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tie rod ends from aircooled.net... John C any input?

this is a question I want to put to the group...

Before I ask, I want to first say "I am NOT complaining about the service from aircooled.net"... its just a question.

John... I bought 4 tierod ends and other front end parts for my '66 beetle

6 months ago. I pulled the wheels today to inspect the brakes as I always do about every 6 months. The tierod ends I just put on 6 months ago are covered in surface rust....no real problem with that... they are are steel and they will rust if not protected. but the real problem is the boots.

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They are split open and look all cracked and dry rotted. but they have only about 700 miles on them ... if that. Have you or any one else that has bought tie rod ends had the same problem?! These are the outer tie rod ends on a '66 beetle, and they have a spring looking thing holding on the boot. The tie rod ends themselves are still as tight as when I installed them so they arent worn or bad... its just the boots... where as my ball joint boots are still good after 3 years! I know they were not damaged upon installation and this was the first time I had the wheels off in 6 months...

I still will order my parts from aircooled.net as I have been happy with all the stuff I have bought - like heater channels, front end parts, monster acc. cable ect....

oh yeah I need to place an order for drums and brake parts and some replacement tie rod end boots while I'm under there.

**************************************************************** dragenwagen 1966 Type I - Daily Driver 1969 Type I - Undergoing heater channel replacement
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"Old VW's Don't Leak Oil, They Mark Their Territory."****************************************************************
Reply to
dragenwagen
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this is common on most tierod ends and even most balljoints available for the last ten years....about the only ones that don't crack up and tear quickly are the actual German boots..... if your frontend is lowered or raised it seems to make it even worse....this is based on my experience only....i replaced balljoints many times that were good because the boots self-destructed.....there are "boot kits" available at some suppliers, but they are crappy too...

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

I ordered four trailing arms with balljoints installed for my '73 last summer from AC.net.

The balljoints were poor quality and did not move correctly -- they were FAR too stiff (wouldn't move without a hammer) and one boot ARRIVED torn. I replaced it, and the four balljoints at my local shop before installing. They reused the three "good" boots from the bad BJs. 800 miles later they were cracked open, but the good boot from my shop was in great shape.

That was the only problem I've ever had with parts from AC.net. I did contact John to inform him about the problems at the time. Seems like the boots were too thin and possibly the BJs had been pressed in wrong screwing up something.

~Anthony

Joey Tribiani wrote:

experience

suppliers, but

Reply to
Anthony

It seems I should add what took place when I contacted AC.net about the problems. After reading my post, I see that it could be interpreted as "flak" towards an excellent company that has always been helpful to me. By no means did I mean to say AC.net ships horrid parts or anything of the sort.

John offered to ship off new parts right away as soon as I told him about the problem, but I was lacking on time, thus replaced the offending parts at my shop.

Reply to
Anthony

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