Went to put on my snow tires to get winter today and came to see this. Looks like some sort of grease on around the boot and control arm. I can't tell for sure if it's grease that came out from the boot (no grease along the seams), or it was something the mechanics left on there while working on something else. I had my carrier bearing replaced recently. The white stuff resembles lithium grease that was sprayed on, and not sure about the wet spots..

Sorry for the pics, only had a cell phone with me at the time (this is the right front wheel):

 

You need to inspect the boot for tears. No tears then it's unlikely it's coming from the CV joint.

 

Check for tears round the large CV Joint boot clamp band. It may be a tear but could also be the band is loose or there was too much grease in the boot. Could also be the mechanics just sprayed some grease. The color of the grease seems wrong for the outer joint. The outer joint uses a gray colored grease and a orange colored grease on the inner joint on Honda's.

What kind of vehicle is it? From the suspension it looks like like a Honda/Acura.

 

Also, when you drive, is there any sound from that side? If so, does it get louder as you turn the car in that direction? If the answer to both is yes, then there may be an issue with it. As noted above, though, those joints usually have lithium grease which would be a grey or black color.

 

It looks like it is coming from the band from those pics.

 

It's a first gen TSX..

 

I looked at the boot and couldn't see any tears.... maybe the clamp is just a little loose as suggested?

However, there is a humming noise when driving, and only happens when the car picks up speed and changes with speed (this was why I took the car into my mechanic and they replaced the carrier bearing on the intermediate shaft). I cannot tell which side it's coming from.

The car has about 70k miles on it. Would it be worth it to just replace both half shaft? I think it's about the mileage that they should be replaced on a FWD vehicle anyway? Or am I just wasting money?

 

^^

CV joints and half shafts should easily last the life of a vehicle and are not part of any maintenance replacement. If they replaced the center carrier bearing I would start there. CV Joints make "clicky" noises when they are bad or the boots are torn and the grease has come out.

The joints don't need replacement but ask the mechanic if he repacked that CV Joint and replaced the band clamps on it. I suspect he did and that there was a little too much grease or the band clamp is slightly loose.

 

Did the noise start after the carrier bearing was replaced?

 

The noise was there before the carrier bearing was replaced, that's why I brought the car in, and they said it was the carrier bearing.

The noise is still there after the carrier bearing was replaced, so I thought it was my tires since they are half worn. Now that I swapped out the tires, it's much better, but I can still hearing the groaning/humming noise that changes with speed..