Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 05:18:23 GMT
Reply-To: obeechi@RUNBOX.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark C <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
Subject: Re: Cupping of tires et al/ no mention?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
You know, if the tire blows out on the freeway, and the wheel is bent, then can the alignment also get knocked out of alignment.. and if this is true, why is that every mechanic I've spoken to, has never even once suggested this possibility? ... wouldn't it be more likely that the alignment gets knocked out than the bearings go bad.. ? I mean bearings aren't really a problem on vanagons are they??? I had one rear bearing replaced once (and it really needed it, hideous sound), and the mechanic said he's never even seen that and he works on a lot of vanagons (think he said the same thing when he replaced my main oil seal)
> Sounds like alignment to me. If the steering wheel is not straight, that
> means the toe needs to be
> adjusted. Improper toe will cause abnormal tire wear. I would suggest you
> have it aligned, then
> rotate those tires to the rear of the van. As for the shocks, they can be
> bad even if they're not leaking. If they are leaking [badly] they're pretty
> much on their way out. The rack and pinion
> wouldn't cause any road noise, that's just a matter of adding power steering
> fluid all the time, until
> the leak gets worse... So it sounds like rack and pinion replacement is
> eminent, and when you have
> that replaced, you'll have to have it aligned again...but anyway...I don't
> know what kind of tires you
> bought from Pep Boys, but I do know that my Nankang 8-ply tires have been
> holding up for
> years..they just won't wear out. I also drove the van for a while with a
> crooked steering wheel, and
> shocks that were kind of tired, and never saw any abnormal wear on the front
> tires. So needless to say, I believe in those tires as the best choice for
> the Vanagon, if you want to avoid problems for the next few years...Anyway,
> try an alignment & tire rotation, it should get rid of the noise.
>
> -Mark
>
> >From: Mark C <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
> >Reply-To: obeechi@RUNBOX.COM
> >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >Subject: Cupping of tires et al
> >Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 03:41:57 GMT
> >
> >Hi.. I had a tire a blow out on the freeway... real fun.. it was a used
> >tire, and it broke/split along the inner sidewall...
> >
> >I replaced it.. and it didn't sound right... I went to a Pep Boys (this is
> >a pepboy tire) and the guy just wanted to adjust the air... well it was the
> >same as it was a couple thousand miles ago... and so I told him I didn't
> >think that was the cause.. and he got condescending...
> >
> >Then I took it to a VW mechanic, near the time of close... and he rode it
> >around and said it was fine
> >
> >Then I took it to another pep boys.. and they rebalanced the tire... the
> >weight which was placed on the inside, had fallen off.. this took the
> >shudder out... but it still didn't sound right
> >
> >Took it to another Pep Boys.. (cause it was saturday).. and wanted them to
> >check the bearings.. They ended up pressing some bearings in... 210.00....
> >But... the noise didn't seem right... Now I was left with the feeling the
> >didn't check out the bearings in the first place...
> >
> >Took it to another Pep Boys (now it was sunday)... and this older mechanic
> >it checked out... said my tires are cupping, that the front shocks are
> >bad.. and the rack and pinion is leaking...
> >
> >Well the steering is fine.. in fact its been leaking for a long time.. even
> >drove across the country with the same leak.... but would the rack and
> >pinion cause a variation in sound or road to tire noise...
> >
> >As far as the front shocks... they're bilsteins with 100,000 more or less
> >miles on them... According to Bilstein they're supposed to be efficient to
> >98% for a 100,000 miles... but I did have a bmw wih massive amounts of
> >miles, and had to replace those bilsteins which were actually leaking....
> >
> >the bilsteins on the vanagon aren't leaking.. and the boge's they replaced
> >had had about 100,000 miles and they had just seemed kind of soft.. whereas
> >these seem more the opposite.. hard... and the road noise has a dirty not
> >smooth quality to it from the front...
> >
> >So is there anything they might have missed.. anything else that could
> >cause a rotational dirty sound ... the tire that blew bent the wheel (I was
> >on the freeway)... but I'm not using that wheel...
> >
> >And as far as cupping goes... on a vanagon, is a bad shock the only cause,
> >or is alignment also a cause... It stays pretty straight when I let go of
> >the wheel, but sad to say, I've never even had it aligned since I got it...
> >and the steering wheel isn't altogther straight when I go straight, it
> >appears slightly turned to one side...
> >
> >Thanks
>
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