Review on 🔧 Dorman 614-002 CV Joint Boot Kit: Ideal for Select Models – A Comprehensive Review by Evan Haynes

Subaru made the unfortunate decision to use butyl rubber boots on the CV joints and as the front inner boots are close to the exhaust pipe they don't last long. The second time I had to replace the driver's side I was looking for a silicone rubber boot. This one worked well and I will use it on the other side if the spare butyl rubber boot fails again. The steel clips weren't very strong, so I replaced them with heavier ones from the auto parts store (if I had thought faster I could have reused the original connecting straps, but I cut them off). Getting to the CV joint just after the bellows split, you can ignore the old mechanic's tales that the entire CV shaft had to be replaced when the boot splits: the rotation of the shaft tends to squirt water and grit out of the bearings if you don't long ago, you can simply take the axle off, disassemble and clean the CV joint, repack the lube, and install the axle with a new boot (the CV joint worked fine before you replaced the boot, right?). This approach seems better to me than using a CV axle rebuilt to unknown quality standards or paying a high price to have the dealer replace it with an OEM CV axle (especially if the OEM boots are only 5 years old have held). Of course it's cheaper to replace the entire shaft if you have to pay someone else at US shop labor rates to do the job.