A buddy of mine has a documented 800,000 miles on his original rear wheel bearings on his 71 Westy.  Prolly time to put some new in there.  

I use the Amsoil synthetic grease(sort of a rasberry color) in most of those extreme lube situations.

Dimwitted Moose and Flying Squirrel
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stan Wilder 
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 9:41 AM
  Subject: Rear Wheel Bearings.. What Grease

  In my many excursions to VW wrecking yards I've always made it a practice of; practicing some of my repairs on donor vehicles at the yards.
  In removing the rear axle nut and the drive shaft (the one that has the big nut 360 ft pounds torque) I've noticed that the grease in the rear wheel bearings is about the consistency of 90/120 weight transmission grease.
  I'm thinking about removing my drive shafts, renewing the seals, inspecting the bearings and lubricating the bearings. I've got 278K on my Westy and it just seems practical that the least I can do at this mileage is an inspection.
  What is the lubricant used in the rear wheel bearings?
  These bearings seem to have an extraordinary life span but I still feel committed to doing this inspection.

  Stan Wilder
  83 Westfalia Air Cooled

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