Steering rack boots- condition or not

omodos · #1 12-09-2019, 03:13 PM

Hello to all, 15 year old x, seen most of its life in a hot climate, just had the steering rack boots replaced, old ones seemed a bit crumbly and dry and made out of a harder rigid plastic rubber than the cv boots, same goes for the new ones. Is there any point in trying to condition the new ones ? And with what ? Liquid silicone? Cv boots i did seem nice and supple and clean, but these rack boots are rigid, not sure should touch em.

wpoll · #2 12-09-2019, 05:28 PM

You could spray them with some sort of plastic/rubber care product, to keep the rot at bay. Something like Aerospace 303...

https://www.amazon.com/303-30306-Aer.../dp/B000XBCURW

I use this on my engine covers etc - works really well. Your steering rack boots aren't going to see a lot of UV so that's not a huge factor but products like this do help keep plastic/rubber material supple and in good condition.

Hard to get at the whole steering rack boot though. I'm thinking this would be a once-a-year application.

omodos · #3 12-10-2019, 06:11 AM

Cheers for reply pain in the posterior getting aerosols shipped to cyprus....as you say not much uv underneath car....and only the outer end of the boot seemed cracked....if i can't get hold of 303 i will brush on some rubber plastic treatment i got, if new boots last as long as originals am good 15 years is ok i guess...thanks again

wpoll · #4 12-10-2019, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omodos

Cheers for reply pain in the posterior getting aerosols shipped to cyprus…

Same issue getting stuff to NZ - but this isn't an aerosol, just a pump bottle.

Fortunately, I can get this product in NZ but I have purchased other liquid products (non-aerosol container) from Amazon with no issues - like ATP-205.