I recently got my car checked out for some suspension problems, and was told my front passenger cv boot needs replacing as well as my front drivers upper control arm. Is it ok to only replace those two parts, or should I replace both upper and lower, should I do all four, should I do both cv boots? I'd obviously not do more than I have to, but just seeing what you recommend.

 

You only have to do The parts that are bad. If only 1 cv boot is ripped, just do that one.
With the upper control arms you could just replace the one thats bad, or you could change both on that one side-theres 2 upper control arms on each side. They will probably wont charge you anymore labor if you do both on one side. How many miles are on the car?

 

64,000 miles. Already had to replace the clutch, brakes, all four wheel bearings and two tie rods.

 

I'm doing my front upper driverside tomorrow also, it seems to be the only one that's bad after doing the check by jacking up that wheel and trying to move the wheel with the steering column locked. I'll let you know if I come across any reasons why you might do both but I agree with Vaudi in that you should only fix the one that's broke. Otherwise you're liable to make more work than necessary. I don't know how inclined you are but here's a great link that offers tons of info.
http://www.audiworld.com/tech/wheel43.shtml

 

Holly cow, I just realized that this was a year ago. Well good luck anyway.

 

Replacing the CV boots when they split is an important but time consuming and messy job. Depending on how long the boot has been split and what kind of traveling has been done since it split, may determine whether you are replacing the boot or replacing the entire axle shaft. Cost varies considerably - about $12 for the boot vs $150-200 for the axle shaft. The process isn't technically difficult but there are lots of small parts to keep track of and keeping them free from dirt and dust can be a chore. I assembled/disassembled the whole thing 4 times in the process of writing this tech article - it also took me about 10 hours over 3 days. If you follow it carefully, you can cut that to about 3 hours if you have all the parts/tools on hand (you could further cut that to 1.5 hours if you had to do it again). The CV boot kit should come with the boot, cv grease, and two boot bands. I would suggest buying it after you find out if your joint is good or not. If the joint is bad, you are probably better off replacing the whole axle shaft.
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