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To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Citizen Kang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: [hooligan racing] One way to know you busted your outside CV
boot...
Date: Mon, 04 Nov 2002 18:10:33 -0800
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CV boots that are "outright bad" are rather obvious... either one of the metal clasps comes loose and allows grease to ooze out the ends of the boot or -- more than likely -- the boot tears or splits and sprays grease outwards as the wheel revolves. In either case, the result is usually a black greasy mess.
CV boots that are "about to go bad" aren't that hard to spot if you know what you're looking for and have ample light. Like most rubber components on your car, rubber dries up and gets hard as it ages. Any signs of minute cracks in the outer surface of the boot is a sure indication that they will eventually rip. Some boots have a bellows-shape to them, with distinct peaks and valleys. It is these peaks and valleys on the boot that flex the most when the wheel steers and goes up & down. Other boots have a cross-section that is more shaped like a sine wave and are much more resistant to tearing or splitting. These tend to split along a seam parallel to the axle due to their construction. Note that these two design styles are not interchangeable and you pretty much have to run the style of replacement boot that the dealer or aftermarket supplier sells. Unless you own a late eighties Chrysler, which used no less than FOUR different designs on the same year car at some point.
In any case, have your technician check your CV boots the next time you're in for service. You don't really have to replace the boot until it actually tears and most CV joints can survive a modest amount of time exposed to the elements before they start to experience accelerated wear. Outers wear at a noticeably faster rate than inners because the outer joints both steer AND move up & down. Usually when one outer boot splits, chances are the other outer boot isn't that far behind and replacing BOTH is recommended at that time.
If the boot has been split for some time, or you hear a click-click-click sound when you accelerate in tight turns, you've got CV *joint* problems that go beyond replacing the entire boot. For some reason Honda outer CV joints seem to fail sooner once a tear develops in the boot, and this is why I recommended that Rob replace the entire axle with a shaft that featured a *brand new* outer CV joint. Unless the tear looks recent, I always recommend this method at work. While it is possible to replace *just* the outer joint with a new one, the price is actually more expensive than an entire rebuilt shaft (even those with brand new outer joints).
- -----Original Message-----
- From: Lisa Anderson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
- Sent: November 4, 2002 2:49 PM
- To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Subject: Re: [hooligan racing] One way to know you busted your outside CV boot...
- Dumb question...... How would go about checking to see if my CV boots are bad or not?
- Lisa Anderson ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
- "Just a fun lovin' sort of babe!"
- ----- Original Message -----
- From: Robert K. Kuhn
- To: The Rex list
- Cc: where the hooligan's are!
- Sent: Friday, November 01, 2002 8:10 AM
- Subject: [hooligan racing] One way to know you busted your outside CV boot...
- Driving into work this morning, I noticed a vibration in the steering
- wheel... the same type one feels when a wheel/tire is out of balance (or a
- tire that is low on pressure or flat). I wasn't too far from work so no
- worries.
- Got to work and looked at the tires and they all looked good. Upon closer
- inspection of the front right wheel, I saw some black stuff which looked
- like grease. Since I have an "open" face style rim, I could see that the
- inside of the rims had grease and so I knew I had a leaking CV boot.
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