Pads, Rotors, CV Boots or the whole CV shaft.

drxman · #1 02-02-2008, 08:50 PM

It's time for new shoes. Got damaged CV boots up front as well. This is just care and feeding issues I know but I am a bit picky about this car, as most of us are.

1993 Great condition, bout 112k on the car, rides and drives smooth as silk on the highway. Corners excellent 99% of the time. Does have a strange quirk though that my mechanic has not been able to duplicate and rarely happens. The quirk is once in a great while, while accelerating at moderate pace, between 40 to 60mph on say an onramp type turn, not sharp but moderate, only to the right, the right front wheel seems to start to bounce? or shake. This movement is transfered to steering wheel. Accelerate harder and it stops, decelerate a bit and it stops then too. Happens vary rarely, can't reproduce at will. All other respects of the handling are crisp and sharp.

The tires are not new but plenty of tread left all around and I keep the air at 32psi up front and 30psi in the rear. I know the owners manual says 32 up front and 28 in the rear, but that sure seems like a low pressure for the rear. The struts seem ok, the steering rack seems tight and all arms seem to have good connections. This has both me and my mechanic stumped for a direction to go, and he won't charge me for work he does not do.

Here is my ideas for work needs doing.

1. Use ceramic brake shoes. Tired of the brake dust on the wheels.
Question: Good middle of the road rotors to use; Drilled, slotted, aftermarket or OEM and what brand for both shoes and rotors might you all suggest.

2. The CV joint boots up front are both damaged. My mechanic says best to just replace the shafts.
Question: Replace just the boots or go for remanufacured or new CV shafts? Brand to look for?
Question: Are the shafts for front left and right the same, and same question for rear as well?
Question: Best to replace all four at the same time or just the front. The rear boots look good and are undamaged.

3. Keep in mind, the only modification I have made to the car is a purchase of the 5 pass radiator though this site. Very pleased with the performace and I got in on the first batch, with the filler cap issues and all. I still have the original radiator and want to keep the car as stock as possible, but will take advice on rotors as this is something that does not require modifications to the rest of the car to imploy.

I know these might seem simple questions, but I have searched around a bit and parts people are a bit confused about the model and I want to supply my mechanic with parts to keep the prices down. And that brings me to my last but not least question:

Prices for parts, where to get them all, rock bottom but quality counts.
Prices for Labor to expect:

I trust him, up to a point, you can never tell if your mechanic is trying to wring a bit more out of ya cause yer car is the only SVX he ever has to work on, and he rarely gets the chance hehe.

Any and all advice will be greeted with appreciation, happy touring.

YourConfused · #2 02-02-2008, 09:53 PM

OT can help you w/ items 1 and 2.

Roo · #3 02-03-2008, 12:37 AM

My mechanic states that it is less expensive to go the route of simply replacing them with remanufactured axles instead of going through the labor expense of simply replacing parts when it comes to the axles.

drxman · #4 02-06-2008, 07:55 PM

Yourconfused, I'm confused, who or what is an OT?

Hocrest · #5 02-06-2008, 07:59 PM

OT = Old Tom = Tom Krynock = "svxfiles"

You can either contact him through the board or go to www.svxfiles.com

drxman · #6 02-06-2008, 08:24 PM

Thanks Hocrest, will do

Suby Fan · #7 02-06-2008, 09:47 PM

ok lets do this....

Quote:

Originally Posted by drxman

The quirk is once in a great while, while accelerating at moderate pace, between 40 to 60mph on say an onramp type turn, not sharp but moderate, only to the right, the right front wheel seems to start to bounce? or shake. This movement is transfered to steering wheel. Accelerate harder and it stops, decelerate a bit and it stops then too. Happens vary rarely, can't reproduce at will. All other respects of the handling are crisp and sharp.

you know it wouldn't surprise me if this issue is related to your CV axle and sense your already replacing them... it might fix this issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drxman

1. Use ceramic brake shoes. Tired of the brake dust on the wheels.
Question: Good middle of the road rotors to use; Drilled, slotted, aftermarket or OEM and what brand for both shoes and rotors might you all suggest.

don't bother with drilled or slotted rotors if your looking for middle of the line rotors they don't do muchand the drilling and slotting will make the rotors unserviceable so if they warp your SOL

Quote:

Originally Posted by drxman

2. The CV joint boots up front are both damaged. My mechanic says best to just replace the shafts.
Question: Replace just the boots or go for remanufacured or new CV shafts? Brand to look for?
Question: Are the shafts for front left and right the same, and same question for rear as well?
Question: Best to replace all four at the same time or just the front. The rear boots look good and are undamaged.

DO NOT GET YOUR AXLES REBOOTED its a quick fix that can lead to hard to isolate problems. Remans are your best choice and they are cheep! (thanks to the replacement volume) yes the right and left are the same and no the front and back are not. the main difference is that your front axles need to be able to turn with your front wheels. as far as brands they are all the same

Quote:

Originally Posted by drxman

3. Keep in mind, the only modification I have made to the car is a purchase of the 5 pass radiator though this site. Very pleased with the performace and I got in on the first batch, with the filler cap issues and all. I still have the original radiator and want to keep the car as stock as possible, but will take advice on rotors as this is something that does not require modifications to the rest of the car to imploy.

I know these might seem simple questions, but I have searched around a bit and parts people are a bit confused about the model and I want to supply my mechanic with parts to keep the prices down. And that brings me to my last but not least question:

Prices for parts, where to get them all, rock bottom but quality counts.
Prices for Labor to expect:

I trust him, up to a point, you can never tell if your mechanic is trying to wring a bit more out of ya cause yer car is the only SVX he ever has to work on, and he rarely gets the chance hehe.

NAPA is usually a good source for cheap but reliable parts as far as the labor price get a quote from them and call some other shops in the area... they should be able to give you a phone quote that will let you compare prices
just to let you know tires plus will prob. have the cheapest labor rates and for some thing like brakes and CV shafts any monkey can do it... even a greasy one...

YourConfused · #8 02-06-2008, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hocrest

OT = Old Tom = Tom Krynock = "svxfiles"

You can either contact him through the board or go to www.svxfiles.com

Guess I am a little late on clarifying this issue. I should have been more informative.

CorSVXette · #9 02-07-2008, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hocrest

OT = Old Tom = Tom Krynock = "svxfiles"

You can either contact him through the board or go to www.svxfiles.com

Yea What he said! I have them and love them!

zavikan · #10 02-07-2008, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suby Fan

ok lets do this....

DO NOT GET YOUR AXLES REBOOTED its a quick fix that can lead to hard to isolate problems. Remans are your best choice and they are cheep! (thanks to the replacement volume) yes the right and left are the same and no the front and back are not. the main difference is that your front axles need to be able to turn with your front wheels. as far as brands they are all the same

OK......completely....WROOOONNNGGGGG. Remans are NOT all the same. Nor do they have the same quality in the rebuilt. So you might be back in to get them replaced in a week. or a month. or 90 days later ( oh yea, thats the length of the warrenty). The rubber used in the boot is also very different by different companies. Some use a nice soft rubber while others use a much stiffer cheaper source. So its a get what you pay for, and whats the name you know type of game.

In the end though, Napa is a good choice. Their brands are generally higher quality, and also hold very good warrenties. This is at the cost of price of course.

zavikan · #11 02-07-2008, 04:52 PM

Not only that, rebooting can and does work. But you have to have caught it VERY early and do a VERY good job cleaning and regreasing the axle.

As far as strange and hard to isolate problems...I can't think of any...but I may be wrong.

James (Worked behind the parts counter)

drxman · #12 02-09-2008, 11:27 AM

Thank to all for the feedback, keep them comming.
I am in no hurry to perform the maint. as my SVX is not my daily driver and the brake shoes do have a little bitty bit left on them still.
I am keeping an eye on this thread for a while to allow as many replys as possible before getting the parts and the work done.
Any preferences for brands for rotors, shafts and ceramic pads are very welcome as well.
Thanks again for everyone who has provided input so far.