2006 S40 Crunching/Grinding noise in front right of car

[MMotsko]

Just bought this used car with a know cracked axle...discounted to account for that. I replaced both front axles expecting the grinding noise to go away...it didn't. It makes the most noise while driving cold and accelerating....almost like the gears in the axle were slipping/grinding. (Mechanic said the axles didn't seem to fit perfectly...but the old ones were completely shot, so it wasn't a good comparison.)The engine sounds great when revving it...so that's not a problem and I've never heard of a transmission grinding like this....but a friend listening to it thought that might be the case. Car has 170K miles on it and I intend to put it up on a lift and replace the strut mounts and see if the car makes the noise with no "stress" on it. Any assistance/recommendation on how to best analyze the source of the issue would be appreciated. Note: This is a 5 speed manual 2.4i.

[Ou2mame]

The gears in the axles? Could be a bad wheel bearing. The axle didn't fit perfectly? What didn't fit, the spline? If the spline doesn't fit its not the right axle for the car. That doesn't make sense though. Can you explain any further what made the axles not fit properly?

Does it make any grinding sounds coasting in neutral or only while in gear? And does it make sounds while engine braking too?

[emanV40]

I have an older V40, 2000, and it was the strut mounts. It made a crunching noise like bottoming out over sharp bumps.