Took the kombi to a tyre place today to check out the 'wobble' I feel at very slow speeds. He replaced the retread I bougtht off him a few eeks ago as he said there was a flat spot where the join on the tyre is. While he was at it he mentioned that my front bearings needed re-doing. says there's 'play' in each wheel...when you wiggle them, etc..
reckons he can do them for $45 a wheel. Question......is it easy to do myself (one of the reasons I bought a VW was to fix things myself). I have a manual on the kombi, but the exploded view of the wheel assembly only shows a very small 'bearing race'. ? does this need replacing or repacking. can someone be a daaaaaaarlingk and talk me through this step by step. layman's lingo perleez!
Thanks in advance, ian

It is very easy.

By bearings
Remove wheel
Remove dust cp
Unbolt Disc calliper
Undo axle nut
remove disc
Drift out old bearings and seals
Drift in new ones
Grease after and before assembly
Put it back on
Tighten nut then back of 1/2 turn
spin disc a few times, play with nut tension till there is no slope but no real resitance.
Put calliper back on
Put wheel back on
Go for drive
Jackup and check tension
Check again after 500km

teach me to type and spell

Depending on the condition of the bearings, they may just need adjusting. Just remove the dust cap and tighten the nut as per Brad's advice.
As a rough check, with the wheel jacked up, give it a spin and have a close listen for and rough spots while it turns, if there is any replace the bearings. Otherwise pull them off and inspect visually.

On the other hand, $45 a side isn't bad. I was quoted $170 for both sides, including parts.

Geezzz the bearings and seals are around 30 or so dollars. Make sure you watch him and he uses the new bearings. Instead of just tightening them up.

yeah $45 is cheap, parts are around $30 a side. I think he is quoting just tightening the spindle nut.

Jack the front of your car up so the front wheels are in the air. Wriggle the wheel in a vertical sense, in and out top and bottom. You will feel play if there is any. Look carefully at what moves and make sure it is the bearing moving and not your ball joints or something.

Spin the front wheel. If it is relatively quiet the bearings should be OK. If it has a rumble than the bearings are stuffed. You can hear the rumble when driving if they are stuffed.

If they are ok, tighten the spindle nut until you only just take out the play in the bearing. don't do it up with any force or you will crush the bearing / make it wear out prematurely. Remember to do up the spindle nut locking mechanism.

thanks everyone. great stuff. I really appreciate the effort everyone makes here on this forum. OK, I took the wheel off and tried to tighten the nut, but couldn't. I then contacted a mechanic friend who had a look and said there was nothing wrong with the bearings. there was a touch of play, but he said that was ok as it was so slight. He did notice that my front brake pads were worn and the discs need to be machined! Thus the pulsating feel (and maybe wobble?). getting it done monday. $45 for machining both wheels and $40 for the pads.

Cheers, ian

pulsating and puling to one side is the feeling i got when my discs needed machining
:bounce