Just had my weekender (64 Beetle) out and an annoying noise has arisen in the front end.

Almost like a constant rubbing when slowing down, cant tell over engine noise when speeding up.

I would describe the noise as rubbing cardboard together I guess. (Gee it is hard to describe noise)

Also when I turn left there is an rubbing noise which comes on and off. Sort of a constant intermittant sound of metal rubbing somewhere.

No affecting the driving but annoying the sh** out of me as I like things to be perfect.

I am sure someone will be able to decipher my ramblings!

Thanks in advance!

jack the front up and see if the tyers are rubbing on the inner guards when turning a corner you will see the paint polished off

also spin the wheels to see if the wheel bearings are loose or making a noise

get some omne to apply the brakes while spinning the wheels to see if the brake shoes have worn out and you have meteal to metal

You might find it is the speedo cable.......making the noise

mmm thanks for your replies.

Not sure if it rubbing tyre seems well clear and nothing has changed to move it closer to the guard?

Speedo cable is another ine I hadnt thought of.

Hoep to hear some more theories so I have a few to take to the mechanic before he makes a mess of it!

If it was a front wheel drive I would say it would be a CV joint or maybe bearings?

Still a bit miffed at the moment

Well it was wheel bearings.

Had then both replaced at a high cost!!!

Still a ticking in the front end which I assume is the speedo .

Does anyone know what the fix is for this???

grease the cable.

thanks for that!

Bit of a rookie with VW mechanics etc though.

Sounds easy enough though I guess!

Cheers

its amazing how much noise the speedo cable can make..

it usually means the cable has started to break

the cable is made up of many strands of steel
and they usually break one at a time...

so You hear them first...

Unscrew the speedo cable off the back of the speedo
and very slowly pour some oil down there..
that should stop the noise...

they are not usually greased or oiled...

cheers

Lee

Here is a run down of the cost etc.

Interested to know what you all think in relation to price.

(all inc GST)

Labour 154
Bearing, Taper Roller 58.42
Bearing, Taper Roller 73.04
Seal, Hub 15.93
Freight Inwards 9.90
Workshop ERC, General 9.90

Total 321.25

Work donewas written down as

"Wheel Bearings, Replacement, Remove Wheels and Strip Out and Replace Bearings as Required, Repack Bearings, Reassemble All Components and Adjust as Required."

"Electrical bulb Replacement, Remove Lens Assembly, No Internals for Operational Use, Reassemble Lens as Required."


Was I shafted?? Should I go to this shop again or stick with VW specialists?

Thought I would try the local guy as they were local and saves a 45mins drive.

Your comments appreciated

I don't know what a reasonable price for this work would be these days, but about 7 years ago I paid about $100 to get one front wheel bearing on my beetle replaced and the other repacked. This was at a generic, old school, no nonense garage. I'm not sure how thorough he is though, but I had no probs with the wheel bearings.

Sorry should have said this was a Repco authorised blahblah blah place although still in the country.

What do you think mechanics charge per hour for labour? I am not sure as I haven't had any work done at a mechanic for a while but at a guess no less than $70/hr? With this assumption, that is just over 2 hours of work whichI feel is pretty reasonable when you have to disassemble the drums and knock out the bearing races (the tapered "seats" the bearings run in), replace them, clean everything, repack with grease, reassemble, adjust front brakes etc etc.

Maybe I am too willing to part with money (not likely as I don't often have too much!), but considering businesses have overheads to cover and not just pure labour alone.....what is a reasonable hourly rate for labour? Whatever that figure is, you then need to add everything else in like insurance, workcover, advertising, rent, electricity, tool purchase/replacement, legal/accounting/payroll fees, etc etc that they have to pay for and factor that in.

Don't mean to sound like I am not on your side....I just know what it is like to run a business including why labour charges are (sometimes) set where they are. hopefully your problems are solved now! It would be nice to be beetling along again without the noise! Sorry to be the devil's advocate in this instance!
Alan

No no no!

I am not suggesting I have been ripped off I am just a novice with no real idea of what is or isnt a good price.

I guess I am trying to nail down a local who is fair and reasonable.

I guess my major concern was over paying for parts. General feel is that this is a reasonable deal which is fine by me as the nearest VW specialist is 45 kms away.

There is a guy at this Repco who is an enthusiast with VW's so I guess that is a bonus.

Also interesting was the hour long conversation I had to have with the owner about how great he thought the car was etc. ... Sort of made my day actually.

Nice to know that I had brought customers in who had seen my car at the front. And received three offers to buy at over what i paid.

I guess in my post I was just trying to validate the cost and make sure that if I do go back I arent getting the raw prawn.

Thanks again

You may be correct on the labour charges Alan,
which I at first thought were too expensive...

but the bearings Sound much too expensive...
I know bearings vary greatly with costs
usually associated with how many of that particular bearing were produced...
like the Very very common Kit A B & C
tapered roller bearings which are inexpensive...

[Maybe i should say, were very inexpensive when i used to sell them 11 years ago??]

I don't know what fits the beetle we're talking about...
but bearing prices from VW parts sellers are usually OK....

but they may be very expensive from a Bearing Shop....??

it just sounded expensive to me..

but then I don't like to pay over $100 for anything

and i haven't used a mechanic for years...

cheers

Lee

PS: I believe that it "could" have been cheaper if done by a VW mechanic who has done the job many times before
so He would have been faster... IMHO...

Yeah I can't remember what I last paid for bearings admittedly so not sure if they are expensive or not. I didn't mean to sound defensive, I guess I was justifying how businesses need to calculate labour charges which is what I thought your concern was (rather than the parts).

Maybe a good chance to dive in and buy John Muir's book (I still look at it time to time) and give it a crack yourself next time (hopefully won't need to for quite a while though!!).

Alan

I would have bought a press and done this myself.

You can buy a press at TradeTools for $110
http://www.tradetools.com.au/ProdView.aspx?popup=1&Category=SXF60E1&P...

I bought a complete set (4 bearings, 2 seals) for the front of a 1500 beetle (disc brake) a month ago for $70 walk in, not trade price, and they where Timken.

A tub if wheel bearing grease is about $15, and some latex gloves and paper towel help.

So for about $200 you could have done the job yourself, learnt something, know it was done properly, and had a press sitting in your garage for the future.

Press , latex gloves ,
just use the good old big hammer

Just like brake shoes/pads, it's also a good idea to do wheel bearings as pairs (both wheels) even though only one side might be noisy the other can't be too far behind if they've been working for the same length of time.

I usually find specialist bearing wholesalers/shops cheaper & your generic mechanic might end up going there anyway because his usual suppliers (Bursons, Repco etc.) wouldn't stock them (they would need time to get them in......probably from a specialist bearing supplier). There will be a price markup for each set of hands they pass through.

Anyway, wherever he sources from, your mechanic is going to whack his markup percentage on top of his purchase price unless its for stuff that is his usual stock. And fair enough too, as chasing parts can involve a lot of stuffing around which is time away from earning a quid.

ian.mezz,

I agree with you, Belt the bearing cones out with a drift & big hammer, never heard of anyone using a press for front wheel bearings before & latex gloves WTF?

Regards,

Matt.