Super Beetle Shakes

[KOOL-AID MAN]

Hey does anyone know whats wrong with my car? as soon as i hit 50 MPH (80 KPH) My front end shakes violently and my steering wheel rocks back and forth really fast. If i go past the 50 MPH mark it goes away, but you can still feel a slight vibrating, I dont think its the wheels needing to be balanced cause the weights are still on them and it used to be fine, I'm thinking it could be the wheel bearings or maybe something with the steering system, hmmmmm. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[thrasherbill]

Try searching the superbeetle forums on Shop Talk or the Samba. I don't have an answer but I'm sure this is a common problem with supers.

ThrasheR

[silas]

my 71 super used to do that all the time. after balancing wheels and checking camber it still did it.

remedy: i would keep it at 55 or 60 on the highway cruising or at 45.

weird super thing.

bruce tweddle may know. he's a super \"freak\".

[Billyisgr8]

Since I own a super

This is what I did

Crawled under car ( after it was jacked up and on stands)  to see if any ball joints were worn, ( try to  and make them move side to side with a large crow bar) Nope all were good, then i  turned the wheels  from side to side from under the car by grabing the wheel  and could feel no resistance which meant the steering damper was shot

Replace the steering damper I did this first and what a difference in the shakes, the shuttering was all gone but it was only part of the problem, when I took in the car for an alignment they showed me how much the control arm bushings were worn Hmm... that was one I didn't check

You should replace all bushings with new genuine v/w black rubber not the red polyurathane \"cool\" looking ones like me, as they squeek once in awhile.

There also is a press in  bushing on the idler arm which could also be worn but most likely not.

Do you have a service manual?

Get the orange Volkswagen manual  by Bently if you don't have any books, don't even bother with a Haynes brand of repair manual.

The bently manual is very thorough in repairs and walking you through things.



Kevin

[AlanU]

My 73 super I had a similar minor shake and like kevin said the damper is the pretty much the first thing to change.  I also rechecked the balance of my tires and they were up to spec.  Those two would be the two common causes of the super \"shake\".  If you jack up your front end you can easily check for ball joint wear and tie rod wear by grasping the tire and move it (push/pull 3 and 9 clock position) and look to see that there isn't any play in the tie rod ends. The ball joint may can be checked by pushing and pulling the tire 12 and 6 clock position. depending on the year ball joints may be bolt in (3 nuts and bolts) or press in style.  

The steering wheel shouldn't have too much free play (as per manual) I recall an adjustment in the steering box worm gear. If the steering box is too worn a rebuild is more than likely needed.  That is another possibility of a \"shake\" but one of the least  causes.

But in my case the damper was the only cause of the minor shake. I've taken it down the 1/4 mile track 14.5@92mph without a shake.\\

Try a damper first since its a very inexpensive item to replace.

[Geoff]

9 out of 10 times it is always the idler arm bushing. I used to rebuild them at the old shop and sell them as fast as i could do them. We sell the bushing if you want to do it yourself.

There are other things that can make this happen but after changing all those i bet you will still need to do the idler arm bushing.
Geoff.

[KOOL-AID MAN]

Hey guys thanks for the help, I finally solved the problem. One of my shocks was F'd the driver side strut was rusted out at the top and the insert was just flopping up and down, So I put in an adjustable strut kit and this solved the problem, no shakes anymore at any speeds and it looks a hell of a lot better now now that it is raked the right way hehehe. I didnt think it would be any thing to do with the front steering system cause I had just replaced that last year. Anyways thanks for all the help everyone and I'll keep those ideas in mind the next time i encounter a problem like this.