Aren't the cv shafts warrantied? I purchased mine from Advance Auto and Oreillys and they are warrantied for life. I had to replace one just pulled it out took it up there swapped for a new one and haven't had a problem since. I don't care if they failed yearly as each one is free after the first one and they are easy to change.

 

oh man.. i rebuilt my 2 front axles last year, it was a dirty mess of a job. but they still work, so that's cool. my boots were torn, one was clicking and one wasn't.. so i just took them both apart and cleaned them out really well. after that, the one that was clicking, i sanded the inside of the cv with some wetsand and threw them back together, and they're both working fine. it's not hard, but its a mess. it's a lot cheaper than new axles too.

 

They are. I changed mine out and if I ever have a problem, it's right back for a new one. It takes about 30mins to change an axle start to finish, don't think I could just change a boot in that time

 

When I bought my a4 last year both front outter axel boots were torn and both my outter cv joints were showing signs of bad wear when I opened them up. I found a guy who rebuilt both for 60. I would say rebuild the factory axels, you will have a better product for a cheaper cost, just my opinion.

 

I agree my mechanic replaced the cv boots in under a 1 hr. but if your slinging grease. I would just replace the whole axle.

 

Welcome to my world. My boots were torn when I bought the car at the beginning of this year and I just let them be because there was grease already all over the place from them and I had already put over 1k in the car and they were find for the time being and knew Id just replace the axels in the future anyway. My mechanic also suggested just replacing the axles.

About 2 weeks ago they started clicking. But it's not all the time, so I shall wait longer.

 

While replacing the diverter valve I noticed the CV boots on both driver and passenger have small tears in and some of the grease is leaking out. Car has 101k miles, so I guess it was due. I have a little weird creaking sound when I crank the steering all the way as I back out of my driveway, which is probably related.

What's involved in replacing the axles with OEM? What is the approximate cost for the parts?

Is this a relatively easy job to do in driveway, or does it require a lift?

 

I had my mechanic do both my axles, some control arms and stuff total was $850 including an alignment. The axles were around $120 I believe. They are remanufactured ones I believe I forget exactly.

Not sure why I had him do it but whatever it's done now. I was tired of thinking about it and I wouldn't have been able to do it for months until winters over.