I JUST PURCHASED A 2005 VW NEW BEETLE AND IT ONLY HAS 18,000 MILES ON IT. WOW THE ROAD NOISE IS UNBEARABLE, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT AND IS THIS NORMAL FOR THIS CAR?
The road noise could be from the tires, or possibly from the wheel bearings.
With some brands of tires, the amount of road noise increases significantly when the tread is half-worn or more. Since these are probably the original tires, that means that their effective tread life is no more than 30k-35k, so it is likely that they are about half-worn by now.
I assume that you had your mechanic check this car before you purchased it, so on that basis we can probably eliminate bad wheel bearings as a source of the noise, but then again…
NO I DIDN’T HAVE ANYONE CHECK OUT THE CAR…I’M GOING TO TAKE IT TO THE VW DEALER TOMORROW. SO YOU THINK THEY WILL BE ABLE TO TELL ME IF IT IS BAD WHEEL BEARINGS?
I would suggest that you locate an independent VW specialist. Look in your Yellow Pages under the Auto Repair–Foreign category. There tend to be some in most areas for two reasons:
VWs historically have an above-average rate of repairs, as compared to Japanese and American makes.
VW dealers are reknowned for very poor customer service and very high prices. Consumer Reports has even rated VW dealers at the bottom of the rating scale for customer satisfaction.
HAVE YOU HEARD A CAR BEFORE WITH BAD WHEEL BEARINGS?
THE ROAD NOISE IS UNBEARABLE, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT AND IS THIS NORMAL FOR THIS CAR?
No it is not normal for your car. It is often caused by using “ALL CAPS” Which is considered shouting. Did you see the news story on someone who got into trouble at work because they used ALL CAPS too often.
Really it is better not to use the all caps. They make it harder to read. If it was easier, you would see every newspaper printed that way.
Sorry about that. Thanks to VDCdriver…I just took the car down to the local Foreign car repair place, and took it out for a ride with me in the car and demonstrated why he thought it was the left rear wheel bearing that is bad…You were right on!!
I’m glad that you found an independent foreign car repair place that seems to be competent.
I suggest that you use this place for your maintenance needs. Whatever you do, DO NOT use places like Jiffy Lube or its clones.
Also, for future reference, a used car should always be checked out by a mechanic of your choice prior to purchase. Hopefully the bad rear wheel bearing is the only thing that is wrong with this car, but since you did not have it vetted prior to purchase, there could be other problems lurking.
And, if you don’t have maintenance records for the car, assume that it is due for whatever maintenance procedures are listed for 15,000 miles. Then, follow the VW maintenance schedule faithfully for the succeeding maintenance intervals.
Good luck with your New Beetle!