My Car

Slowly getting there and sorting issues out with her,

took my Beetle out today for an extended drive about 100 miles, performed quite well, although the trip highlighted a few issues that need attention,


* I notice driving about 80kph's there is a very constant vibration in the steering wheel, its very fine, but quite noticeable, like a drone, it made my fingers feel all tingly after a while, but it is not there at lower speeds.


Does anyone have thoughts on what may cause that?


My steering was completely rebuilt with new tie rod ends, etc.. a few months back.

I am wondering if there is maybe something in the suspension worn out, which leads onto my next issue...........



* It was a windy day, but I felt that the car wanted to excessively fight with me on the road, keeping it in a straight line, a gust of wind, wants to push it off the road or onto the other side of the road. Full tank of petrol and tyres 20psi in the front, 30psi in the rear.
This is at speeds around 80-90kph,

I understand these cars use torsion bar suspension, but what wears out in it?

What is likely to be at fault?

Thoughts?

* My passenger side window seems quite loose at highway speeds, I'm sure this is nothing major, maybe something in the window winder tracks that has worn out or broken,

Nice car! I'm always a big fan of anything pre-1500 when it comes to classic stylin.

Vibration in steering wheel is most likely due to a wheel balance issue. often you get it with new tyres (where they fit the weights that clamp onto the outter edge of the rim. Swap the front tyres for the rear, and see if it makes a difference. u will be suprised how much in can.

torsion bars, the only thing that can wear out really are the 4 rubber bushes. they are sandwiched between the spring plate and torsion tube. Also, after time the torsion bars can sag, and need a 'reset' if the spring load preset. If u google "How to adjust torsion bars' u will get the jist of what its all about. But people usually deliberately go that way (well adjust it up to act similar) to lower.

out of curiousity, with trying ot keep it straight, whens the last time u had a wheel alignment?
a slight amount of toe out will certainly make it keen to zip left or right.

Check front end torsion tube bushes and king links at well. best way besides observation to see if anything is wobbly or worn as such is jack up each wheel and check to see if you can move it or wobble it around, see if there is any play in the wheel, and via observation find out where that movement is.

hey mate, good idea about jacking it up and looking at wheel movement, I can do that.

had the toe in, adjusted this week with a service and oil change, but was also done about 2-3 months ago, about 200 miles ago,

tyres sound like a good possibility, were on the car before I got them,

I might look at some new tyres this week, which I keep meaning to do, and see how it feels after that

Only reason I haven't bought new tyres, is still undecided if I want to go original cross plys or modern radials,


thanks for your help 🙂

It certainly sounds like wheel alignment to me. Know you said had done but symptoms are classic

go the radials ,crossplys have a habit of tracking in the ruts on the road(well thats my experience of them) and yes beetles do not like a bit of wind whilst out driving ,you just get used to it,and maybe check those tyre pressures ,seems a tad low to me

pod wrote:go the radials ,crossplys have a habit of tracking in the ruts on the road(well thats my experience of them) and yes beetles do not like a bit of wind whilst out driving ,you just get used to it,and maybe check those tyre pressures ,seems a tad low to me

Can you describe how you find the wind with a Beetle?

I have noticed that if you drive 60-70kph, you only notice a little bit of rocking, with say a large truck going past or a gust of wind, around 80-90 you really can get it wanting to be blown from one side of the lane to the other.


Of course not expecting new car feel, I guess just wanting to know what is normal, and what to expect,

what tyre pressure(s) do you run?

wouldn't higher pressures mean less tyre on the road? so the problem would be increased?

thanks for everyone's input


I will definitely decide on what tyres I'm going for over the weekend and get some new rubber this week