odd rear wheel play?

[Gaz]

If I jack the passenger side rear up, and grab hold of a spoke on the wheel nearest facing the front of the car, and push & pull towards me, there is some play, and a slight quiet knock.

yet if I grab one of the spokes facing towards the rear of the car and try to move push & pull towards me it doesn't move???


I looked under the car while i was doing this, to see if the was some play in one of the wishbone bushes, but i could tell if the wish bone was moving, that is to say I don't think it is a worn bush.

So is it a wheel bearing? and if so, why is it only showing sign of play when i yank the left(closest to front) side of the wheel?

My dad asked if they were 'tapered' bearings? cause on some cars you can tighten something up to take up the play.


is this normal behavior if a bearing is playing up? will this fail the MOT?

cheers.
Gaz.

[type81]

when your driving can you hear any noise from the rear of the audi? Also have you taken the rear drum of recently?

[Puglife]

Being quattro it wont be drum rear, but discs all round instead.

With back end jacked up, grab the wheel and tyre on the outside with hands on horizontal plane. Try moving wheel by a twisting motion (eg. right hand towards you, left hand away then back again). If theres play there its likely to be tie rod play.
Do the same but top to bottom of the wheel and that will show play in the balljoint and bearing.
Audi (and VW) bearings are a clamp fit, without the clamping pressure from driveshaft and hub nut they can have play them but a bearing would give a rumbling or groaning noise when driving and normally show up when spinning the wheel.

My guess would be balljoint, the rear tierods have a small tolerance of play which would allow the strut to move forwards but the angle of fitment would negate movement backwards or at least limit it if theres play in the balljoint.

[Gaz]

Originally Posted by Puglife

Being quattro it wont be drum rear, but discs all round instead.

With back end jacked up, grab the wheel and tyre on the outside with hands on horizontal plane. Try moving wheel by a twisting motion (eg. right hand towards you, left hand away then back again). If theres play there its likely to be tie rod play.
Do the same but top to bottom of the wheel and that will show play in the balljoint and bearing.
Audi (and VW) bearings are a clamp fit, without the clamping pressure from driveshaft and hub nut they can have play them but a bearing would give a rumbling or groaning noise when driving and normally show up when spinning the wheel.

My guess would be balljoint, the rear tierods have a small tolerance of play which would allow the strut to move forwards but the angle of fitment would negate movement backwards or at least limit it if theres play in the balljoint.

Will have to take another look when i have the time, but if i grab the top and the bottom of the wheel there is no play.

There's only play when i grab the left and right of the wheel. So tie rob end you think then??? would that be an MOT fail? not sure if I've got time to do anything about it before the test is why i ask.. but could sort it after.

Where best to get a tie rod end from? are they expensive?

Oh, and i can't hear any wheel bearing type noises when i drive it, but then my exhaust and induction noise tends to hide things from me..

But I know what a bearing sounds like (well, at least on my m8's mk 6 escort.. that made a really obvious noise on the rear)

[SteveT63]

Take it for a test. If there is anything wrong, they will find it, then you wont be wasting money on bits you dont need... Agree with Jay on the diagnosis ...Easily sorted though

[Martc]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Will have to take another look when i have the time, but if i grab the top and the bottom of the wheel there is no play.

There's only play when i grab the left and right of the wheel. So tie rob end you think then??? would that be an MOT fail? not sure if I've got time to do anything about it before the test is why i ask.. but could sort it after.

Where best to get a tie rod end from? are they expensive?

Oh, and i can't hear any wheel bearing type noises when i drive it, but then my exhaust and induction noise tends to hide things from me..

But I know what a bearing sounds like (well, at least on my m8's mk 6 escort.. that made a really obvious noise on the rear)

If there is too much play in the suspension it will fail an MOT, better to take it and find out what is wrong rather than trying to diagnose it yourself.

[Groundhog]

Its a quattro yes? In that case its more than than likely the bottom ball joint.