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I am going to be replacing a left outside boot on my 2000 vert. The boot costs around 70.00 from chevrolet, when I checked at autozone, advance,napa,oreilly's, the entire shaft with boots was about the same price. according to the counter people hardly any returns and all had a lifetime/limited lifetime warranty. What's the deal, is the composition of rubber that different between manufactures??HELP
I bought Spicer boots from Rock Auto for about $7 each and rebuilt both axles. The inner boots fit well but the outer boots were not properly sized and needed to be clamped using the older strap system which I had. The outer cv joints were sandblasted to remove all the rust and then painted. If you can get a rebuilt axle for $70 that's a good price. The Chevy boot is marked up a lot but should fit right if you want to do it yourself. All the cv boots seem to be made from Neoprene synthetic rubber for long life.
I'd advise to stay away from remanufactured half shafts. They have a very good possibility of leaking. The reason that they may not have many returns is the people don't want to do the job twice LOL. I replaced both mine with remanufactured units, one leaked at the diff the other had a hole in the outer boot. The refinishing they may do to the shaft may make the diameter too small to make a seal at the diff. I ditched them and took my old ones into a place in town that rebuilds and has a good rep. They both are doing well now.
Take a look around, you may find a re-building service in your town. Otherwise, if you want to do the job yourself jegs.com has boots as well.
take it from me, when the CV boots leak and throw moly grease all over the exhaust system the mess is just not worth the hassle to save a few bucks. Or the seal at the diff leaks because the rebuilt shaft had wear. I've tried used, rebuilt and new. The new ones were the only ones that had no issues and I'm a happy camper again.