Crikey Schmikey <no@spam.com> spake unto the assembled masses in
news:10misv0kl032bjl8nhusktno3h0puped45@4ax.com:

> Hello,
>
> With the previous three new cars I've owned, all front-wheel drive, I
> drove them well past 100K mi. with each of them. But with all of
> them, I've had to replace the CV joints for the same reason: the boots
> dry out and crack, the grease comes out, and the dirt gets in.


The boots crack due to a combination of cold and steering stresses. If the
boots were on the REAR driveshafts of a front-steering car, they will last
almost indefinitely in any environment.


>
> Now, with my relatively new car, I wish to be able to avoid or prevent
> that from happening again, so I did some research on CV joint
> maintenance, and everything I've read talked about what to do when the
> boots crack. Nothing about how to prolong their life or prevent those
> boots from cracking.


There is nothing you can do to prevent cracking (except for never turning
the steering wheel), but lots you can do to prevent CV joint damage.

CV joints go bad chiefly because the boots split and water gets in. If you
inspect the boots at every oil change, you will eventually find some
cracking in the insides of the bellows folds (spread the folds apart a bit
to see them more clearly). Once those cracks start appearing, you have
maybe a year to two years before the cracks become holes. I replace my
boots as soon as I start seeing cracking.

If you spot and replace cracking boots before they hole, you can make your
CV joints last the life of the car, so says my Japanese mechanic. My '91
Integra has 218,000 miles and the original driveshafts and CV joints. The
boots have been changed twice.

The very newest Civic CV joint boots are made from some sort of plastic
material that is supposed to be far more durable than the rubber that was
previously used. These are the boots that were installed on the Integra
last spring.


>
> So, my question is, does anyone have a time proven or a definitive way
> to prevent the boots from failing? I read how some would liberally
> apply silicone spray on the CV boots and other boots everytime they
> changed the oil. Would that be a good way to prolong the life of or
> prevent the boots from cracking prematurely?


Nope. Doesn't work. It's the cold and the steering that kills the boots.

And I'd bite the bullet and get the proper solid boots put on by a
professional. If you live in a cold/snowy area, split boots will open up
fairly quickly and let water in, killing your joints anyway.


--
TeGGeR®