New Driveshaft boot ripped: Why me?

[Matt Smith]

Where did I go wrong?

I painstakingly installed a new inner driveshaft boot two weeks ago. This is a thankless task; dirty, incredibly boring, greasy -but nothing shiney and encouraging to look at by the end of the process. Plus you need to evoke latent Rubix Cube reassembly skills. The car drives the same.

In fact the only benefit is that of smugness on the installers' behalf: no more grit demons to worry about and no more bearing guilt.

So why did mine choose to shear again at the large end almost straight away? I didn't overtighten anything, especially the retaining strap (orig. P car part no.)

Maybe I have to face the truth. The driveshaft and I just don't get on. Perhaps we never will. Help!

[tshih]

was the new boot old stock and have been laying around hardening?

[Matt Smith]

Not at all. Fresh stock, straight out of the wrapper. I could smell the rubber like it had just been milked from the tree.

[ga_mueller]

You most likely used a North American CV joint boot, as these are designed for reverse rotation compared to the "down-under" version. This will reduce lifetime by a factor of 20-50x. The reinforcement of the CV joint boot is directly proportional to the hemisphere of intended use.
Good luck, GA

[tshih]

Well, you're lucky the shaft is still out when you discovered the tear, right?

[randywebb]

sorry you got shafted....

check around that area to see if anything might be loose and hitting it - say a heater cable

[Wayne 962]

This can happen with lower-quality boots (like our competion sells). I took a look at some of these a long time ago, and then tossed them in the trash. It doesn't look like you bought it from us - if you did (it probably wouldn't rip), we would send you another one right away...

-Wayne

[widebody911]

I had the same problem with a set of Empi boots I bought 2 or 3 years ago and installed this last summer. They didn't last 2 weeks on the car

[88 Club Sport]

That sucks Matt!

My 2 shafts with 4 new boots (from Wayne) sit on my workbench ready to go in tomorrow. I hope I have better luck