Wheel bearing...or something else?

[Got Smoke?]

Ok I have a groan coming from the driver side front of my jetta at low speeds...goes away consistantly @ 20mph. Driving across a parking lot is a little embarrassing though.....

At first I figured it has to be a wheel bearing....then this morning I noticed that if I lightly touch the brake pedal the sound immediately goes away. I wouldn't think a bearing would quit groaning just because the brakes were applied as lightly as possible.

Thoughts, ideas, comments PLEASE?

 

[TonyJetta]

Pull the wheel and inspect the rotor and pads.

I recently replaced a wheel bearing because it had a howl at 55-65mph.

As speed increases, your noise goes away...I would say that it's not likely a wheel bearing.

Tony

 

[1985Wolfberg]

Check the philips screw holding the rotors to make sure they are not loose

 

[bmike]

Check the philips screw holding the rotors to make sure they are not loose

Not applicable

 

[DonL]

If it the wheel bearing you should be able to feel it when the car is jacked up and you spin the wheel. Mine squeaked so you knew the bearing was bad. You could especially hear it on turns. Wheel bearing replacement is pretty much not a do it yourself job.

 

[1985Wolfberg]

Dido on the jack it up and shake,shaky... Took almost 2yrs - a dealer and a shop couldn't find the problem. Found it when it went bad. Bad wheel bearing. You could pull the spindle and take a closer look. If bearing bad a good machine shop can press out the bad and put the new one. NOISE gone, peace and quiet. I also had a small rock get lodged between the rotor and back plate. Thought the pads where bad. Removed the rock and no noise.

 

[Got Smoke?]

Well I am going along the lines of cheapest to most expensive. I also had a thought occur that right before this happened a few days or so I had panic stop that locked up this particular tire (left front)...with over 200K on the car I'm wondering if I have a brake hose that has colapsed or a caliper that is sticking? (are the calipers on these cars floating?)

My fiance drove the car on Friday because she had to go to Nashville...when she met me at my parents as she slowly came up the driveway the squeak was VERY noticeable. I though for a moment and stuck my hand down on the wheels...VERY warm almost to the point that I couldn't hold my hand on it. Went around to the passenger side...could easily hold my hand on that wheel. So I have a new brake hose coming today that I'm going to swap out on the Dside front and see if that fixes what I believe to be hanging brakes now. Would have addressed this sooner but both my Dodges are in a state of disassembly in my only shop so I have no where to work on it.

 

[Got Smoke?]

Check the philips screw holding the rotors to make sure they are not loose

Not applicable

I finally got around to finding and fixing the problem a little while ago, but I haven't been on to post the end result. The problem was the lower caliper pin was froze and constantly kept the inner pad touching the rotor. Sucks for me because the pad's originally had 3/4 left when I got the car back in Oct.

Here's my Drivers side hub with the rotor removed, the flush broke screw is circled. Same discovery on the pass side...screw was broke flush with the hub. New York car.

I installed new pads and rotors from my local Napa, and cleaned the caliper pins thoroughly and then lubricated them with some snythetic grease my parts guy recommended. Not a problem since and a good bit more braking power now also.

 

[1985Wolfberg]

Comments from Bmike others like him keeps me away. I recommend to check the rotor screw. But he blew me off... slhesshh. Any way glade you found the problem. I wished VW would have use some type of allen screw/bolt.

 

[OilBurnerDE]

His issue appeared to be a stuck caliper, not the screw.

I have had a broken screw on my Corrado b4 and it never caused a problem with noise or braking whatsoever.

Admittedly it makes trying to line up the wheel and bolt it to the hub a PITA if the rotor isn't secure to the hub. But other then being there for that specific purpose. I don't see what difference it makes

 

[schultp]

My old Saturn didn't even have rotor screws. No problem with rattle since the lug nuts and wheel hold everything in place. Even with the tire off the caliper/pads kept it in place.

 

[40X40]

Comments from Bmike others like him keeps me away. I recommend to check the rotor screw. But he blew me off... slhesshh. Any way glade you found the problem. I wished VW would have use some type of allen screw/bolt.

The screw is only there for assembly line convenience. It had nothing to do with the problem. The caliper was not free to float.

Bill

 

[Abacus]

Agreed, I have not even repaired old screws when they have broken, just because they do nothing other than hold the rotor in place when putting on the tire. Once the tire is in place, they do nothing since the lug nuts hold the rotor on. Mine are in place on the B4, but on other cars I've just left them off.

I have had many seized caliper pins, so many that I now take them off whenever I change the pads, clean them, regrease (don't overdo it), and reinstall. Never had a problem since.