bad clicking sound from driver side rear axle
 

Hey guys, this is actually my first post. I've been experiencing a pretty bad clicking sound from the driver side rear axle. From everything I've seen I am pretty sure the CV joint is bad, but I wanted to see if anyone can confirm. Car has 70k miles and is on tein coilovers lowered about 3 inches. It's also getting louder so I am trying to avoid driving the car but am at college right now so I am in a tricky situation. I have a video that shows pretty clearly how it sounds.

Video: https://youtu.be/pPoLX3-r6Z4

Mine is making a similar sound as yours currently. I would suggest to jack up your car and physically check your axle. My CV boot leaked grease everywhere. My LCA is originally gold and now black due to the grease. Just ordered a used axle off eBay for like $80.

For reference, Im at 50K miles and ran -12 degrees of camber for about a year or two so I expected my axle to go out

Holy cow Batman.
Yeah, I would jack the car up, take off the wheel and take a look.
If you don't want to do that just take it in to any shop.

Lowered 3"? It is a wonder the joints lasted that long.

Welcome to the group, there, Bencauley8007 - :clap:

Yep, I reckon the rear axles are shot.

I suggest you take it into a shop and have them fix it.

Also, I would suggest you un-lower it an inch or two.

Meanwhile, focus on your studies.

(I hope you aren't majoring in mechanical engineering - ;))


humfrz

Yep, as @Tcoat noted, it's that 3" drop that is killing your CV joint. You're going to need a new axle. Good thing is you can find them on eBay for about $125. Replace the old one and raise the car to -1.2" total drop or less. I've had more than my share of experience with this issue. Warning, If you're waiting for the axle to fail, the damage could be to more than just the joint. I wiped out my ring and pinion due to the forces exerted on the diff during the failure. $1400 later, I was back on the road but much lighter. Guess it was an upgrade. Womp womp.

Does it follow the wheel speed, or twice the wheel speed?

(Although no body asked for my opinions, I have personal convictions and strong conscience about things like finances in college, lowering for street-use cars, messing with things that were perfectly alright to begin with, etc.)

Thanks for the insight guys, it did end up being a bad cv joint, ended up replacing the entire axle.