rickybobby and BB418is thanks, been raining cats and dogs out here all week, so havent driven x5 in case i get water in cv joint, tomorrow will bite the bullet regardless of weather and drive about 1minute away to a petrol station with a pit thats under over at least, and then will operate, got my syringes full of high temp grease at the ready too....I have to mention the fact that I have spoken to lots of people, half say use a good zip tie the other half say use a clamp....

Im going with the metal ear clamp, thanks for the cleaning tips re where the inner boot meets shaft, gonna take some engine degreaser with me and also some alcohol nail varnish remover too...will let ya know what happens, hoping i dont have to resort to a zip tie as an interim fix if i screw up my only oetiker clamp...dont expect delivery of the others for a good few weeks....

__________________
E53 X5 3.0d SUV prod.date 11/2004 eng.variant M57N Europe Right hand drive N