When do you know it's time to replace CV boots?

Question

Once a year I crawl under the car and spray my '93 altima's cv boots with silicon. I then wipe it in with a rag. I noticed this year that the rubber is starting to show signs of fatigue. The car was in Florida for 6 years and has been in new england for the last 4 years. If the stearing wheel is cranked, I noticed the rubber encasing is showing signs of wear with some slight cracking (very slight) of the rubber. The car has 124k miles on it, and I'm thinking when the time comes to get it replaced, that I just buy a whole new remanufactured axle for the mechanic to install. Any thoughts on this? What is the quality of the remanufactured parts? How long do these boots last, assuming proper preventative maintenance?

Thanks, Bill

Talon · Accepted Answer

Not sure about how long they last, I replaced my CV halfshafts at around

170k miles, as for remanufacture parts, its just the casing thats reused as far as I know the insides are new and there is virtualy no diff between remanufactured and new.

jjjsan · Answer

wait till boots crack then plan on changing entire shaft.Or remove now and just replace rubber boots.

Talon · Answer

How many miles are on the car? I changed one of mine out at 158k miles after boot cracked, I replace the entire shaft each time and then the other one after the boot cracked at 172k miles. They are only about 80 bucks each from autozone after you return the core.

When do you know it's time to replace CV boots?

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