I went to Les Schwab for new struts. As is their regular protocal, when they called to tell me the car was ready, they mentioned that they had some other suggested repairs.
When I got to the location, the service guy said my right CV boot was cracked and handed me an estimate that included not only a new boot, but also a new front axel. Hm... interesting. I asked him if the axel was bad, and he said they always recommend replacing the axel. Why was this interesting? Because the Les Schwab on the other side of town had replaced the left CV boot AND THE AXEL less than 9 months earlier! When I told him this, he said he'd have to contact the other location to verify. My question was "did you LOOK at the axel and see if it needed to be replaced or did you just add it in, regardless of the conditioni?" Of course, he couldn't answer that question!
I went to another shop who told me that the left CV boot was showing slight signs of wear, but there was no crack, no grime around the joint, and it probably had another 10k miles on it! Which made me realize I was probably ripped off on the first CV boot replacement!
So if the Schwabies recommend a CV Boot... Be vigilant and get a second opinion!
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