CV Boot quote from Audi

[david7m]

This made me laugh, so I thought I would post it here

When I had my pads and discs replaced, I was told that the front off side CV boot was beginning to split, a possible MOT failure ?!?!?!?!!? The MOT is due Feb 4th.

I rang Audi today and they said it would be £95+VAT for them to diagnose what I had told them was wrong and she would ring back with a price for the CV Boot over and above the diagnostic fee. Before our first conversation finished, I asked the price of an MOT, £44.15 inc VAT.

She rang back promptly with a price for the CV Boot, £208 odd plus VAT, plus diagnostic. I responded with something like,"Would it not be cheaper for me to book it in for the MOT, pay £44 and then you tell me the CV Boot is split?" A long pause followed...........then, "Yeah, I suppose so!"

It makes me wonder where they get these people from

Anyway, can anyone recommend somewhere in Milton Keynes for an MOT and possibly a CV Boot if it fails?

Cheers,

Dave

[quattrosteph]

CV boot don't cost a fortune, normaly have to be replace as pair. Buy the parts yourself . Any good mecanics can do it ,if you want peace of mind Doug at MRC in Banbury is may be your solution....

[Alps]

I tried to type a response to the stupidity shown by these t1ts. But something very rare happended everytime I tried to type... words failed to materialise in my head to explain how I feel about the stealerships and their stupidity? stubborness? thievery?

[yorkie]

Both mine were diagnosed as split at the last service, pretty sure the dealer only charged me that to do both but unfortunately when they removed the caliper on one side the threads stripped so I had another £345 plus vat on top for that too.

[shineydave]

that's rubbish, you don't have to remove the calliper to change a cv boot, there's a bolt that holds the track rod end in place and the hub bolt to be undone and that's it, takes about an hour per side if you're mechanically challenged. and that includes taking the wheels off and putting them back on. i did one not so long ago in half an hour.

i'd be taking a trip back to them for an explaination as to why you had to pay to have them fix a fault they created in the first place.

[stimp]

It can be dear to replace a CV, mine was £35 inlcuding fitting at the place I get my MOT's done. They just pop the drive shaft and use a stretching thing( with a rude name) to open the boot out and slide it on. It takes about 30 mins. So I guess it was about 10-15 for the boot and the rest labour.

[yorkie]

Too late now and unfortunately the price of inexperience.

Did both on my Rallye in about an hour but there you go.

[Golich]

I'm with Shineydave on this you definitley don't need to remove the caliper. I did both outside boots on my old S4 some years back. Its a doddle. No stretchy thing required for the outside boots which are the most common ones to go on all cars as these are the boots that see the most action from steering and suspension motions. The boot closest the hub simply slides onto the drive shaft but you have to remove the CV joint from the shaft.

Dave mentioned removing the trackrod end method which is one way - However, more often than not you can't remove the bolt that pinches the two upper aluminium suspension arms without some serious working as it seizes. If that's the case, simply remove the lower suspension arm at the hub. It achieves the same objective of allowing you to remove the drive shaft from the hub.

Interestingly the official Audi / Erwin manual calls for a special Audi tool to pull the outer CV joint of the drive shaft. Said puller is simply a long bolt the same thread as the drive shaft bolt. Feck me it didn't take me too long to figure out to simply screw the drive shaft bolt into the CV joint it will press the CV joint off the shaft!!! It would appear Audi are trying to fleece their own stealerships too!!!

If you buy the Audi boot it comes in a kit with a new drive shaft bolt and grease - from memory they are about £20 per boot.

About an hour per side and any decent mechanic can do this. As for telling whether it needs to be replaced simply jack up the car and get under it to see if its split. There might well be cracks in the rubber but unless the cracks are all the way through and the boot is split open and leaking grease this is not a failure - but a warning to keep and eye on it and get it replaced sometime soon as a new CV joint ain't cheap!

[MCB]

Not withstanding all the good responses above, I am forced to quote Alps as I could not agree more:

"I tried to type a response to the stupidity shown by these t1ts. But something very rare happended everytime I tried to type... words failed to materialise in my head to explain how I feel about the stealerships and their stupidity? stubborness? thievery?"

Audi nonsense Etc

[shineydave]

for such a simple job it's no wonder we tend to get a tad peeved. i still reel in disbelief that they don't run a diagnostic scan at service. i was told they only scan cars if there's a problem. how would you know there was a problem if you didn't run a scan?

considering the complexity of the systems and the charges for servicing i think it should be a "must"

[Golich]

for such a simple job it's no wonder we tend to get a tad peeved. i still reel in disbelief that they don't run a diagnostic scan at service. i was told they only scan cars if there's a problem. how would you know there was a problem if you didn't run a scan?

considering the complexity of the systems and the charges for servicing i think it should be a "must"

OOo don't start me on that. I couldn't agree more. I only discovered that myself at my last major service! In the words of Victor Meldrew "I can't believe it.... " My girlfriend has bought me the book "Gruppy old Men" I'm only 36 but bloody owning an Audi for 5years has has turned me into a right moaning git at times. In fact I'm about to right my 2nd serious letter of complaint to my local stealership this time its the primary owner and Audi UK and Audi Gmbh are being copied. I'm going to sum up what owing an Audi has meant to me over the last 5years and more importantly how badly let down I feel about the service the workshop, bodyshop and Audi UK. However, its in my interests to get them on my side as the alternative is a PITA 2 hr drive to Jim at Star Performance everytime I want the car looked at.

Its just EVERY time I put my car in for routine work EVERY time it has to go back because they done a half arsed job. Nothing that major but its due to a lack of attention. Currently its poor alingment of my steering wheel after the 4wheel alignment was done it's now about 5 degrees off the alignment cost me £130.

Had had some minor scrtaches touched up when the car went in for warranty work on zinc inclusions. The bodyshop have only fitted 3 out of the total 6 clips that hold my sill on. The sill is badly aligned with the front wing. I now have a very obvious rattle coming from inside the sill every time I change direction. They oversprayed both inner arches of the rear bumper when they painted the bumper. So when the car is clean it really stands part black in arch with flacky Avus silver - real quality job! I only had the rear bumper resprayed for nothing other than minor scratches from taking stuff out of the boot! I got them to fit clear protective film on the sill and bumper I swear the edges are torn rather than cut with a knife or scissors cost to me £800. So its not like I paid for a Mickey Mouse job -OOOps sorry I took of on a rant AGAIN sorry!

[david7m]

Easy Tiger

Do you Ford/Vauxhall owners get the same treatment?

Dave

[david7m]

CV Boot parts only are £11 odd plus VAT, so this makes it even worse ........... going to get them tomorrow and take them to the MOT centre Saturday morning, see if it fails, then hand over the parts

Dave