[Vwdiesel] Shake at a speed + side slide

[Keith Family]

Sounds like rear wheel alignment.

My heart was broken when my wife drove our 86 Golf Diesel across 
a bridge sidewalk.  The car took one SERIOUS thumping as she 
drove it up onto a 9 inch curb and then continued with two wheels 
in the roadway and two on the sidewalk.  The coup de gras was 
when she then tried to steer back onto the roadway and the car 
dropped on that side about a foot and a half as it fell off the 
curb.   Trashed (exploded) two tires, ruined two rims, trashed 
the macpherson strut on that side and impacted the suspension 
mounts as well both front and rear.  Doors still fit good 
indicating the basic uni-body was o.k. but car required extensive 
"stretching" to bring it back into alignability.

And even so the alignment was still not perfect.  After another 
500 miles I noticed the rear tires looking nearly bald on the 
inside edges.  Further investigation indicated that the rear axle 
was still severely twisted with extensive shimming required at 
the rear spindle mounts to bring the rear spindles into 
alignment.  Until that was done I had noticed some odd "feelings" 
regarding the latter half of the car but had not connected the 
symptom with anything that might have happened before.

You may want to find one of those places that "stretch" cars. 
They have specs on the suspension mounts and they'll be able to 
determine if you have some "foundation" issues.   But I'll bet 
it's your rear axle.   Eyeball those rear wheels.  You might be 
able to see it.  Once it was pointed out to me, I could see it on 
the Golf.

Best,
Joe