Front end growly vib noise.

Okay our 2012 jetta tdi 6m is nearing 100k miles and I put new tires on about 5k ago (some eco plus all season Continental Control Contact or such) and thought it was just a noisy tire.



Did my oil change the other day and tested the car while it was up on jack stands. Still noisy and you can feel roughness/vibrations through the floor starting around 35-40mph. Checked wheel bearings and those are tight. I did change the trans oil about 25k ago with OEM stuff so I cleaned a pan and dropped it and no chunks (thankfully!!) but the oil was darkish already and just some fine metal sludge on the magnet I put in the plug. I refilled with some nice Amsoil 75w90 GL4 oil I had on hand for another vehicle but never used.


I did end up disconnecting the drivers side axle from the trans stub thing and while the passenger side was locked tight via the brake, it made some howling again but I think that might have just been the differential action (spider gears going fast as the one side wasn't moving). That's what I'm hoping it was at least.


So, I also tried with the wheels cranked with the axles connected and it seems louder and seemed like more vibrations too sooooooo who here thinks it's the cv joints and not the transmission? And if it's the cv joints, should I replace both sides or do some more testing and see if I can narrow it down to one side or the other.



And I did a stethoscope check on the wheel bearings and trans output bearings and the wheels sounded quiet and the trans was noisy because of the engine but it almost sounded like I could hear something besides engine. And a tip, it's LOUD AS EEF when you drop the end and it hits the concrete floor while the stethoscope is still in your ears!!


If I do the cv axles then I see OEM is expensive and I was thinking of these
https://www.carid.com/2012-volkswagen-jetta-driveline-axles/dss-axle-shaft-assembly-937791487.html as they come with a 36,000 3 year warranty at least. Or O'reilly or autozone or advance auto parts all have limited lifetime warranty axles available.


Thoughts anyone?

Since you have a noise and because of the mileage I think I'd do the wheel bearing assemblies and maybe the half axles too.

I don't think I'd spin it through the spider gears like you are doing. Also are you sure you are using the correct grade of oil?

You do not need axles. And if you put those Chaxles in there, you'll have problems forever.

You cannot properly evaluate drive axles with the wheels dangling anyway, the geometry has changed.

I would rotate the tires, see if anything changes.

While the car was in the air did you check the CV boots? Were they cracked or split open, was there grease escaping? With the car on the ground find a parking lot/area large enough to turn the wheel to full lock both to left and right and drive in a circle. If it is your cv joints this should put stress on it and help you isolate which side it's coming from, but like OilHammer said you need to have the car on the ground with weight on it to accurately asses what's going on.

VinceJ is also right about it being time to think about replacing the wheel bearings anyways as a preventative maintenance item. Even when you have the vehicle int he air and pull on the wheels, you're not putting the same stress on the bearing that you would when it's on the ground being driven. Bearings give up the ghost in different ways, so it could be growling without feeling terribly sloppy.

I also got a vibration/slight roughness when my tires had worn unevenly, due to excess weight in the rear of the vehicle. Once I rotated the tires the noise and vibration went away. Best practice would be do the easy/free checks first like you have been, remember to rotate the tires, then try by addressing the related preventative maintenance items starting at the less costly items like new CV boot & grease, wheel bearings, bushings/motor & tranny mounts. Axle's should be a last resort and should almost always be OEM, I have heard good things about Raxels, but OilHammer would be the authority I defer to on that.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

vincej said:

Since you have a noise and because of the mileage I think I'd do the wheel bearing assemblies and maybe the half axles too.

I don't think I'd spin it through the spider gears like you are doing. Also are you sure you are using the correct grade of oil?

Click to expand...

The dealer specs straight 75 weight according to the VIN and that was what I put in there last time, I spent about 30 minutes at the parts counter to make certain as 2012 they switched from a multi weight to straight weight, or vice versa. I had the amsoil on hand so I put that in there when I dropped the other stuff and being a 75w-90 GL4 it is fine for now. Spider gears are fine, it was only 5 seconds or so and being as there was no load or anything there would be minimal thrust loading on the internals. You'd do much worse doing a one wheel peel anyways

oilhammer said:

You do not need axles. And if you put those Chaxles in there, you'll have problems forever.

You cannot properly evaluate drive axles with the wheels dangling anyway, the geometry has changed.

I would rotate the tires, see if anything changes.

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True, some geometry has changed. Though you still get the large angle change at the outboard cv joint by turning the wheel.



Why the "problems forever" by using aftermarket axles? I'm genuinely curious.

Pharcyde145 said:

While the car was in the air did you check the CV boots? Were they cracked or split open, was there grease escaping? With the car on the ground find a parking lot/area large enough to turn the wheel to full lock both to left and right and drive in a circle. If it is your cv joints this should put stress on it and help you isolate which side it's coming from, but like OilHammer said you need to have the car on the ground with weight on it to accurately asses what's going on.

VinceJ is also right about it being time to think about replacing the wheel bearings anyways as a preventative maintenance item. Even when you have the vehicle int he air and pull on the wheels, you're not putting the same stress on the bearing that you would when it's on the ground being driven. Bearings give up the ghost in different ways, so it could be growling without feeling terribly sloppy.

I also got a vibration/slight roughness when my tires had worn unevenly, due to excess weight in the rear of the vehicle. Once I rotated the tires the noise and vibration went away. Best practice would be do the easy/free checks first like you have been, remember to rotate the tires, then try by addressing the related preventative maintenance items starting at the less costly items like new CV boot & grease, wheel bearings, bushings/motor & tranny mounts. Axle's should be a last resort and should almost always be OEM, I have heard good things about Raxels, but OilHammer would be the authority I defer to on that.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

Click to expand...

Boots are fine, no grease trails anywhere.


With the wheels in the air there was no slop whatsoever on the bearings, or the tie rod ends for that matter. And they spin quite well with the axles disconnected and supported. I did stethoscope them while they were spinning via engine power and they were very quiet, even with no load you'd think I'd hear something coming out of them.



Would motor/tranny mount noise be exacerbated when accelerating/decelerating as the motor is twisting over during those times? The noise comes on with speed and doesn't change whether I'm hammering it in third or putting along in sixth but I will crawl under there and look at them. I'm guessing I'm looking for squashed rubber at the mounting points?


I'll reconnect the cv axle shafts and rotate the tires and do some donuts in a parking lot but we just got snow today and my weekend is packed so it'll have to wait until later next week.



Oh and I also have had a malone stage 2 tune on the car for about 20k miles so that could/would have accelerated the wear in whatever it was. I really hope it's not transmission output shaft related as that looks like a very involved job!



I do appreciate all the input and I'll get busy on trying the suggestions once I get some school homework and family stuff taken care of!!



Anyone know where to get good prices on OEM parts or do you just hit up local dealer websites or parts counters?

The plague of Chaxles is well known here and in the automotive world.

I will say that with both my 2013 and 2014 cars I have had trouble with tire balancing. I don't know if it is poor quality mag wheels or not but I have felt the vibrations too. The last car I took a wheel off and the guy had to spend a lot of time in trying to get it in specs. This time when I put on my snows I saw evidence of tire hop on one of them. I'll have to take that one off too and have it redone. The steel wheels don't seem to have that problem, as much as I don't like the look of them.

The stock 17" Porto's that came with mine had been curbed a few times from the start. Combine that with the occasional frost heave, pot holes and pavement gaps/bridge connection joints at highways speeds and they will be susceptible to bending.

It would give me a vibration as I sped up too, that wasn't dependent on throttle input. I'd feel it in the steering wheel and it would even make the passenger seat headrest shake @ 35-40mph if no one was sitting in it. This also made me think running gear issues (bearings, cv's, axels etc.) were present, but I got lucky and swapped wheels for winter just like Vincej and it solved my issues.

What kind of wheels are you running? Do you plan to switch over to snow tires, or have access to another set of wheels you know to be true that you can try?

Not sure if our symptoms are exactly the same, but when i have front end up in the air I have vibrations as well. I disconnected the CV's, no vibrations at all. Put CV's back in, removed calipers, no vibrations. I think the ABS system is trying to engage, as its not registering rear wheels turning (you should see a fault in ABS in VCDS for those when doing this). Now I can't get front end to quit "grabbing" at low speeds - 15mph and slowing down you can really feel it.