It started a little quiet popping noise when I was turning and accelerating. It quickly became louder and worse feeling. I decided i'd stop driving it until I got it checked out. Drove it one more time and it was horribly loud and made a grinding popping noise under accleration on the front left side even when driving straight. Then the wheel would sometimes pop and skip over a little bit it kinda felt like. Got it home and would like opinions before I took it in. Thanks in advance.

 

it's your axle. get a new axle, the millenia seems to eat them. i have changed out both on both our cars at about 60k. did another at about 90k, and just did another, 105k. the driver's side is the worst

 

thanks, you know the price range im looking at? and should i do both sides or just the one.

 

reman axles cost about 50 bucks plus core. dunno about a new one, probably about 125. i just get a reman one with a lifetime warranty, because i know that they will probably need to be changed again, and if i have a lifetime with a local parts store, i just get another. however, if you cannot do the job yourself, you have to look at overall long term cost. while the part will have a lifetime warranty, the labor is only good for probably a year. at least 1 hour labor.
look at the inside of your wheel. most likely, the boot is torn, and grease is spattered all over the inside of the wheel. change the side that has grease gobs. if the wheel is clean, most likely the axle is still good.

 

So i took it in to the shop and it came back that both CV axles had to be replaced and total was $618. Is this a bit steep? Listed time per side is 1 hour and the most i can find the parts for is $100 each. So say $125-ish with a mark-up, thats still only $450 right? Someone just give me their input on it, I already ok'd it and the parts will be in tommorow morning so I can't really cancel at this point, i'm just wondering if I should stick with them for future maintenence.

 

are you in the united states? if so, are you near an oreilly's auto parts, autozone, or carquest? or, does your shop have an account with worldpac or imc? an axle job is pretty straightforward, just about any place can do it. 625 is a great price for me, lousy for you. i can get the axles for about 50 bucks, and i figger about 3 hrs MAX to do them, maybe only 2. so, if i charge 50 bucks each profit, that's 200. 418 for labor? wow. even bmw and mercedes labor aint that high. unless you left a deposit, dont feel bad about it. i wish i could get work like that every day. i could just work a few hours a day, and take the rest off.

 

For my 1997 2.5 it came to $190.00 for the drivers side. Used Moog rebuilt axle, lifetime warranty on axle and 3 years on labor at Pep Boys