Firestone says I have issues.

xiledsavior

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Location
Madison
TDI
1999 Golf GLS
So, I got an alignment done after changing out my suspension and Firestone says that I need a new wheel bearing, a new ball joint and that my inner tie rod is loose. I found a DIY on the wheel bearing doesn't sound too hard, but I can't find anything about the other issues.

First: How do I check to make sure these things are actually bad?
Second: Does anyone have any input on how hard/easy these could be and where I could find any of the special tools I need?
Thanks in advance for the help!
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Ball joint: Car on jackstands (unless you have a nice lift available) with wheels off the ground. Push & pull at the bottom of the wheel - 6 o'clock position. In and out. It will take quite some effort. You can either feel the movement or have someone observe at a safe distance to see if there is any movement in the ball joint. There is no tolerance: any movement indicates a bad ball joint.

Tie rod: same position on jacks. Push - pull at 9 and 3 o'clock positions. looseness indicates ball joint at end of tie rod or inner part is loose. Like the ball joint, there is no tolerance. Any observable looseness indicates a need to repair.

Wheel bearing: This one is tricky to discern between it and a CV joint problem. Wheel bearings tend to howl or growl at you no matter the power (on or off, meaning foot on or off the go-pedal) and the 'tone' will rise and fall with vehicle speed. It may or may not manifest when the wheel is unloaded (vehicle on jackstands and spinning the wheel by hand or under engine power). More often it is heard while the wheel is loaded while driving. Loading or unloading (on the outside or inside of a turn) sometimes helps determine which side wheel bearing is bad. CV joints will tend to click if they are going bad under these conditions (CV joint in a turn) which will differentiate them from wheel bearings.

The upside: you can fix all these things yourself. The downside, it can't be explained in a short posting, and some special tools are required. Check the how-to stickies by Wing Nut or use searches. Another good source is JasonTDI who isn't that far away from you. He's got reasonable rates and is a great resource.
 

xiledsavior

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Location
Madison
TDI
1999 Golf GLS
I don't have any growling or howling while driving, I've been listening. I did have a annoying high pitch squeak that happened between 1 and 40 mph but now it only happens when I tap the brakes. I think it's the brakes, which I want to replace. On the plus side, upgrading my brakes (like i want to do) means the spindle conversion which includes a new ball joint :p

I figured I'd take it to have Jason look at it, but I'm waiting a little bit, there's a lot of things up in the air and on top of that, I know Jason is busy as all get out.
 

milehighassassin

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Location
Fort Collins, CO
TDI
2005 Golf TDi PD, Reflex Silver
You might not have a bad wheel bearing. They might think that because if you have a bad ball joint and tie rod it could trigger their machine to think that. But, if you are doing the other two, it would be easy to do the bearing at the same time...
 

streeker02

Veteran Member
Joined
May 12, 2008
Location
Halton Hills
TDI
2003 Golf TDI
Pretty tough to properly diagnose a wheel bearing with a tie rod end and BJ falling out, in my experience. These parts are so loose sometimes that you can't properly feel bearing play.
 

coalminer16

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
Golf 2004
There machines are set up so sensitive that anything could be throwing it off. If you don't have a howling noise then your wheel bearing is fine. It will make a noise before failing and likely it will make it for a lot time before complete failure. And it is the hardest to do on your own since you do need the special tools to do it. This is how I did my wheel bearings if you are interested http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=269674&highlight=sir
The ball joints are very cheap and easy to do. You use the nut to push it out on the CV joint. Haven't done the tie rod but that shouldn't be to hard. Remember they are in the business of selling parts so of course they are going to say several things have failed when maybe only one has.
 
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