Drive shaft rubber boots

[Cornishman]

I see that W and N have a drive shaft repair kit, ie rubber boot and grease etc on offer this week. What is the view in these vs the original rubber? Ie when repainting the rear subframe, changing dampers springs etc, is it worth changing these? Or, is the view that if they are not failed then leave alone as the OE will be better and last longer?
Is it possible to remove these boots, clean and degrease the joints and replace the same boot?
Thanks for your views
C

 

[deQuincey]

I see that W and N have a drive shaft repair kit, ie rubber boot and grease etc on offer this week. What is the view in these vs the original rubber? Ie when repainting the rear subframe, changing dampers springs etc, is it worth changing these? Or, is the view that if they are not failed then leave alone as the OE will be better and last longer?
Is it possible to remove these boots, clean and degrease the joints and replace the same boot?
Thanks for your views
C

IMHO, i would not use walloth, both the boots and the grease provided by them are not of the best quality

price is good, but, i would not use them when quality is compromised

i made an investigation on the boots, and found exact match of the rubber boots to a full satisfaction, source them by a local producer of first equipment and replacements for brakes and CV joints

but the grease had to be investigated too, the grease usually provided in these sealed packages is not equivalent to the original that has a certain viscosity and a certain ammount of molibdenum, so after another search i found a correct grease sourced it also locally from a company that produces all greases for well known brands as BP, REPSOL,...etc

grease is essential, a low viscosity grease will lead to overheating of the inner balls that will deteriorate progresively

you can check it here:

http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13960

 

[Stevehose]

I just did this as part of my rear subframe project which included new bushings, wheel bearings, half shaft rebuilds, and brakes. If you are going to drop the subframe then I recommend doing it. It's not that difficult, you'll need a bearing puller to get the ends off in order to replace the boots and a BFH to pound them back on. You can clean out all the old grease without removing the steel balls (although I did but kept the order correct), and repack with correct grease per DeQ. It is a messy job though.

It's alot easier to do with the frame out of the car than to do with it in! I am glad I replaced the 41 year old rubber, sooner or later it's going to crack then all hell breaks loose when water and dirt get in there.

Rear wheel bearings - now that is a real PITA!