CV Joint Leak from new axle

Last year, my wife was helping replace an outer right CV joint boot. I neglected to tell her to keep track of the balls and the cage orientation. Ultimately, the CV joint started clicking, so I decided to replace the entire axle and be done with it.

I purchased a new Lobro unit from a reputable vendor who advertises here on the club and I have used countless time.

All was good until I noticed some black grease on the outside of the wheel. I put the car on the lift and noticed that there was a lot of grease all around the wheel, the ball joint, and oddly on the brake pad, caliper, and rotor. I've seen my share of boot failures and the always tend to spray grease radially, not axially/outward.

What is particularly perplexing me is that the boot and the oetiker clamps appear intact. I've cleaned and inspected the boot several times. The axle assembly has maybe 10,000 miles on it. I'd guess that roughly 1/2 the OE volume of grease has exited the joint/boot.

I know that I am looking at new brake pads, but I'm at a bit of a loss on the axle. Regrease it? Leave it alone and see if it ejects more grease? Is there something else that I'm missing?

A small amount of grease can really look like a lot. What I'd try is clean all the grease up, then try to tighten the clamp around the boot a bit more. You can use a pair of side cutters to pinch them tighter, just don't go crazy trying to pinch them and actually cut them. I've tightened up those clamps with good luck before. Then I'd run it til it makes noise. Could last a mile. Could last 100k miles.

I'll try that. I have the tool made for these clamps, so I'll just snug it up and run to failure. Thanks for the input