CV Joint Wear Acceptable?

[andyzplace 1]

Hi All,

I'm a long time lurker following purchase of Kieran's Storm Grey VR6 back in September 2023.

I've been slowly working through the standard issues you'd expect with a 30 year old Corrado (Wishbone's, drop links, track rod ends, rear beam bushes, spoiler motor mechanism overhaul, discs / pads, rear wheel bearings etc etc)

I've recently been experiencing vibration over 30mph so have taken it back off the road for investigation. I assumed it was the front wheel bearings, however in removing the drivers side hub have managed to distort the threads on the outer CV joint (I used the old nut but it took a bit of a wallop to release the driveshaft splines from the hub!)

As I have the driveshafts off I thought I may as well inspect the inner CV joints as it appears you can get a whole driveshaft for not much more than an outer CV assembly, although I'm sure they wont be as good as the 30 year old OEM ones, so long as they are in acceptable condition.

This if the first time I've had a CV joint in pieces, so I'm not sure what level of wear is deemed 'acceptable'. The photos below show what I'm faced with. You can certainly feel some wear, however its not much. All the balls appear unmarked. If it was any other bearing I wouldn't dream of putting it back, but I'm not sure the same applies to a CV joint.

Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

Also, thanks to all who have managed to keep this forum running all these years. I had a Red 1.8 16v Corrado back in the day and this forum was the only place to go for reliable information.

 

Thanks, Andy

[fendervg 33]

CV joints will last years as long as the boots are intact and packed with plenty of grease. I speak from experience, having ignored a torn boot, which ended in total CV failure and a tow home on another car.

I'd say clean them up, grease and new boots and you will be fine as long as the threads are not damaged and no bearing surfaces badly pitted. The vibration could be many things - a bearing would show up when rotating the wheel by hand or rocking it with the car raised. Could also be alignment or any number of other bushes.

[Cressa 44]

Everything fendervg said. 

I'd happily reuse those if well packed.  What make of Bearing did you use? I used some rubbish ones initially, due to cost. I later swapped them for FAG I think, or the oem maker. The difference was instantly noticeable when driving.

Good luck in narrowing it down 

[andyzplace 1]

Great, I’ll stick the with OEM driveshafts then and get a new outer CV joint for the drivers side. 
I went with FAG wheel bearings so trust they will last, although the ones I removed didn’t feel rough.

I don’t really like the scatter gun approach to fault finding but it makes sense getting things right whilst it’s off the road.