Strange noise?????

[shearer27]

My '97 Gti 8v has developed a strange noise coming, (from what sounds like), the O/S rear wheel. It is only noticeable at low speeds as anything above 10/15mph gets drowned out by road noise. The only way that I can describe it is that it sounds a bit like a steam train - chuff, chuff, chuff - you get the idea! It doesn't seem to stop under breaking. I have recently had the caliper replaced but it was doing this before the change? The only thing that I can think of is a warped disc as the pads were binding making the rear wheel and disc too hot to touch after a short drive.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[headache56]

Does the noise exist or change if you do any of:

1. freewheel (go downhill while in neutral),
2. turn the steering wheel,
3. switch the engine on or off
4. apply the brakes
5. jack up the suspect wheel and spin it by hand.

[shearer27]

Thanks headache56 for your quick reply. I will give these a go over the weekend and get back to the post with the outcomes! For now, I think the noise is constant and seems to be there wether coasting, cornering or moving the car with the engine off - but I will double check.

Thanks again.

[shearer27]

Took the wheel off at the weekend and tried to turn the disc. It was quite difficult to turn by hand - is this normal? The noise is still there this week and is constant – very annoying!! Could it be the wheel bearing? It seems to lessen in a right-hand turn.

Any ideas out there?

[headache56]

Shearer27,

I think there will be many folks here who know a lot more than me - I sometimes wonder why some posts get loads of replies but others only a few or even none.

Tomorrow I need to jack my car so I can check how easy it is to spin my wheel.

Can you remind me:

(1)
Which wheel is your problem with.

(2)
Did you do anything just before the noise started e.g. brake pads, wheel bearings, check CV joint gaiters for splits in the rubber (bellows) covering ?

Kevin

[shearer27]

Hi Kevin

Same with me – I'm no mechanic but I know when something isn't right with a car that you've had for six years!

Initially, the car was having problems with the rear O/S (drivers-side) caliper. It was not releasing properly and the handbrake was sloppy when pulled up. I did try and adjust the cable but this didn't help matters. On short journeys to and from work I would get to my destination and could smell brake dust and on further investigation I found that the afore mentioned wheel (and disc) were red hot! I guessed that something must have been binding-on and thought that it must be the caliper and disc. Before the caliper was replaced, the wheel was making a binding sound which I assumed was the caliper rubbing on the disc? I have since had the caliper replaced which has solved the handbrake issue but I still have the same binding-on sound coming from the same wheel?

I am now thinking that this is the wheel bearing but I don't know how you can tell when these have given up or worn?

Cheers.

[pon]

Have you checked to see if your discs are warped?

[shearer27]

How do you check for warped discs?

I did take the wheel off and spin the disc by hand (although it seemed quite hard to rotate) – I'm guessing that I need the put a static object against the disc and rotate it to see if it has high/low spots right? It didn't seem to hit the pad on a high spot - it just seemed to be constant when moved round.

[shearer27]

Anyone? The noise is still there - and the strange thing is it barely noticeable until the wheel in question goes over the first road bump and then it starts?

[headache56]

Shearer27,

I spun my Passat rear wheel today and yes it makes a noise but it spun for 12 revolutions when I spun it as hard as I could by hand, or 7 revolutions when I put only moderate effort it. This noise is normal. If you get only 1-3 revolutions then I guess that tells us something - er what I am not quite sure.


(1) Sounds a good steer above - check the discs for warping. I dunno how.

(2) When installing the caliper, I had to push the brake pistons back with a tool, then I had to bleed the hydraulic system to bring the pistons and pads back into teh correct position. Was this done, if necessary.

(3) I do not know enough about wheel bearings but I reckon that these are also a distinct possibility. Have you searched for that here / VWvortex / PassatWorld (or Golf equivalents) ?


(4) Could you take the car back to whoever put the caliper in and tell him / them of the problems you have had since the earlier work was done. er unless you did that yourslef.

Good luck
headache56