TLDR: My hubs on both sides are grinding into my Audi knuckles and can't figure out why.
I've been a leech for years reading everyone's smart and some not so smart suggestions. You all are a great community and have answered almost every question I've had. I'm sorry this was longer than I initially intended but I felt I needed to explain what I did and what I knew so I could get the best advise possible. You don't go into the doc and say my stomach hurts, fix it.
With that I've put over 200k on my 05 Golf over the past 6 years, yes I drive a lot. 2 months ago I did a MAJOR overhaul and spent way more money than most probably would think about. I was victim of a timing belt failure because I'm a dolt and didn't replace the belt at 80k like Kerma told me and it failed at like 85k.
I ended up getting a euro pd130(that's a story), installed mods, rebuilt the trans with mods, and did a complete front suspension upgrade. I have other mods and a Kerma tune.
As to the front suspension specifically. I put poly bushings EVERYWHERE, even removed the K-frame and swapped those. I kept the TDI front sway bar. I got Audi TT knuckles, front control arm (drilled/tapped for the sway bar), and Audi calipers. Did the 212mm brake upgrade kit from ECS. Got new hubs and bearings from ECS as well. This is where the fun began.
I had done most of the standard "upgrades" to this TDI myself over the 200k to include clutch, turbo, camshaft, stock brakes so nothing new there, just everything at once. I had replaced the bearings before but just took the knuckles to Napa. Since I wasn't a newbie with the car in general I decided to do my own bearings and got a press. I ended up putting them in and out 2-3 times. I had them in too far the first time so they wouldn't spin(possibly related to my current plight). I had to take them out a 2nd time because ECS sent me the wrong hubs(Audi not VW). I kinda figured I may have nuked the bearings doing this but was done not having a vehicle to take to work so I went with it.
Over the past few months I've been hearing sporadic grinding noises. I read somewhere that the "red stuff" brake pads sometimes sound loud during their break in period so I chalked it up to that. More time, more grinding. I pulled the tires and found the brake shield was touching the brake pads, easy fix. No more sound for a few days then it returned. I chalked it up to the shield again and with the amount of rain in the NW I said screw it for a week 'till I could look again. Shield wasn't touching on either side and I began to wonder about other causes. Pulled the driver's tire and found that the hub was wearing into the knuckle, what the actual eff.
When installing the bearings I DID install the ring clip that holds them in place, this was my first thought. I thought this grinding was weird...so I got my dremel and ground down the hub a bit as best as I could. I also used sandpaper and opened the spacing between the hub and the ABS sensor as I could see that had ground down too. Put it back and had no more sound for another day, then it returned with a vengeance. Today I pulled off both tires and could see that the hubs of both sides were grinding into the knuckles, which to me answered HOW I was getting grinding noises from the start but I still don't understand WHY. This made me think I installed something wrong or was given the wrong parts. I also noticed that the bearings on the passenger side are shot(I have a vertical wheel movement but not horizontal), again leading me to bad install or wrong parts or both.
Other thoughts;
I got new axles from Raxles Axles(next set will be from Kerma) and am wondering if they are up to snuff or not. I was thinking perhaps they were the wrong ones for my car and the axles were somehow 'pulling' the hub closer to the knuckles as this naturally happens when you tighten the axle nut. That doesn't seem likely. My best guess is (A) I nuked the bearings putting them in/out causing some noise and (B) I got the wrong bearings causing the hubs to sit too close to the knuckle.
When I tightened the axle nut I followed the Bentley exactly. Tighten to X lbs, loosen, roll car, final tighten. This didn't work for the driver's side as the nut was loose 2 days later(yes it was a new nut). So I applied some loctite and re-tightened it.
I can't imagine the geometry of the Audi knuckle bearing hole being different than VW as this seems to be a common mod and I haven't found anything about hubs grinding into the knuckles. That being said when you type 'grinding' into a search bar the answer is almost always bearings and I may just not have been thorough enough looking through the results.
Please share your wisdom. I'm going to call Napa right now and see if they have new hubs and bearings because as a minimum they are gonna get replaced on both sides.
I've been a leech for years reading everyone's smart and some not so smart suggestions. You all are a great community and have answered almost every question I've had. I'm sorry this was longer than I initially intended but I felt I needed to explain what I did and what I knew so I could get the best advise possible. You don't go into the doc and say my stomach hurts, fix it.
With that I've put over 200k on my 05 Golf over the past 6 years, yes I drive a lot. 2 months ago I did a MAJOR overhaul and spent way more money than most probably would think about. I was victim of a timing belt failure because I'm a dolt and didn't replace the belt at 80k like Kerma told me and it failed at like 85k.
I ended up getting a euro pd130(that's a story), installed mods, rebuilt the trans with mods, and did a complete front suspension upgrade. I have other mods and a Kerma tune.
As to the front suspension specifically. I put poly bushings EVERYWHERE, even removed the K-frame and swapped those. I kept the TDI front sway bar. I got Audi TT knuckles, front control arm (drilled/tapped for the sway bar), and Audi calipers. Did the 212mm brake upgrade kit from ECS. Got new hubs and bearings from ECS as well. This is where the fun began.
I had done most of the standard "upgrades" to this TDI myself over the 200k to include clutch, turbo, camshaft, stock brakes so nothing new there, just everything at once. I had replaced the bearings before but just took the knuckles to Napa. Since I wasn't a newbie with the car in general I decided to do my own bearings and got a press. I ended up putting them in and out 2-3 times. I had them in too far the first time so they wouldn't spin(possibly related to my current plight). I had to take them out a 2nd time because ECS sent me the wrong hubs(Audi not VW). I kinda figured I may have nuked the bearings doing this but was done not having a vehicle to take to work so I went with it.
Over the past few months I've been hearing sporadic grinding noises. I read somewhere that the "red stuff" brake pads sometimes sound loud during their break in period so I chalked it up to that. More time, more grinding. I pulled the tires and found the brake shield was touching the brake pads, easy fix. No more sound for a few days then it returned. I chalked it up to the shield again and with the amount of rain in the NW I said screw it for a week 'till I could look again. Shield wasn't touching on either side and I began to wonder about other causes. Pulled the driver's tire and found that the hub was wearing into the knuckle, what the actual eff.
When installing the bearings I DID install the ring clip that holds them in place, this was my first thought. I thought this grinding was weird...so I got my dremel and ground down the hub a bit as best as I could. I also used sandpaper and opened the spacing between the hub and the ABS sensor as I could see that had ground down too. Put it back and had no more sound for another day, then it returned with a vengeance. Today I pulled off both tires and could see that the hubs of both sides were grinding into the knuckles, which to me answered HOW I was getting grinding noises from the start but I still don't understand WHY. This made me think I installed something wrong or was given the wrong parts. I also noticed that the bearings on the passenger side are shot(I have a vertical wheel movement but not horizontal), again leading me to bad install or wrong parts or both.
Other thoughts;
I got new axles from Raxles Axles(next set will be from Kerma) and am wondering if they are up to snuff or not. I was thinking perhaps they were the wrong ones for my car and the axles were somehow 'pulling' the hub closer to the knuckles as this naturally happens when you tighten the axle nut. That doesn't seem likely. My best guess is (A) I nuked the bearings putting them in/out causing some noise and (B) I got the wrong bearings causing the hubs to sit too close to the knuckle.
When I tightened the axle nut I followed the Bentley exactly. Tighten to X lbs, loosen, roll car, final tighten. This didn't work for the driver's side as the nut was loose 2 days later(yes it was a new nut). So I applied some loctite and re-tightened it.
I can't imagine the geometry of the Audi knuckle bearing hole being different than VW as this seems to be a common mod and I haven't found anything about hubs grinding into the knuckles. That being said when you type 'grinding' into a search bar the answer is almost always bearings and I may just not have been thorough enough looking through the results.
Please share your wisdom. I'm going to call Napa right now and see if they have new hubs and bearings because as a minimum they are gonna get replaced on both sides.
