Brown Trouser Moment

[BeavisJem 0]

My rado has been very good to me the last 2 years but yesterday it was a little scary.

 

Was traveling along an A road behind a slow vehicle and decided to overtake and accelerated the G60 quite comfortably to a safe overtaking speed :D

 

As I pulled in I touched the brakes and the entire back of the car twitched violently. I was worried I was going to go off the road. It felt as though the brakes were not all working evenly.

 

The rear shocks were replaced with standards about 2 years ago and the fronts haven’t been changed since I have had the car. (2.5 years) The front brake pads were changed 3 months ago and the rears haven’t been change for over 2 years. The nearside rear wheel bearing needs changing.

 

I'm now a little worried about throwing my car around country roads as it’s become fairly unpredictable.

 

What should I be checking.

 

The only other thing I have noticed is the brake reservoir is lower than normal and when I brake it pulls slightly right.

 

Was all fine a week ago and I haven't hit any kerbs.

 

Hope you guys can help. I am looking at up rating the suspension and lower it. Any recommendations?

 

Cheers

 

Beavisjem

[Toad 0]

Which rear wheel bearing is it? It could be that it is so knackered the disk is moving and pushing the caliper back, so when you hit the brakes only one circuit actually works amd you get pulled to one side. If you pump the brakes does it get better?

 

Otherwise you could have a leaking pipe/seal which is causing one circuit to not work properly. If you put your foot on the brake pedal, does it creep down slowly?

[khurrado 0]

Buy new suspension, buy new discs and brake pads, buy new n/s rear wheel bearing.

[BeavisJem 0]

LOL at Khurrado

 

Its on the shopping list

[BeavisJem 0]

Its the rear nearside wheel bearing. It ticks when i go round a roundabout a bit quick.

[Toad 0]

I'm now a little worried about throwing my car around country roads as it’s become fairly unpredictable.

 

TBH I wouldn't be too keen on driving it at all till I had an idea of what was wrong.

[Toad 0]

Its the rear nearside wheel bearing. It ticks when i go round a roundabout a bit quick.

 

Passenger side then?

[BeavisJem 0]

Yeah passenger side.

[dinkus 10]

Don't touch the brakes while you're still turning (even slightly) - the back end will come round and bite you in the arse.

 

Having said that, it'll make things worse if:

 

You've got stiffer suspension on the rear than the front

The rear axle bushes are shot

The brake bias is too far back

A calliper is playing up and catching before the other

[Toad 0]

I thought it would be the drivers side if it was causing you to pull to the right....

 

I'd have a look under it for any obvious defects... It could be that one of your calipers is sticking a bit, as Dinkus mentioned.

 

Have you checked your tyres? For pressure and tread? You could have a defective one? I changed a puncture on my sisters car at the weekend, and the tyre looked fine till I took it off, there was no tread whatsoever around 2/3rds of the tyre... it had stopped with the one decent bit facing up.

 

Go carefull if you do decide to drive it around!

[BeavisJem 0]

Thanks for the advice.

 

I've had 3 new tires on the front in the last month due to punctures outside my business premises

 

I think I am going to go for FULL overhaul on the suspension, brakes and bushes.

 

What do I need to change?

 

Pads all round

Bearings All round

Disks all round

New suspension (coilovers if I can afford them)

New brake pipes as I just had a look on the MOT and one was an advisory

 

Top mounts have been changed in the last few months.

 

Now for things I need some advice on changing to improve the drivability of the car

 

Wishbone bushes (I assume these are original)

 

Rear axel bushes? (What are these and where are they)

 

Anything else people can think of?

 

Cheers

 

Beavisjem

[dinkus 10]

The rear axle bushes alone will transform the handling of the car. They are big rubber cushions between the axle and the car. They are designed to flex a bit so that the axle can twist very slightly independantly of the car when under load. But over time, the rubber goes soft and the axle wanders around of it's own accord.

 

When I first got mine it felt very vague and wandery over about 50, getting progressively worse the faster you went after that. After I changed the axle bushes the thing felt super planted even up to 150 on the autobahns in Germany.

 

You've got 2 of them in either end of the axle where it attaches to the car - the bushes are about £50, but they're a pig to fit and most VW specialists will charge around £300 for the job inc. parts.

 

They need to drop the rear axle off to do them, which means you might as well do the rear brakes at the same time. If you're changing the rear disks, then you'll also need new bearings (they're pressed into the disk) and I'd also lash out the extra £5 a pop for the ABS sensor rings. They clip onto the brake disks and tend to corrode over time, which means there's a fair chance you'll bend one when you take it off, thus you'll get ABS problems.

 

I'd do that first, then see how it feels after.

 

Otherwise, at the front of the car you've got wishbone bushes (VAG only supply the whole wishbone with bush pre-pressed in), ball joints and ARB drop links that could probably do with replacing if they're still original.

[BeavisJem 0]

Cheers Dinkus