ameer90

Hello

my 2011 Lexus is250 has a CV boot tear in the left rear tyre. It’s on the outer side.

my mechanic told me I have to replace the whole CV axel

is that right? Or there any technique I can do to just replace the boot?

firelikeiy

It might not be the actual boot. The axle knuckle has a pressed on piece that the boot attaches to. The pressed on cap eventually loosens up and grease comes out from there. I found a place in Utah a while back that said they can rebuild them but there was nowhere local to me. The Utah place wanted $220 plus shipping costs. I ended up buying some low mileage used axles from a junk yard and swapping them out. I paid $70 each shipped. Don't buy aftermarket. I've used aftermarket on other cars and they don't last more than 30k miles. The axles are a pain to swap out with the multi link suspension setup. I don't know what your mechanic is going to charge you but I would imagine it is something you would only want to pay for once. I know I don't ever want to do it again but I will. I just bought a GS and they have the same axles.

ameer90

I do not know what’s wrong with this Lexus. I replaced the two rear axles 10 months before because of same problem. I bought used axels but the problem came again.

firelikeiy

Did you verify the mileage of the used axles? A lot of junk yards are not very honest with the mileage. I bought mine online but they had pictures of the actual car they were taken from including the odometer reading. I agree that it is a bad design. Rear CV axles should never have to be replaced. It seems like the OEM axles are only good for 140-160k miles. New OEM axles are very expensive. I believe MSRP is around $800 each. They can be found for $400 each new.

GrizzlyMan

auto shops have said the same thing in my area, they will not replace the boot, it has to be the complete axle. Their logic is once it is contanimated is not worth replacing just the boot.

​​​​​Just because the boot is broken does not mean it needs to be changed, unless it starts maling noise and you detect excessive play, vibration.

I had mine on my 4Runner both broken for almost three years now and no issues. I inspect them every oil change, moving the axle checking for any play, and they do not budge.

Be careful if it is happening at the oil change place. Both mine were detected after taken them to this shop for alignment. I did not give it much thought. I recommended a shop to a friend, and aftdr he went he was asking what would be that grease on his runway, it was broken boot as well. Found it too much coincidence, never took my car to that shop ever again.

Just buy new, and many auto dhops may offer lifetime warranty, the boots break, can chanhe them for free.

Aspect

I've replaced my CV boots when they tore with aftermarket axles and have been pretty good ever since. No way was I going to pay OEM prices for those axles either. Side effect of lowering an AWD