Strange play at rear wheel.

[ArthurH 12]

I noticed a little bit of play at the NS rear of our 1.6GTI.  It was present when rocking the wheel both side to side and up and down - I assumed it was a wheel bearing starting to fail.  I bought and fitted a new bearing.  When I refitted the wheel, all the play up and down had gone, but there was still some from side to side.  My first thought was the trailing arm bearing - but from clamping my hand around it, I was sure the play wasn't coming from there.  By chance, I rotated the wheel 90° and was surprised that the play had also rotated - it was now all up and down - none from side to side.  It's not a lot, although difficult to describe in writing.  I'd say 1-2mm at the outer edge of the tyre.  I thought the wheel wasn't sitting properly on the drum, but trying a different wheel made no difference.  With the wheel off, the play is tiny, so hard to feel, but the drum is definitely rocking in one plane, even though the hub nut is torqued up.

 

The drums are quite new, and the new bearing pressed in easily and square.  There were no signs of anything amiss.

 

Anyone seen this before?

[Tom Fenton 1,608]

Not exactly the same but I struggled with rear drum bearing play on a mate of mines 205.

Long story short it turned out the “head” on the other end of the stub axle had corroded away to virtually nothing and so whilst it appeared to take torque initially so no play, it was then pulling through the arm so no load on the bearing and hence play soon after fitting a new bearing.

 

I can’t explain your 90 degree thing. But double check the stub axle. 

[PhilNW 63]

What make of wheel bearing did you get?

 

I happened to me after I had fitted a new bearing and used it for a while. Put it down to a poor quality/faulty bearing. (might have been a lucas one)

[jord294 97]

There are poor quality replacement parts out there.

 

Your new bearings pressed in with good resistance? and circlip sat tight against bearing?

[ArthurH 12]

Thanks guys, for your thoughts and ideas.  To answer some of your questions:

 

Bridgcraft machined the trailing arms to increase the negative camber, and as the bore then becomes larger than the original splined shaft, they press in an oversize non-splined shaft.  On ours, we did experience a problem with it rotating when we tried to undo a particularly tight hub nut.  I contacted Bridgecraft, and they said this was highly unusual; the interference fit never normally turns.  However, they said the simplest fix for us was to weld across from the arm to the stub axle.  I tried to do this so that it could be easily ground off should I ever need to:

 

 

The secondary benefit of the weld is that it acts as a telltale.  I can be sure nothing has moved.

 

I went for SKF bearings - I haven't had a problem with them in the past - but of course, this could be a first.

 

As I said above, these drums are quite new (3 years?), so I was not surprised the old bearing pressed out without any drama, and likewise the new one went in with what felt like just the right amount of force. I use a small hydraulic press to ensure everything is as square as I can.

 

If the problem was with the bearing, would the races not have to be oval to cause these symptoms?  And if it was, wouldn't it feel really weird when I spun the wheel?

 

 

 

 

 

[jord294 97]

Now we have more info.

 

Snr bearings are oe.

 

For reference, I have negative camber arms in stock from a citroen xsara. Give about 2° iirc

[Arthur 20]

Are you sure the nut is pressing the bearing together and not getting tight on the end on the stub shaft. So is the area where the bearing is, actually shorter then the bearing is thick?

 

Can happen with Frankenstein assemblies. I remember it was quite a thing with my Frankenstein to get that right. (306 disc arm in 205 beam with drums)

 

 

 

Edited January 27 by Arthur

[Richie-Van-GTi 79 2 Cars]

Take the drum back off, put a pe over the stub to use as a lever and check if you can feel any play and rule everything beyond the drum out. 

The fact it's rotational sounds like either the bearing is faulty or the drum is oval around the bearing. 

You could press the bearing out and use a bore gauge to check the drum and digital caliper on the bearing

[ArthurH 12]

On 1/27/2026 at 3:20 PM, Arthur said:

Are you sure the nut is pressing the bearing together and not getting tight on the end on the stub shaft. So is the area where the bearing is, actually shorter then the bearing is thick?

 

Can happen with Frankenstein assemblies. I remember it was quite a thing with my Frankenstein to get that right. (306 disc arm in 205 beam with drums)

 

 

 

Apart from the new stub, the rear beam, arms and drum brakes are all standard 1.6 205.  The other side of the car (OS), has no discernible play in either direction.  It was fine on the NS in both directions prior to the final race of the season.  I had assumed the play I felt after the race was 'normal' wear, and indeed changing the bearing did eliminate it in one plane.

 

33 minutes ago, Richie-Van-GTi said:

Take the drum back off, put a pe over the stub to use as a lever and check if you can feel any play and rule everything beyond the drum out. 

The fact it's rotational sounds like either the bearing is faulty or the drum is oval around the bearing. 

You could press the bearing out and use a bore gauge to check the drum and digital caliper on the bearing

I will do as you suggest and test the stub with a large tube as a lever for play.   Although the bearing is the only part I have changed and, hence, is the obvious culprit, I still struggle to visualize in what way it could be faulty that would cause the play to occur only in one plane.

An oval bore would constrain the play in one plane, but if I can feel it at the edge of the wheel by gently rocking the wheel, the outer race of the bearing would need to be quite loose in that oval bore.  I will check for that as well.

 

[Ozymandis 101]

Swap the drums from one side of the car to the other and see if the play goes with the drum assembly or stays with the aftermarket stub axle.

 

TBH my recent experiences of current SKF stuff is they are not what they used to be, also the worlds awash with fake SKF crap from the Chicom scumbags. Maybe You have counterfeit parts?