€40 for a CV joint?

cantdecide

My mother has a '04 Passat TDI with 120k miles and she usually goes to the local SEAT garage for maintenance.

Last year (I was abroad so can't speak on the ins and outs) she had to get both outer CV joints for the NCT. A family friend recommended a small local garage so she went to him after failing the first time. She failed a second time on a split CV boot. Between the jigs and the reels, this was fixed and car passed.

Now, just eight or ten months later, the CV joints have been clacking again for the last couple of months and since the indie garage are now out of business and she went back to the SEAT garage who told her she needs two new CV joints again. They told her that the joints will be €40+VAT each plus labour. To me, this is an astoundingly low price especially considering it's a VW. I've had to do CV joints over the years and they were always a three figure some as far as I can remember. They said this is for a quality spurious CV joint and the OEM joint would be €140+VAT and these ones will last at least two or three year easily although there won't be a warranty.

TL;DR: Can you really get a decent CV joint for a Passat at a VAG main dealer that will last "for....years" for forty bones???

listermint

cantdecide wrote: »

My mother has a '04 Passat TDI with 120k miles and she usually goes to the local SEAT garage for maintenance.

Last year (I was abroad so can't speak on the ins and outs) she had to get both outer CV joints for the NCT. A family friend recommended a small local garage so she went to him after failing the first time. She failed a second time on a split CV boot. Between the jigs and the reels, this was fixed and car passed.

Now, just eight or ten months later, the CV joints have been clacking again for the last couple of months and since the indie garage are now out of business and she went back to the SEAT garage who told her she needs two new CV joints again. They told her that the joints will be €40+VAT each plus labour. To me, this is an astoundingly low price especially considering it's a VW. I've had to do CV joints over the years and they were always a three figure some as far as I can remember. They said this is for a quality spurious CV joint and the OEM joint would be €140+VAT and these ones will last at least two or three year easily although there won't be a warranty.

TL;DR: Can you really get a decent CV joint for a Passat at a VAG main dealer that will last "for....years" for forty bones???

hmm, i wouldnt have though so my self to be brutally honest. Suprising price that.

Del2005

€40 sounds like it may be only the covers they are replacing. Can't see a CV joint costing €40, there's too much machining it in.

CJhaughey

cantdecide wrote: »

TL;DR: Can you really get a decent CV joint for a Passat at a VAG main dealer that will last "for....years" for forty bones???

I bought an Interparts CV off ebay for 30 and its been good so far for 30k miles.
Check out www.jandrcvjoints.co.uk
Most earlier VAG CV's are weak, maybe the newer stuff is good but I have replaced a lot of older ones.
They tend to just go rather then clicking away for a period of time.

cantdecide

I rang them back thinking it was just the boot they were quoting. I got a voicemail back saying it was actually for the full joint

I mean she's gotten about seven or eight months out of the last joints after getting seven or eight years out of the originals (assuming that guy didn't just fit the boots on their own and charged her €250 for the joints). What's to say they will only last a matter of months again? She's a little old lady who just uses the car to go to mass and shopping. No bad surfaces to contend with. I would say they're adamant they're up to the job. They told my mother they fit them to cars "all the time".

Is there such a thing as a reconditioned CV joint maybe?

cantdecide

cantdecide wrote: »

...........Now, just eight or ten months later, the CV joints have been clacking again for the last couple of months .....................

They said this is for a quality spurious CV joint and the OEM joint would be €140+VAT and these ones will last at least two or three year easily although there won't be a warranty...............

I reckon they'd be as sh1t as what the indy put in last year, unless they are heavily reduced.

CV joints should last years and years once the boots are replaced as required.

Del2005

cantdecide wrote: »

I rang them back thinking it was just the boot they were quoting. I got a voicemail back saying it was actually for the full joint

I mean she's gotten about seven or eight months out of the last joints after getting seven or eight years out of the originals (assuming that guy didn't just fit the boots on their own and charged her €250 for the joints). What's to say they will only last a matter of months again? She's a little old lady who just uses the car to go to mass and shopping. No bad surfaces to contend with. I would say they're adamant they're up to the job. They told my mother they fit them to cars "all the time".

Is there such a thing as a reconditioned CV joint maybe?

Once a CV joint is gone it's gone.

Maybe the original replacement pair weren't done correctly, it the areas where the boots go isn't totally clean then the grease will fly out. The fact it had a split boot after the 1st time the other place that replaced them doesn't sound like it was much good.

This time it could be the inner joints gone.

mickdw

I wouldnt entertain a main dealer part without warranty. If the part is worth fitting, they should be able to offer some warranty. The price does sound stupidly low. Maybe used parts?

Chris_Heilong

There are oils you should use on those C.V boots each year to extend their lives, can't think of the name at the moment