Hello everyone,

Can you please check my thinking on this as I had a very distain experience with a Volkswagen Passat. My mechanic advised me to get a CV axle on the driver side as it was leaking. I enjoy OEM and asked if a rebuild was possible. He stated by the time you did the labor the boot it was easier to just replace with a non-OEM and his shop would cover a lifetime warranty. Again, I have had quite an experience with a Passat in the past and feel it should be replaced with an OEM part. The mechanic has worked for Lexus over 20 years and do trust his expertise and work. However, paying 600 plus for an oem part that has a long life span seems far better then a 200 rebuild non oem. I’m I nuts in in ordering a 43420-30030 and call it a day(new castle nut too)?

As always, thank you for your time and I learn something new every time.

 

I would re-boot the original, myself - but I do the work myself. But he’s right, it’s time consuming and messy vs pull-and-replace, and replacement axles are cheap.

Either go with a replacement like Cardone, or pay him more to re-boot it - still cheaper than OE replacement. If you go with his plan, keep the old axle. If the replacement causes issues, then re-boot it and re-install it.

 

Depends, when most shops/mechanics tell you the boot is leaking it will be a minor thing...if your advised that the boot is blown open and has been for awhile you should probably replace the whole thing because once is open to dirt/gravel and water it's on it's way out.
If you take it to an open parking lot and do a few hard 360's in both directions and don't hear any clicking/knocking then the joint is probably ok and you could re-boot and add grease if you want but...also depends on the age of the axle, if it's original or aftermarket. You need to take everything into consideration because you don't want to be paying for this to be done again any time soon.

 

How many miles you got on your GS 350?

 

Ditto.

My neighbor ditched his IS simply because a CV boot failed. When the boots started failing in my truck I purchased a replacement, swapped it, then took the bad one back a few months later and got another new one. Same for the other side.

So I keep two new axles "in stock" and I'll probably do the same thing with my car if this is a thing.

 

75k, but picked up used….haven’t looked to see if the clamp on the inner boot is oem or aftermarket. I don’t think this is a common issue and maybe due to where the car was from too.