Hopped in the car last night, after not driving it for 3 days (had a bit of snow too), and as soon as I hit about 35mph I started to get this deep bassy wub-wub-wub noise from the front nearside corner.

The frequency of the noise increases with speed. I can only hear it between 35 and 45mph, at motorway speeds it dissapears. When pulling away from standstill, you can't hear it until you reach enough speed. Same goes for braking to a stop. Cornering doesn't seem to affect it. There is no vibration, through the body or steering.

There are no other rattles or knocks, just this droning noise. I can't feel anything through the car while driving, but the sound is like something is stuck to the tyre or as if I'm driving over dashed white lines. If you know what I mean!

The noise is there when accelerating, on over-run, when cruising and when coasting out of gear. So I don't think it's engine/gearbox related.

I would have expected a failing CV joint to make more of a knocking noise, but not sure.

My immediate guess is a wheel bearing. What do you guys think?

P.S. The noise isn't that loud.

Thanks in advance

+1 for Bearing..

Just had the same thing on my Bora, & it was a wheel bearing.

Cheers guys. My dad agrees with you both!

Anyone changed the bearing themselves? Is it possible to do it with the wheel bearing housing in situ, or am I best off removing it to press out/in the hub and bearing?

I suppose I have two routes to go down. The lazy pre-assembled (expensive) option:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_IV--1.8T/Drivetrain/Bearings/ES3033/

Or the cheaper option with lots more work:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_IV--1.8T/Drivetrain/Bearings/ES1671/

Or get a decent garage to do it...

Bit of a pain in the rectum, as I need the car to drive to France in 3 weeks. Typical!

Found this epic how-to: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=250295

You need a press and a set of very fine edged pullers to release the inner bearing shell from the hub. I used oxyacetylene and a screwdriver to prise the inner bearing shell off, you won't do it with a typical DIY tool kit.

I would also replace both at the same time as the other side usually fails soon after.

I've done three now and the are a PITA, if they had gone again a garage would be doing it.

Edited 20 February, 201115 yr by martziniuk

SNAP mate.

I have the same trouble, I had a bearing go. was fixed but now I have this same thing as you soon as I got the car back.

I did tests mate, and couldnt find anything wrong only a noise from the gearbox.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/185422-very-disturbing-dronegrinding/page__hl__grinding

I am now convinced that its the bearing they replaced. Judging by the ball joints they fitted lol, I wouldnt put it past them that they did the bearing wrong. Getting the other one off the other car sorted to go on as it needs a new CV boot as there is weak points in it and one small pin hole in it.

car seems to go ok for now tho.

hope you get it sorted mate

When i replaced mine on my mk1 vrs i cut the inner race off the hub as you cant get in with a normal puller due to the abs ring on the hub,other than that it the same as a normal front wheeel drive bearing to replace.You will need a press though.

Cheers guys. My dad agrees with you both!

Anyone changed the bearing themselves? Is it possible to do it with the wheel bearing housing in situ, or am I best off removing it to press out/in the hub and bearing?

I suppose I have two routes to go down. The lazy pre-assembled (expensive) option:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_IV--1.8T/Drivetrain/Bearings/ES3033/

Or the cheaper option with lots more work:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Golf_IV--1.8T/Drivetrain/Bearings/ES1671/

Or get a decent garage to do it...

Bit of a pain in the rectum, as I need the car to drive to France in 3 weeks. Typical!

doing a bearing replacement on these cars is a PITA.

To save money you could just remove the Hub asm and take that down to a garage to press out old bearing and press in new one, then you refit Hub.

That is not too bad to remove yourself. Need a long breaker bar though to remove wheel nut...That is on tight.

Oh and be careful not to damage ABS ring

SNAP mate.

I have the same trouble, I had a bearing go. was fixed but now I have this same thing as you soon as I got the car back.

I did tests mate, and couldnt find anything wrong only a noise from the gearbox.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/185422-very-disturbing-dronegrinding/page__hl__grinding

I am now convinced that its the bearing they replaced. Judging by the ball joints they fitted lol, I wouldnt put it past them that they did the bearing wrong. Getting the other one off the other car sorted to go on as it needs a new CV boot as there is weak points in it and one small pin hole in it.

car seems to go ok for now tho.

hope you get it sorted mate

Just had a read through your thread Billy. Looks like you've been having fun!! Have you got any further with it? Seems like you've ruled out the gearbox, diff and CV's. So could well be a poorly installed bearing like you say. Based on the job they did on your balljoints, god knows what the bearings look like!

Based on reading through other threads on various other forums, I'm 90% sure mine is a bearing. They all seem to refer to the noise being the loudest at about 40mph, and the noise being very similar to how I described it. For example, this quote is from the tdiclub's DIY:

"Once you've heard the "whrowhrowhrowhrowhrowhrow" groan of a bad wheel bearing, you'll never forget it. But if you've never heard it, it usually manifests itself as a deep groaning noise that increases tempo with speed. It sounds very similar to a square tire."

Is your noise similar?

I would also replace both at the same time as the other side usually fails soon after.

I've done three now and the are a PITA, if they had gone again a garage would be doing it.

When i replaced mine on my mk1 vrs i cut the inner race off the hub as you cant get in with a normal puller due to the abs ring on the hub,other than that it the same as a normal front wheeel drive bearing to replace.You will need a press though.

doing a bearing replacement on these cars is a PITA.

To save money you could just remove the Hub asm and take that down to a garage to press out old bearing and press in new one, then you refit Hub.

So basically it looks like a pig of a job then! Thanks for all the tips and advice guys.

Changing both the fronts in one go definately sounds like a good plan. I have a small press at home, so the worst case would be removing the housings and pressing the bits in/out on the bench. But I'd like to get hold of some specialist pullers etc. to try and do it in situ.

I've called Skoda, and ruled out buying a pre-assembled housing assembly! They don't sell them pre-assembled apparently. Also the prices are crazy:

Bearing Housing (upright) = £212

Bearing repair kit (bearing, circlip, hub nut) = £52.54

Hub (+ rotor) = £94.80

So looks like if I do it myself, I'm going to end up spending more money on tools than parts again!

Skoda have said they will do the job for about £119+vat, but I don't really trust them to do it properly...

I might end up taking her over to Awesome for them to do both if I can't be bothered.

Oh well, I suppose the bearings have had a good innings! 9 years and 122k miles isn't too bad I don't think.

Trust me you won't do it in situ. Remove the Hub asm. It is quick and easy and then gives you options. Either have a go yourself or can take it to garage or even VW or Skoda.

Bet they won't charge you more than £50 to press out and in your supplied ones.

That price they charge is mainly labour to get to the bearing asm.

Edited 21 February, 201115 yr by Bowders1

Yup,you wont be able to do it without removing the hub assembly off the car!

Thanks for the heads up guys

My dad's got an old fly press that would probably do the job with some spacers. I've obviously changed the struts and balljoints before so they will be easy to remove, and I've had the carriers off before. The track rod ends will probably be nicely rusted in though! So might get some new ones just incase.

Should be much easier working on them when off the car, so I'm up for that.

Only problem now is that this job has been pushed down the queue.... as one of my power-steering hoses has just burst!!!

At least all this is happening now in the uk when you can fix it & not at the side of a busy road in france in a few weeks time! Only thing that worries me is they say things happen in three's............whats next for you?

Me and a mate did it on my Octy at his workshop and it's a pain! Give yourself plenty of time to do it. We used a big socket to press the bearing in and I think we used a regular bearing puller to get the old one out but can't remember. Definitely get some track rod ends as the torx head rounded off during removal and we had to cut the nut off to carry on replacing the bearing. Not good when you're 50 miles from home! Had to send the wife on a mission first thing in the morning to get to GSF and then deliver the part to me so I could get the car roadworthy again! If you don't use them you can always take them back if you get them from a local part supplier. Think I got the bearings, hub nuts etc from VW Spares. Probably worth doing the ball joint at the same time too. And maybe TT bushes if you haven't already... all sorts you can replace when you're working in that area!

At least all this is happening now in the uk when you can fix it & not at the side of a busy road in france in a few weeks time! Only thing that worries me is they say things happen in three's............whats next for you?

I know, I can imagine if this happened in France I would be mildly screwed! Well I am ill, so that can be number 3 for now thanks!

Me and a mate did it on my Octy at his workshop and it's a pain! Give yourself plenty of time to do it. We used a big socket to press the bearing in and I think we used a regular bearing puller to get the old one out but can't remember. Definitely get some track rod ends as the torx head rounded off during removal and we had to cut the nut off to carry on replacing the bearing. Not good when you're 50 miles from home! Had to send the wife on a mission first thing in the morning to get to GSF and then deliver the part to me so I could get the car roadworthy again! If you don't use them you can always take them back if you get them from a local part supplier. Think I got the bearings, hub nuts etc from VW Spares. Probably worth doing the ball joint at the same time too. And maybe TT bushes if you haven't already... all sorts you can replace when you're working in that area!

Cheers for the advice. I changed the balljoints, wishbones and struts a couple of years back, so they should be in decent nick still. Rod ends are on the list though...

Well I've just ordered two wheel bearing repair kits from Skoda.

Kit includes bearing, circlip, hub nut, nut for strut pinch bolt, nut for ball joint and nut for track rod end (6 piece kit).

Managed to get the pair for £84 inc. vat from Skoda.

I just need to sort a garage to change them now, as with the other car issues I'm having I don't have time to fit them myself.

Edited 23 February, 201115 yr by Bodge

Mini update:

Labour at Awesome GTI is £66/hr. They quote 1.5hrs per side, so for both front bearings it will be £198.

Looks like an expensive month for the car....

As stated buddy remove the Hub yourself, then get Awesome to just remove old bearings and fit new ones. You can do both in 1.5 hours easy.

Edited 23 February, 201115 yr by Bowders1

£100 a side labour to replace a wheel bearing.......ouch!