Thread: D4 front left driveshaft fails, twice

No shims are used - they have a spacer between the bearings that crushes when the nut is correctly torqued. The trouble with this setup is that its difficult to retighten the hub without destroying the bearings as the 2nd time round the spacer is already crushed so the resistance is provided almost totally by the bearing rollers/balls themselves. Gauging the much lesser torque requirement is difficult, as almost no torque is appropriate after the 1st tightening.

Edit: CVs don't stretch in length as they already slide within themselves to cater for the varying shaft length that occurs as the suspension moves.

I am happy to report that this now seems to be all fixed. A new wheel bearing has been fitted and all the ticking noises have stopped.

It appears that the original problem was misdiagnosed and there was most probably never a problem with the driveshaft/CV (apart from the first replacement part which was faulty and failed soon after installation).