CV joints on 97 Civic

I just got a call from a Goodyear shop who is doing my daughter's
Civic's oil change. They said both front CV joints, i.e. axle boots,
are bad and need replacing and want $289 each. I declined since I don't
have $600.

The car has 76k on it and drives perfect with no noise or vibration. Is
their any way to test these yourself?

Thanks guys.

RonT

 

listen for clicking during tight left/right turns.

chances are, theyre snowing you. but since goodyear has had the car,
maybe they did something to the joints? who knows. id take it to a
dealer or a trusted independant mechanic for a second opinion.

 

If the boots have been torn for any length of time the CV joints are
toast. You can just replace the boots but it's better to replace the
driveshafts. See also:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#CVjoints

 

Call theses guys for price. http://www.raxles.com and have your local mech
installed. Heard they have good quality axles.
Estimate labor at $75-100 per side.

 

If the axle boots are bad it will be extremely obvious. There will be
grease flung all over the place on the inside of the wheel and the wheel
well.

If they "did something" to the boots, such as slicing them with a knife,
that too will be extremely obvious.

All Goodyear had to do was take the OP out to the car and show him. It's
not something even an inexperienced person would miss.

CV joint boots fail for one reason only: NEGLECT.

 

(Ron Truitt) floridly penned in :

The price they're quoting sounds like the joints themselves are bad and
they want to replace the whole axle. This means the boots were split and
grease was flung around all over the place in the wheel wells.

At 76K you're likely still running on the OEM joints. Be wise to keep them
if at all possible. If never allowed to go bad (never allowing the boots to
split), they last the life of the car.

Did they actually show you the problem? It's one of those blindingly
obvious, very visible things.

 

I've never heard about maintaining a CV boot. How do you do it?

Dean

 

You don't. There's no maintenance other than checking for rips. The trick
is to replace the boot in before the CV joint loses lubrication. Usually
inspecting them twice a year is enough.

 

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 21:39:29 -0600, (Ron Truitt) wrote:

I had the axles replaced on my Accord a couple of years ago at an independent
Honda repair place for about $400. They offered to replace the boots, but I
choose the more expensive route because I plan on keeping the car for a very
long time. If money is an issue just do the boots and save for joints when they
fail. It might be a long time, if ever.

The LAST time I went to Goodyear, for a state safety inspection, the guy was
quoting me prices on brake jobs. BEFORE he had even seen the car. Being the
handy sort of guy I declined their generous offer to fix my brakes after,
surprise!, they failed inspection. You can imagine how PO'ed I was when I
started the job and quickly realized that there was absolutely nothing wrong
with the brakes.

I don't know what this Goodyear shop, but from my point of view you already have
two strikes against you, 1st you went to a Goodyear shop, 2nd you let them do
work. <lol> My favorite kind of place is a small independent place that relies
on word of mouth advertising. My Honda repair guy only works on Hondas and is
usually backed up a day or two. Its worth the wait because he is dead honest.

So my advise is to ask the Honda owners you know where they get their cars
fixed.

Dean

 

My favorite moment was when one such shyster told me I needed new
shocks. I told him that if he could replace the shocks, I'd give him
the car.

The car was an Austin 1300 which uses a hydraulic suspension and
doesn't HAVE shocks!

I second the motion! Look for an owner operated place that's in as
obscure a location as possible. Such outfits cannot depend on walk-in
business and must trust to satisfied customers to advertise their
presence.

Or check with a local car club.

 

You can get under the car and check the boots yourself. Very easy to do.
It sounds to me as if the price you are being quoted is for them to replace
the entire axle, nust just the boot.

 

That's exactly my point. Garages make a mint replacing axles because nobody
ever checks the boots.

Real easy:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/rustybrakes/brakes4.html#cv

 

If the CV joints are original (OEM) then best thing you can do is keep them
and replace the boots only, provided the previous boots had not ever been
allowed to split and leak.

Those OEM CV joints will literally last forever, so well are they made.

 

that's easier said than done. The labor of replacing just the boots is
the same as a complete CV job.

It's cheaper to just let the boots last as long as they're going to and
replace the boots and the CV joints together.

 

I didn't say "cheaper", I said "best".

 

But what are you replacing them with? The argument is that the
original shafts are of far better quality than rebuilts, so even
though the labor costs are the same or even a bit more, it's better to
replace a cracked but not yet leaking boot on an original shaft than
exchange them for rebuilts of questionable quality.

I would do that if I knew the shafts had already been replaced with
rebuilts before, or I knew the CV joints were starting to make noise
at full lock.

 

That's like the time a guy at Midas told me that my '93 Accord needed new
struts. Hello? My car has shocks and springs, not struts. Needless to
say, I never went back there and have been going to a private Honda
mechanic for the last few years.

 

On another note years ago I had a torn boot and money was a major issue, (read
NONE <lol>) I borrowed a few dollars and replaced the boot myself. I took the
axle out of the car cleaned and repacked the joint and put it all back together.
It lasted for three years and 30K miles until I sold the car to buy my first
Honda.

Dean

 

Thanks fellas.

I'm going to do a close inspection of the car before I do anything. My
daughter had taken it in while I was at work so the Goodyear shop was
after her for the work. Maybe they figured nobody would check the car
out.

RonT

 

I'd avoid driving when the front tires, rotors or shafts are vibrating. And
avoid unnecessary u-turns, driving in extreme conditions, or driving with
badly installed boots.