Another CV boot question
 

The driver's side CV boot on my 2004 3.0 is torn. No clicking or grinding noise.

Dealer quotes $500 to replace.

I called my independent shop and was shocked when he said he always recommend just keep driving it until the axle is damaged and replace the whole thing at that time. Said that dirt and grime has already infiltrated the exposed joint and a new boot can't remove the dirt and prevent the joint from wearing down anyways. He said it may still take a long time for the axle to fail and most of the cost to replace boot or axle is from labor not parts anyways.

Makes sense when he explains it but I would think a new boot at least keeps more dirt, etc from getting in and keep the axle longer. But what he says also makes sense from a labor cost standpoint.

He did quote me $600 to replace both axle & boot when the time comes.

Any thoughts?

I'd prefer my original axle and a new boot over a new axle made on a ship between China and Taiwan

outer boots but did inner too
 

I was told both of my outer CV boots were torn when I was getting an oil change. The same guys did my previous oil change so I must have been running on them for 3K miles. There was no grinding noises but I put extra grease into the torn boots knowing I was not going to replace for a couple of days. I thought for sure this was covered under my CPO...87K but 6-7 years was up, the dealer quoted me $1200 :(. I felt the dealers were always more, so I shopped around... I even thought about doing it myself but did not want the hassle or down time and having to align the wheels was a concern. I shopped around and the average price was $800 for both sides. I did some background research using "yelp" and visiting the shops. I settled on a local shop in San Mateo, European Motorsports. I stopped by the shop just to check and it seemed nice, benz, bmw and there was an X5, Ross (the owner) quoted me +$580 and about 4 hours...GREAT! The day I dropped off my car I felt good...I got a call about 2 hours later from Ross indicating he was having trouble removing the hub, he told me he can replace the CV boot by going thru the inner boot and he would replace the inners at the same time:dunno: ...OK, I'm pretty savie when it comes to suspension and asked what the total cost was +$780. DONE! it turned out to be a good experience. Outer and inner CV boots by going from inside of the axle :thumbup:. Has anyone ever heard of this trick?

umm.. a boot is 30 bucks and the same amount of work, why buy a new non-oem axle if you don't need it? It's a fair amount of labor but a good mechanic can bang it out in 3 hours time. I'm almost done doing my pass side right now.