My beloved X5 has had a lot of mileage put onto it recently over not great roads, I one day noticed a small rattle coming from front left side and took it in to be looked at and told my CV Boot was torn and had to be replaced, I know that they usually reccomend replacing the CV joint if the boot is torn, but my mechanic said it would probably be ok just tio replace the boot abd not to bother replacing the joint and see what happens?? :eek:

Anyway they did alignment and balancing and tracking but I noticed rattle was gone but now pulled to left, in another city one day I went in to have it checked again and this mechanic told me the tracking was off and redid it. Still pulls to the left!!!

Should I have replaced the CV joint or is there something else it could be??

Please help tearing what hair I have left out!

I'd suspect the LHS tension strut bushing may be on its way out, allowing the wheel to 'toe out'. A static alignment would not remedy this, as the wheel is not under dynamic load on the alignment machine and the bush would therefore be pretty much centred.

I can't see how a torn CV joint boot could cause a rattle - they are rubber - I'd be more inclined to look for worn ball joints in the tension strut or lower wishbone arm. How much confidence do you have in your mechanic???? BTW a worn CV joint exhibits as clicking or grinding when turning on full lock.

Not alot really, hard to find a good bmw mechanic in Ireland, I've had nothing but bad expericences with them. Thanks I'll print this off and bring it in to him to check the aforementioned.