What to use to increase life of parts and protect from weather and salt?


Thread starter
Aug 22, 2009
Pittsburgh,PA U.S.A.
OE CV boots are made from thermoplastic and don't need any maintenance other than an occasional rinse. They should be pretty sturdy over the life of the vehicle. When they do fail, it's usually from physical damage, or improper suspension geometry such as lifting or lowering. Usually it's only the boot that goes wrong, the axle itself only fails when enough grit has gotten inside to deteriorate things mechanically.

The problem is, it's usually cheaper to slide in a replacement aftermarket axle then it is to properly do a re-boot due to the labor. Not to mention that OE boots are hard to find and could cost as much as an entire aftermarket axle. Almost all aftermarket axles use neoprene boots instead of thermoplastic, which is vastly inferior and might only last a few extra years. Neoprene quite literally degrades in ozone.
This is very good information. The online parts store OEMPartSource.com sells original parts for several brands at prices lower than any dealer even including shipping if you place a decent size order. So if the CV joint and boot require replacement in the future, I will go with OE from OEM.

Thanks nobb, and everyone else who added some information.