Torn CV boots
 

Long story short, both outer CV boots are torn on my mom's Camry and she wants to get it fixed. I'm aware of the potential issues this can cause, but wondering whether it's worth my time to just change the boots or should I just wait until they start clicking and swap out the whole axles. From my understanding, the clicking is merely a 'warning' of sorts that the axle needs replacing and does not mean that it has failed yet. TIA

it the boots r torn, then chances r dust/dirt/water has already gotten in there and will fail soon, so just replace them

I faced the same problem with my Pathfinder.

You can wait and destroy your CV's or replace the boots....

I figured I'd do what ever was cheaper.

For me, the (after-market) half shafts cost a bit over a hundred a piece and new boots/grease cost something like $30-$40 a side.

It is most likely different for you.

But be warned, changing the boots is a really messy job. (lots of grease)

Also you will need a special CV boot band tool which costs another $20-$30.

**So look up how much new half-shafts and boots cost.**

If half-shafts are cheap, then keep ruining your CV's,

If boots are relatively cheap, then replace.

Just factor in what a really messy job is worth to you.

I would just change the whole CV axles to avoid going underneath to do it again later on.

^ Should really emphasize on how messy it really is. I recommend wearing some crappy clothing and gloves are a must. Fast orange is also your best friend if you don't have gloves.

When I discovered my cv boots were torn, I got mine replaced right away. I know what you mean by waiting til whole axle replacement but who knows when that will be? Better change now before anymore dirt and water gets in more and ruined. Change it now and avoid future problems. And yes, grease it up.
Good luck!

Its more expensive to change the whole halfshaft. But faster to do it. Its cheaper to change the boots and repack grease, but it takes longer. If a shop is doing it, the longer labour cost of the boots might make it worth it to just swap the half shaft. Atleast that's what I did. Boots were 10$ the halfshaft was 40$ on rockauto.com. I did the work myself however...

why wait to change them? You think they're going to magically fix themselves? lol

My mother will be getting rid of the car within the next year hence the rationale behind wanting to wait for it to get worse before spending time on it

guaranteed it wont last til fall comes around..

^ i drove the car when one of the cv boots were ripped for a good half year.

The shaft did not fail nor did it make the clicking noise.

Same here. I had torn CV boots on my 1996 Grand Cherokee a few years back but I finally had them fixed. Cost about a $100 from what I remember.