch swap many moons ago, somehow I destroyed the old one so the cheapest replacement was the EHA.

Mongler98 said:

OP states that the same results are present when the wheel is fully installed. Was not a waste of time

Click to expand...

Just going by the Vid.

258K miles. That spindle bearing has dun checked out and gone to heaven and gotten his 67 virgin goats....all with their heads stuck in the woven fence. No surprise on that.

Prairieview said:

gone to heaven and gotten his 67 virgin goats....all with their heads stuck in the woven fence.

Click to expand...

WHAT?
THE?
*****
is wrong with you bro. no need to go there.
That's seriously not funny, and racist!
!deid rehtorb ym woh s'tahT
and i get baned for a week becuae i said "U WUT m8", SERIOUSLY!

Mongler98 said:

even if the nut was 100% off the axle, the rotor would not move at all like that and if it did, well it took out the bearing.
100% bearing failure.

Click to expand...

That's the reason I said "extremely loose."

Sad news, full knuckle replacement required. New bearing just dropped into the old knuckle.

Junkyard time

Yep. She's back on the road.