z3 racer

Changed over to my winter wheels recently on my '02 S6 Avant, and noticed a ton of grease built up inside of the front wheels I took off. Turns out that both front outer CV boots are torn, coating the inside of my summer wheels with a nice layer of goop (lots of fun to clean off). Car's at the dealer now to see if the CV joints themselves are toasted (not sure how long they've been running "dry")..

Anybody else have both sides go at once? What have you folks seen for "normal" life-span of CV joints? The car's got 62K miles now (granted, my last Audi - '85 4Kq - went over 200K miles on original CV joints..)..

OCDboy

It has more to do with age than miles on boots. They are exposed to the elements and will deteriorate over time. It's not an expensive fix and can be DIY.

4Driver4

Sounds like you need to check more often. Who does your oil changes?

john in cincy

The joints will last forever as long as they are protected and greased.

Ritz

I ended up replacing the entire axle for under $200 from raxles.com. That way you get new joints, new boots, new grease, and new hardware. The extra parts cost is a wash since the install is a lot quicker than cleaning/inspecting/repacking an old CV joint.

Cheers,

02 Silver Arrow

yup both of mine went last month, PIA but it's done

ado_dado83

First was the right side and then the driver side

40-45 min job

absolutcq20v

2nd, they probably went 2-3 months apart...like mine. :P

z3 racer

The dealer, and only 2k miles ago.. must've overlooked something..

Muckraker

first one was after I hit a friggin pothole --2a coming back from the airport-- so hard it turned my windshield wipers on! (Also "flintstoned" my wheel requiring replacement...thump thump thump...) Boots very common but thankfully not too expensive compared to the other bits on our cars (mine an 02 S6 too).