MOT repair: Nearside Front Drive shaft joint constant velocity boot severely deteriorated

oldagetraveller1

Jenni_D said:

dipsomaniac said:

Not sure if yours is too close to edge of tyre to be fixed.

Looking at the photo on the previous page I would say that the nail is within the central 75% of the tread, given that it is at the first main tread line, so it is repairable - I would certainly do a home repair using a tar string thingy for a puncture at that location.

Just to be pedantic! I don't think that 75% is correct. It depends on the tyre's width with 70% being the maximum for the wider tyres (over 205?). e.g. up to 155, 60%.

Best practice is a repair to British Standard, can't remember which.

General_query

Thanks for replies. Had puncture repair done Friday morning, £25.

Booked car back in for work and dropped it off this morning. Garage just rang with "bad news....." and mentioned they need to order some part that is £70 (exc. VAT), and probably won't be ready to collect today.

I have no idea what is going on but this isn't going to be cheap

Archie_Duke

General_query said:

Thanks for replies. Had puncture repair done Friday morning, £25.

Booked car back in for work and dropped it off this morning. Garage just rang with "bad news....." and mentioned they need to order some part that is £70 (exc. VAT), and probably won't be ready to collect today.

I have no idea what is going on but this isn't going to be cheap

It’s a really bad idea to just let them do ahead with such a vague description of what it is that’s wrong and the cost. You should at least ask for the whole job price (parts & labour, if possible. You can add VAT yourself if necessary). And query what part needs replacing and what is the impact on the task if you say no. This garage sounds quite poor with the earlier vagueness.

400ixl

It could be that the CV bearings are worn. One of the issues when a CV boot fails is that you can then get all sorts of muck into the bearings which can wear out the bearings meaning they need replacing. They shouldn't be £70+vat though.

Guessing though without knowing what they have found. It could be anything on the suspension or braking side really.

General_query

They mentioned something about the thread had gone, if any use? Hence needing this need part - to be delivered later today.

Goudy

The nut on the end of the drive shaft usually has a flat that's knocked in to lock it in place in a groove in the threaded end of the drive shaft. You should always use a new nut when refitting as the used one's flat becomes a bit weak and brittle.

It's not always easy to get the flat to pull out or the mechanic might have been heavy handed and used a windy gun and rammed the nut off with the spiked flat still in groove and ruined the threaded end of the shaft.

If that's the case, it probably would be around £70 or so to replace that threaded end and a new nut.

It could also be that they've muttered the bearing getting the shaft out (or noticed the wheel bearing is knackered)
Again, probably around the same cost.

General_query

Archie_Duke said:

General_query said:

Thanks for replies. Had puncture repair done Friday morning, £25.

Booked car back in for work and dropped it off this morning. Garage just rang with "bad news....." and mentioned they need to order some part that is £70 (exc. VAT), and probably won't be ready to collect today.

I have no idea what is going on but this isn't going to be cheap

It’s a really bad idea to just let them do ahead with such a vague description of what it is that’s wrong and the cost. You should at least ask for the whole job price (parts & labour, if possible. You can add VAT yourself if necessary). And query what part needs replacing and what is the impact on the task if you say no. This garage sounds quite poor with the earlier vagueness.

Okay, so garage just rang and said it was the CV Joint. Car ready to pick up later this afternoon, cost is £252 inc. VAT

Will post breakdown of bill when I get it

 

Archie_Duke

@General_query and that’s just unfortunately what can happen when a job and costing is described as vaguely as you’ve allowed them to get away with. 

Mind you, a 2011 Meriva will start to need the odd job like this as things start to wear out at this age.

General_query

Bill shows:

CV Boot £25
CV Joint £75
= Parts £100
+ Labour £110

Total exc. VAT £210
plus VAT £42.00

TOTAL £252

Ibrahim5

I have seen a lot worse. I remember someone saying that they had been educated at the training school of a fast fit garage. They were taught that motorists were always happy with bills of less than £300. I think if you take an 11 year old car for an MOT most people budget for a few £. So the garages aren't desperately trying to keep the bill down. £250 for another 12 months MOT? The customer should be happy.