Lemming

How are your rear suspension bushings? Worn out, allowing movement? The reason I ask is that at the beginning of 2009, I blew out a few rear wheel bearings, broke a stub axle, and a rear hub (alum arms; single bearing). We couldn't figure out why this was occurring (yes I was using spacers). A friend suggested that I had old suspension bushings, which was allowing the rear wheels/axles to move out of alignment under load. I upgraded to solid bushings and have not had an issue since. Just a thought, not sure if this is you problem or not.

FRporscheman

What bushings? Where are they and how can I check? I never did get familiar with the rear suspension on these VW beetles. I mean 944s.

Lemming

Rear trailing arm bushing
Rear spring plate bushings
Torsion tube carrier bushings

FRporscheman

Thanks Tim. How many of each bushing are there, and where are they located?

How can I check for play / bushing being bad? What do I push/pull/jiggle? None of these bushings have ever been replaced.

Lemming

Not sure if you will be able to tell by just trying to move the rear arm around. Look at the bushings for wear. If they are originals, they are likely too worn for track use.

FRporscheman

Thanks Tim, I should be able to get my car on the rack tomorrow; I'll take a look at those bushings. Are solid bushings the only option? This is just a street / road trip car.

Darwantae951

The only ones you won't be able to see are the spring plate bushings.

FRporscheman

That would be the middle circle in Tim's picture, right?

Where can one buy replacement bushings, and what options are there?

Lemming

Yes, the spring plate is the middle circle. I want with racer's edge solid bushings. If you don't want to go solid (street car) then consider the weltmeister poly bushings from Paragon.

FRporscheman

I got a good look under the car today and all the bushings looked OK. I'm a bit hesitant to install "performance" bushings anyway as this car is shared between my mom and me, and she would hate any noice or vibration at all.

Grandpa#3

This is to clarify Post #3

Hello, I just looked in my 944 Work Shop Manual and on page 42-03, The torque for the Steel Trailing Arm Rear Axle, Castle Nut, is actually (280+52) ft lbs, NOT the 380+70 is (Nm), is not 380 ft lbs as mentioned in an above post. The value was misread is all. The torque of 280 ft lbs is the correct torque. The +50 ft lbs is allowed to align the Axle Hole to the Castle Nut Slots. You always go up in torque but not back to align the hole and slot. A Castle Nut can be reused as it uses a cotter pin for locking, but not a self locking nut. The self locking nut is a one time use nut. The Aluminum Trailing Arm Axle Shaft uses the Self locking Nut and does require a torque of 368 ft lbs.

Cheers,
Larry

FRporscheman

Thanks Larry. I don't remember what torque I used, but I got it from the Haynes manual, which I assumed was correct.

One other symptom I forgot to mention is that the rear brake rotors keep getting warped. I feel a moderate vibration on braking coming from the rear. I already replaced the rear discs once and the vibration went away for a couple of months, and now it's back. The fronts were also replaced a couple of times for another reason, and it had no affect on the vibration so I know it's coming from the rear.

Can wheel bearing issues affect the brake discs?