Date:         Wed, 8 Feb 1995 23:08:45 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dworkin <dworkin@netcom.com>
Subject:      Re: Clicking in Wheels - Ideas of why?


On Wed, 8 Feb 1995, Jack Agnew wrote:

> OK, so now I got another wierd thing going on with my '86 Westy.
> It is a heavy clicking that seems to be comming from the wheel(s) that is 
> rotational (it speeds up when I do) and then goes away when there appears 
> to be enough rotational speed to keep whatever it is in place. This is 
> not a heavy metal sound, but neither does it sound "tinny".


There are four possible sources of this problem, two of them covered by 
others.  They are:

(already covered causes)

1) Wheel bearings - much as I hate to admit an auto shop mechanic may 
have two or more gray cells in communication, this is the most likely 
source of the noise.

2) Hub caps - especially the "wire wheels" aftermarket variety, which 
clack at low speeds and whine at high speeds.  Less likely, but WAY 
cheaper to fix, so by all means, give it a try.

(other stuff)

3) CV Joints - you don't say if it is a front or rear wheel noise.  If it
is in the rear wheels, check your CV joint boots and mileage.  If your
boots are torn or you have 60K-100K miles on the beast, suspect CV joints. 

4) (last, and most personally embarassing) Loose lugs.  I drove around for
a couple of days once with the wierdest low-speed-only click scrape sound
as my lugs wore the holes in my wheels into perfect ovals and the wheels
scraped all the threads off my lugs.  I finally had a friend follow the
car (a '47 Dodge super-duper beetle) and watch the wheels to see if he
could see anything moving.  He did. 

By all means, let us know how this turns out.

					H Steven Dolan
					dworkin@netcom.com

PS (unrelated and non-VW) I just got home from the house I bought in 
foreclosure last week.  Finally got the heat working (radiator hot 
water).  if all you water-cooled volk think the vanagon is complicated, 
try bleeding a house.   Spent 4 hrs travelling from floor to floor 
bleeding 6 radiators in turn as the air bubbles moved between them.  And 
no way to raise the front end 36"!