AtlasE61TT

So I was going to change my front lower control arms, when I noticed the the front passenger side inner cv boot was ripped. m kinda of stuck on what to do at this point as I don't have much experience with axles and xdrive bmws. So pretty much my question is do O get a new boot?, buy an aftermarket axle, or get an oem axle from fcp euro?. I saw a video on YouTube were a guy said the cardone axles are a pretty good replace ment but I'm not to sure what to believe. Help me out here guys.

seanjordan20

If the axle is still good just get a new boot and some axle grease and replace it.

AtlasE61TT

Kinda what I was thinking too. But if the axle is shot. What you replace it with a aftermarket one?

seanjordan20

I wouldn't. I would stay OE/OEM

kd7iwp

I've seen a few folks who have not had success with aftermarket axles. I also would just repack it with grease and throw on a new boot.

Here's one guy: https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/d...-woes.1387571/

Porch

I put a bunch of aftermarket cv axles on my old subaru brat, since subaru wanted 400 each for them. Most of the aftermarket axles were bunk right out of the box.

Get midas to put in an aftermarket axle, then they're on the hook. They did 5 for me, I only paid for the first one.

habbyguy

I'm hesitant to NOT replace an axle with a torn boot, unless I know for a fact that it had only torn VERY recently (so there won't be a lot of grit and dirt inside the torn boot, stuck in the grease).

Given the cost of new OEM axles, I'd be very tempted to use a Cardone rebuilt. It's always a little bit of a gamble, but it seems that the vast majority of them work well. That makes sense since axles are not a common failure point on these cars anyway (meaning that the design must be very robust). FWIW, I just checked on Amazon (mainly to see ratings) and they have the rebuilt axles, and the "usually more expensive" right front CV axle is $43, including delivery. I assume that's probably a typo, but with the , I'd give it a shot. In fact, I did on my own 2006 530xi (left axle - the right had already been replaced chasing a shake).