Checking Your CV Joints

Your car is probably front wheel drive, and isperceive any of these symptoms, it's a good idea to
equipped with CV joints, or "constant velocity joints."check your CV joints every now and then anyway.
These joints transfer power from the engine to theTo examine your CV joints, turn the wheel to the
front wheels. These should be inspected regularly tooutside and peer in the wheel arch. The boot should
insure that the integrity of rubber boot thatbe dry and intact. If there is oil inside the wheel arch
surrounds the metal inside. If this boots breaks, theand the boot appears cracked and broken then it is
components inside become exposed to the elementsnecessary to replace the CV joint boot as soon as
and can very quickly destroy the entire axle.Bad CVpossible.This should probably be done by a mechanic,
joint boots can cause a knocking sound when theand it provides an opportunity to do routine
wheel is turned in a certain direction, on accelerationmaintenance and catch unexpected problems. If you
or braking, or at irregular, seemingly unrelatedwish to replace the joint yourself, it best to follow
intervals. There also may be vibration. This symptomclosely both the shop manual and obtain the advice
is more often evident at high speeds, that beingof a person who has personally worked on your kind
above 60 miles per hour.Whether or not youof vehicle, as procedures may vary between models.