CV Axle Boot Replacement

[M302_imola]

My X5 is at shop and they are saying I have a tear in my front right outer cv boot. He quoted me $30 for the repair kit and $400 in labor Seems very high in labor cost as one of my other mechanic buddies told me it's a 3 hour job. They are also replacing the front right lower forward control arm. Seems as though they could cut me a break in some labor cost since they'll be doing both at the same time. Anyhow, any of you guys had this repair done? This is at an indy shop and not dealership.

[scotty339]

I've rebooted CV axles on my old 06 Tundra to put some "higher angle" boots on. They fail with usage, turning, and stretching as well as the elements. If you've caught it recently, I'd just reboot it and call it a day. If you have any noise coming from the joint its to late and should be replaced. Re-man or aftermarket are $100ish.

$400 labour is nuts. Its really not hard to remove a CV. The rebooting can be messy and a bit of time consuming sure, but its a $20-$30 kit as mentioned and you only need one specific crimp tool for the bands.

Depends on the the break down the of labor, how much is rebooting the CV vs the LFCA? Move to remove for sure. I dunno what the shop rate is but I'll assume thats around 4-5 hours of work billed. I agree, assuming the vehicle is in good condition, I'd ballpark that at 3 hours for a good tech doing the work.

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by scotty339

I've rebooted CV axles on my old 06 Tundra to put some "higher angle" boots on. They fail with usage, turning, and stretching as well as the elements. If you've caught it recently, I'd just reboot it and call it a day. If you have any noise coming from the joint its to late and should be replaced. Re-man or aftermarket are $100ish.

$400 labour is nuts. Its really not hard to remove a CV. The rebooting can be messy and a bit of time consuming sure, but its a $20-$30 kit as mentioned and you only need one specific crimp tool for the bands.

Depends on the the break down the of labor, how much is rebooting the CV vs the LFCA? Move to remove for sure. I dunno what the shop rate is but I'll assume thats around 4-5 hours of work billed. I agree, assuming the vehicle is in good condition, I'd ballpark that at 3 hours for a good tech doing the work.

Appreciate the informative reply. Shop rate is $104/hr so he's def overcharging for the reboot. The $400 for labor is strictly for the reboot. He's charging another $150 in labor for the FCA. I left him a message wanting to discuss labor charges as I feel like he should cut me a break since the FCA is on the same side. I feel like he should shave at least an hour off labor rate. Especially since this is the same shop that did my BC Racing coilovers 2 weeks ago. Amazingly, nothing was mentioned about the cv boot or FCA then and I told him to check during the install. I'm almost wondering if the tear could have been caused from the Coilover install, but guess I don't have a leg to stand on.

[ahmad1985]

i am in the same boat. i am getting $450 just labor charges from most places. Only this one place gave me labor charge of $350 but they said i have to get boot kit from them and they are charging 80 dollar for boot. I already have boot kit from fcp euro it was 10 bucks.

[tlow98]

Lots of parts on these cars are less than $20. Almost none of them are cheap to pay someone to replace the item.

I don’t think those mechanics are gouging. A couple hours of shop time is expensive.

Unless you find someone on CL to come out and do it for you and then you have no warranty... It seems like anything less than 3 hours is unlikely. I’m guessing yiu won’t be saving much anywhere you turn

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by ahmad1985

i am in the same boat. i am getting $450 just labor charges from most places. Only this one place gave me labor charge of $350 but they said i have to get boot kit from them and they are charging 80 dollar for boot. I already have boot kit from fcp euro it was 10 bucks.

Glad I'm not the only one. How many miles on your X5? How did you discover the torn boot?

Originally Posted by tlow98

Lots of parts on these cars are less than $20. Almost none of them are cheap to pay someone to replace the item.

I don’t think those mechanics are gouging. A couple hours of shop time is expensive.

Unless you find someone on CL to come out and do it for you and then you have no warranty... It seems like anything less than 3 hours is unlikely. I’m guessing yiu won’t be saving much anywhere you turn

Agree with you for the most part. But the job calls for 3 hours and the car is already on the lift from the diagnosis plus he's not cutting me a break on labor charges for the lower control arm when it's on the same side as the boot. I left a message w/ the shop yesterday asking to discuss labor rates and they never called me back

[M3HNGRY]

Just DIY it...

[ahmad1985]

Originally Posted by M302_imola

Glad I'm not the only one. How many miles on your X5? How did you discover the torn boot?



Agree with you for the most part. But the job calls for 3 hours and the car is already on the lift from the diagnosis plus he's not cutting me a break on labor charges for the lower control arm when it's on the same side as the boot. I left a message w/ the shop yesterday asking to discuss labor rates and they never called me back

87K. There is grease on parts of rim and control arm

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by M3HNGRY

Just DIY it...

I wish I was that confident in my DIY skills to pull this off.

Originally Posted by ahmad1985

87K. There is grease on parts of rim and control arm

I see! See I saw none of that, but mechanic said they must have caught it right after it ripped. I haven't used this shop a lot, so I'm not fully trusting in them. Being a cv boot that you don't see unless the car is on a lift makes this one of the repairs I question if really needs repaired or if I'm just padding the wallet of the shop.

Regardless, I paid full price and I'm not happy about it I told the owner the outer cv boot repair is a 3 hour job (as I had my buddy who is a mechanic check) and he hemmed and hawed and said yes but this required some extra work. I looked him in the eyes and could tell he was lying. I paid it but I won't be using this shop again. I had called to talk about the repair and never got a call back. In fact, they close at 5:30 on Fridays and didn't get a call until 5:15 that my car would be ready by 6:00. Also, I had mud all in the wheel wells where they had parked it in their additional gravel parking lot (which had puddles from a lot of rain). Little shit like that sets me off because if it didn't register not to drive my car through a puddle then their attention to detail is shit in my book. Fuk that place!

[M3HNGRY]

Originally Posted by M302_imola

I wish I was that confident in my DIY skills to pull this off.

You have the forums and youtube. Everyone is a mechanic now.

[emrliquidlife]

Originally Posted by M3HNGRY

You have the forums and youtube. Everyone is a mechanic now.

Gents you don't pay a mechanic by the hour. There is a book rate where each job is billed individually. A good mechanic will often do the job in less time than billed. That's experience you are paying for. If you can get them to reduce the time billed, lucky you.

When you establish loyalty, it's common practice to take care of your customer. Realize, everyone is asking for a discount.

[M3HNGRY]

Originally Posted by emrliquidlife

Gents you don't pay a mechanic by the hour. There is a book rate where each job is billed individually. A good mechanic will often do the job in less time than billed. That's experience you are paying for. If you can get them to reduce the time billed, lucky you.

When you establish loyalty, it's common practice to take care of your customer. Realize, everyone is asking for a discount.

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by emrliquidlife

Gents you don't pay a mechanic by the hour. There is a book rate where each job is billed individually. A good mechanic will often do the job in less time than billed. That's experience you are paying for. If you can get them to reduce the time billed, lucky you.

When you establish loyalty, it's common practice to take care of your customer. Realize, everyone is asking for a discount.

Agree, unfortunately I hadn't established loyalty w/ this particular shop and that's why I questioned if my cv boot was torn in the first place. That's a repair that isn't seen by the naked eye so they could have easy done nothing and pocketed the money. My mechanic I've used for years wasn't able to do the job as a special tool is required for the cv boot replacement. I would not have questioned my normal mechanic for one sec. I've been a customer of his for over 10 years now. In the future, I'll def ask book rate for the job as a whole and not hourly. Appreciate, the insight.

[M3HNGRY]

Originally Posted by M302_imola

Agree, unfortunately I hadn't established loyalty w/ this particular shop and that's why I questioned if my cv boot was torn in the first place. That's a repair that isn't seen by the naked eye so they could have easy done nothing and pocketed the money. My mechanic I've used for years wasn't able to do the job as a special tool is required for the cv boot replacement. I would not have questioned my normal mechanic for one sec. I've been a customer of his for over 10 years now. In the future, I'll def ask book rate for the job as a whole and not hourly. Appreciate, the insight.

You can tell when a boot is replace the rubber/plastic is brand new and doesnt have any buildup from the weather.

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by M3HNGRY

You can tell when a boot is replace the rubber/plastic is brand new and doesnt have any buildup from the weather.

With the wheel on? I'll have to give it a look then.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by M302_imola

With the wheel on? I'll have to give it a look then.

Turn your wheel all the way to the outside. Should be easy to see then.

Honestly, those prices quoted aren't bad. The shop I was at would have come in similarly and also required parts bought at the shop. It's a huge hassle dealing with customer purchased parts when something fails.

BMW repair (any luxury car) is expensive if you're paying others. It's a harsh reality. It's why I do all my own work. If I couldn't work on BMWs, I couldn't afford them.

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Turn your wheel all the way to the outside. Should be easy to see then.

Honestly, those prices quoted aren't bad. The shop I was at would have come in similarly and also required parts bought at the shop. It's a huge hassle dealing with customer purchased parts when something fails.

BMW repair (any luxury car) is expensive if you're paying others. It's a harsh reality. It's why I do all my own work. If I couldn't work on BMWs, I couldn't afford them.

I'm with you. I do try to do most of the work myself or with a good buddy. We tried to diagnose my creaking sound coming from the front passenger side suspension. I replaced the most common failure bushing on the front FCA myself, but it didn't fix the issue. Even replaced the upper wishbone CA as well. So at that point I needed a shop to diagnose what the issue is that's why I used this shop. They "happened" to find the torn CV boot and replaced the FCA I had already replaced saying there was "excessive" movement when they tested w/ a pry bar. Should have known this wouldn't fix my creaking sound issue. $750 later and the issue still smacks me in the face everytime I drive the car

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by M302_imola

I'm with you. I do try to do most of the work myself or with a good buddy. We tried to diagnose my creaking sound coming from the front passenger side suspension. I replaced the most common failure bushing on the front FCA myself, but it didn't fix the issue. Even replaced the upper wishbone CA as well. So at that point I needed a shop to diagnose what the issue is that's why I used this shop. They "happened" to find the torn CV boot and replaced the FCA I had already replaced saying there was "excessive" movement when they tested w/ a pry bar. Should have known this wouldn't fix my creaking sound issue. $750 later and the issue still smacks me in the face everytime I drive the car

That's definitely frustrating. Understand that.

With shops (stealers too) I try to keep them focused on the actual reason I brought it in. "Hey, I have a creaking sound, please diagnose that." If they come back with anything, "Will that cure my creaking?" If the answer is anything but yes... "Please focus on the creaking, might address the other issues after that is cured if it makes sense to." But, yeah it's always a hassle unless you really know and trust your shop. Finding a good mechanic is as difficult as finding a good dentist or body shop. Once you find one, stick with them, and the more they see you, the rates usually get once you're a "regular."

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

That's definitely frustrating. Understand that.

With shops (stealers too) I try to keep them focused on the actual reason I brought it in. "Hey, I have a creaking sound, please diagnose that." If they come back with anything, "Will that cure my creaking?" If the answer is anything but yes... "Please focus on the creaking, might address the other issues after that is cured if it makes sense to." But, yeah it's always a hassle unless you really know and trust your shop. Finding a good mechanic is as difficult as finding a good dentist or body shop. Once you find one, stick with them, and the more they see you, the rates usually get once you're a "regular."

That's good advice!

[agruts_F15]

I just rebooted my outer CV joint yesterday. I couldn't find a YouTube tutorial for our cars but the E70 is pretty much exactly the same from what I can tell. Was really not that bad, especially if you can get under the car. I recommend taking the entire axle out and putting it in a vice if you can as that makes hammering the outer joint off ten times easier and quicker (helps if you have another person to assist). Also, I used the BMW replacement boot kit which is fine however I tossed out the outer clamp after spending half an hour trying to attach it and used a regular crimp type clamp. The BMW one is like a squeeze type that as far as I can tell requires a special tool...WHY DO YOU DO THIS BMW? Anyways, now that I've done it once I think I could do it in ~2 hours the next time. Would have saved a ton of time if I had removed the entire axle and used a different outer clamp in the first place.

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by agruts_F15

I just rebooted my outer CV joint yesterday. I couldn't find a YouTube tutorial for our cars but the E70 is pretty much exactly the same from what I can tell. Was really not that bad, especially if you can get under the car. I recommend taking the entire axle out and putting it in a vice if you can as that makes hammering the outer joint off ten times easier and quicker (helps if you have another person to assist). Also, I used the BMW replacement boot kit which is fine however I tossed out the outer clamp after spending half an hour trying to attach it and used a regular crimp type clamp. The BMW one is like a squeeze type that as far as I can tell requires a special tool...WHY DO YOU DO THIS BMW? Anyways, now that I've done it once I think I could do it in ~2 hours the next time. Would have saved a ton of time if I had removed the entire axle and used a different outer clamp in the first place.

Very nice! My mechanic mentioned that clamp and how much of a bitch it was to get it attached. I hope you have better luck than I did. My axle ended up needing replacing 3 weeks after the cv boot repair. I think the shop that did the repair didn't set the axle correctly. I bought a very lightly used axle off ebay. Had another shop replace the axle. Went for a test drive and something wasn't right. The used axle I bought ended up being crap. I then had to order a new axle. Luckily, the shop felt bad for me and didn't double charge me labor. Lesson learned, don't by used parts especially when not installing yourself.

[dachtera]

Hey all - I see a ton of posts here about doing this repair DIY style, but I haven't read /how/ yet. Yes, I know that unless you've got a split boot you have to take stuff apart, however this is the part that is a mystery to me. I don't feel like blindly whacking on the CV.

I picked up a universal split boot, and the regular old hose clamp it came with was too large to fit inside the knuckle.

I've got the Beck Arnley regular boot, but again, I'm having a challenge finding details on the disassembly. I've already had the front end apart once to replace the control arms and strut, and I guess I can do it again if needed.

Or, does someone have a good solution for a split boot with better clamps.

Last idea, I could take the clamps from my B/A kit and crimp them on the split boot I already have.

Car is sitting idle now anyways, waiting on the EGR recall parts.