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Date:         Thu, 8 Nov 2001 21:28:39 -0600
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Organization: not likely
Subject:      Re: bad bearing?  what's it cost?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> There's a humming/vibrating sensation coming from my beloved van. I think > it's only on the left front wheel, and it gets louder when I'm turning > towards the right. > Does that seem like a bearing problem? Any guess regarding how much it > should cost to make her all good again?

in all seriousness, try rotating the wheels/tires front-to-back and drive 300 miles (doesn't have to be in one day or one week or even one trip ... just wait 300 miles to check). because of the peculiar front steering setup of the vanagon (and most bmw's, too), the front wheels lean when they turn. this causes some peculiar wear on the tread pattern of the tires. and it'll start making a noise as you go along the pavement. rotating them front-to-back puts the evenly-worn tires up front, and after about 300 miles, the rear (used-to-be-front) tires are worn back even.

if this is what it is, it'll come back in about 5000 miles.

i didn't believe it, either, when told this by a tire guy ... but i did it and it worked. i'd wasted a lot of time trying to find the source of the noise and never could. he said it was worse with radial tires.

good luck! joel


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