CV boots

My outer CV boots are trash and only after 2 years and a couple of thousand miles. I bought these from CIP1 and they're red in colour. The insides look ready to go too.

Anybody have any suggestions for some good quality ones that will hold up to the angle that the outers have with the IM?

Both joints are very close to the headers with the outsides only about 1 1/2 inches away...I'd expect that would help them go. Anyone have any suggestions on shielding the headers? Was thinking of using some fiberglass wrap...

Brian

Brian,

Just buy original German boots, or ANY part for that matter whenever you can/whenever you need something.

There's just no substitute for original. Those red boots, and red urethane couplers and that sort of stuff are either very good or very bad, there's no consistancy in the aftermarket. You usually find that stuff on show sand rails, or dune buggies owned by kids who want to "profile" on Saturday night.

Stick with the real thing. A LOT of supplier still carry original.

Either wrap the headers in the spot near the boots or fashion some deflectors from old aluminum pan bottoms and attach to the headers with plumbing pipe hangers. Works pretty good, just takes a bit of thinking it through.

Luck,

TC

I have some cool BLUE ones....for the Ghia too. Got to keep the car color coordinated you know. Could it be all the stones on the road where your at?

OEM Boots are the way to go.

Jack Blake

I don't think its the stones.... My 912 never had that problem, nor the Benz or Passatt. I think its shoddy product and heat...the part of the header that is close is only about 1 inch or so away and its about 6 inches off the manifold. It gets pretty hot!

I'll try the wrap and a stainless shield...

Anybody have any experience with Flex Boots? Saw those on Two Guys Garage. So flexible that you can slide them over the CV joint and they're not rubber so not affected by oil. The VW joints are not bad to take apart but after 22 yrs the Benz needs them too and you need something like a can opener and then new parts and then a special sealing tool to put it together again. Boots that slipped over would be a God send!

Brian

My Father once had a car that had rudimentary CV joints on the front drive shafts which were packed with grease and wrapped with canvas, then secured with wire. He called them gaiters.

I betcha that that would still work as well as any rubber or synthetic boot on the market today. Of course, if we're all spending money of shabby colored boots that match the paint job, I doubt that a greased canvas bandage is going to gain much favor . . . still, it WOULD have that vintage "Rally Repair" thing going for it. Maybe for a car done up Pam America unrestored survivor style, the show judges do love those little details.

we have had very good results with the rockford duraboot. they are made from elastomeric plastic, not rubber. they look nearly identical to an OE boot but the material has a different gloss and feel to it. even the OE german boots seem to not be lasting very well now. the duraboot lasts for years.

never use the coloured boots, they are garbage.

scott lyons
germansupply.com

...but the red boots went so well with the black car and the red interior!

Supplier and cost on those Duraboots?

Brian

TC..

I like to read the Brit classic car mags and they all talk about the gaitors. If you mentioned boot to them you'd be talking about the trunk of the car.

But I do enjkoy their mags. They have such a different attitude towards classic and old cars than we seem to in NA. And some the cars folks take time and money to covet...I don't know. It'd be like us spending time and money to restore a Gremlin or Pacer!

Yeah and blue looks great too.....colors man....what if we all lived in a work of grey?