Torn CV Boots (why?)

[wickwear]

I have a 92 Si and this morning I was going to do an oil change when I noticed a rip in both of the CV boots. The one on the drivers side was really big and you can see the axel inside. The rip on the passenger side one isn't that big but needless to say there is grease all over the inside of both the rims. I believe that the driverside boot and axel are original and that can explain the tear but the passengerside axel and boot aren't that old, in fact I got it replaced about a year and a half ago. My question is this, what would cause the boots to tear? (other than being old-original-19 plus years old)

I really like the car but the cost of maintenace is starting to get annoying. I've only owned the car for the past 3.5 years so I'm not sure how she was handled before I got her. Since, I have had to replace a lot of the front suspension (and some of the back) and my suspicion is that the front suspension is weak/getting weaker as the car gets older and letting certain parts flex a little to much, resulting in the torn cv boots. I don't want to put more money into her but I know she has a lot more life left (or I would like to think). She's got about 176,000 miles and still gets 27 to 30 miles to the gallon.

Has anyone else had to deal with the cv boots tearing or have any advice? Oh and how hard would it be to change them myself, I know there are a lot of things to take off before I can even get to the boots themselves. See Pisc below

Thanks

[spiffyguido]

In my experience, boots usually tear based on age, but I'm sure there are other things that could cause this. I can certainly understand your frustration.

A few potential reasons come to mind:

-The boot itself is the wrong size. If for some reason a boot of the wrong size was forced onto the axle it might lead to tearing prematurely. The boots are supposed to be of adequate size to support flexing through the entire ranges of movement supported by the suspension setup.

-The boot was installed incorrectly. Boots have to be positioned in a neutral position. If they are stretched on and then cinched into place the will not be able to accommodate the stretching at full-lock steering. Judging from the pictures, the wear patterns on your boots don't suggest this because you can see where the lobes of rubber have been contacting each other suggesting that they haven't spent their lives stretch apart.

-A component of the cv joint let go and flew around inside the boot. This is an unlikely scenario, as most failed CV joints I've seen fail rather violently and more or less destroy themselves when they let go. However, I suppose to might be possible for one of the CV casters to burst off and shred the boot on it's way out. The thing is, you would notice an audible knocking sound while driving around in this case and I can't imagine it occurring on anything except a very old CV joint.

-Something impacted the boot from the outside. Again, unlikely, but it could happen. If you happened to have a big rock or something strike the underside of its car after some aggressive gravel driving, it could slash up a boot, but you'd have to be rallying the car or crash into something on the road to make this happen. Doubtful.

[wickwear]

Thanks for the insight spiffyguido.

I will be taking the car into the shop this morning and will see what I can do. I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks again

[wickwear]

So I took it in and the mechanic said that the driver side was really brittle and probably the original part. He said the newer one on the passenger side looks like someone had jabbed it with a screwdriver or something. I haven' had any work done on the car since the last time the same shop touched it, so I guess something must have hit it on the road (freak occurrence). So I guess there really isn't a definite answer to my questions but whatever. I got both axels replaced and they reduced the price for the labor. So it didn't cost too much. Now we are back on the road and feeling good. Now I get to chase a leak, which will be fun.

[S-LudeDan]

why did u get the axles replaced? lol, all u needed was new boots packed with grease.

Once again a crooked mechanic rips off another customer.