Help! Is this normal for torn CV boot? (caution. graphic pic)
 

Been experiencing a bunch of problems from clunks to vibrations. So I took a pic of the suspension since I don't have a lift. Here's what I found. Is this normal for a torn CV boot? Is the car drivable? Thanks
http://a.imageshack.us/img828/669/img5094m.jpg

Once dirt and water gets into the joint the axel's days are numbered. If it's already making noise then you'll likely need to replace the axel instead of just the boot.

You should not drive car unless you have to. They all last about 40 - 50 k miles max so you need to watch for tear.
I noticed mine at about 45k miles when changed brakes and both were torn - shop replaced boot on one site and had to replace the whole axle on the other site. Actually to replace the whole axle was like only $60 more than to replace just the boot

I've been driving on this for over a week now. I noticed a lot of that gunky grease on my wheels about 9-10 days ago.... Should I just tell the dealer to replace the axle?

if it is still under warranty it should be covered by an sb that was floating around. if not i would clean it repack it and put on a new boot since its only been a week and there isn't to much crap on the road.

With the labor involved just to get to the boot, you might as well just replace the whole joint. Once anything but grease gets in there, it turns into a grit and just chews things up, eventually clunking and then you'll be starting all over again. It's the same amount of labor to replace the boot vs replacing the whole arm, so save yourself the trouble. It was a b!tch to do on my X5 as the axle didn't want to seperate, so I ended up having to remove the whole spindle and press it out.

it wasn't that hard when i did it and saved the money of having to buy the whole shaft. still running strong.

the joint is replacable separatly. the whole axle does not need to be replaced

So should I just replace the joint and not the axle when I replace the CV boot?

By the time you pay for the labor to either replace the boot and/or the single joint, you'll probably still be cheaper off to just replace the whole axle. Someone mentioned on another thread about an eBay store or some other shop that rebuilt them using stock parts and were far less than stock pricing and included a warranty.