Bailcast CVS18 Universal Split Constant Velocity Joint Gaiter Boot Replacement Kit, Black

I thought these were too good to be true, but they really are extremely good. I bought 2 as I'd never used them before and I thought there was bound to be a bit of a knack to fitting them. I removed the old CV boot and cleaned out the old grease from the joint. before applying the supplied packet to grease to the joint, I cut the new boot to size, and put it around the drive shaft. It was quite tricky to cut, but managed best with a sharp pair of scissors rather than a stanley knife. I positioned the boot about 15cm away from the joint so that I didn't contaminate the joint to be glued with grease. I practiced holding the joint together before applying the glue, and it was relatively easy to get it aligned. There is a tongue and groove type edge which helped, but I think it could be a little deeper to make it easier to align. Once I was happy, I opened the glue, and started at the small end by applying about 20mm along the edge. I then held the joint together for about a minute. This was quite tricky as the boot had to snuggly fit around the drive shaft. Once this was done, I applied another 20mm of glue, and held the next section in place. This was easier as there was no stretching to be done. I carried on all the way along the joing doing 20mm at a time. DO NOT try and do the whole joint at once, you WILL NOT be able to line up the whole joint and hold it together at the same time. I checked the joint, which looked nice and strong, and then used the pack of grease to pack out the CV joint. I then pulled the boot over the joint and fitted the boot clamp. You will need to use clamp ear pliers to tighten the clamp otherwise it will be a right royal pain in the axxx. I took it for a test drive, and checked when I got home, the boot had slipped off of the CV joint. The mistake I had made it that I hadn't cut the correct amount off of the large end and so the boot was slightly larger that the CV joint. I thought the clamp would tighten it, but it didn't.I tried to cut the boot while it was fitted to the driveshaft, but it was really difficult and grease was getting everywhere. I decided to bite the bullet and use the 2nd boot that I bought. I tried to pull the fitted boot apart, but I couldn't break the join. The glue really had done a good job. So I cut it off, cleaned the grease off, and started again.This time I cut enough off of the large end of the of the boot so that once it was glued, I had to stretch it slightly over the CV joint. I fitted a new clamp, and took it for another drive. Inspection when I came back revealed it was still in place.A month later the car had an MOT, and it passed without any comments on the CV boot. I even highlighted it to the garage before the MOT and they were happy with the fit.I will definitely be using these on all my cars in future. Why pay a garage over £100 for a CV boot replacement, when you can do it yourself without removing the hub. It really was an easy job once I'd mastered it!!Edited 01/11/23So, I've just used these on both sides of a 2006 Seat Leon (the previous use was on a 2006 corsa). A couple of points to make things easier when you use them... firstly, the clamps that come in the kit have really shallow bits to squeeze with the pliers, so much so that you will be f'ing and blinding. Now it could well be my ear pliers weren't the best, but I bought a batch of CV boot clamps (again from amazon) and these have bigger ears on them to squeeze. You'd be well advised to do the same, it makes life much easier.Secondly, I didn't feel there was quite enough grease in the kit so supplemented it will some extra CV grease. I did completely clean out the joint of old grease, so maybe that's why I needed more. I used brake cleaner to completely clean the joint out before re-packing.Thirdly, on the Seat Leon on one of the drive shafts I had to modify how I fitted one side. Previously I started with the small end, gluing about 20mm at a time. On the drivers side of the Leon the drive shaft is thicker towards the engine, so it's not possible to glue the whole boot away from the CV joint. In this case I started at the larger end of the boot, and once the first 20mm was set, I fitted it over the CV joint. Then I just continued gluing 20mm at a time. This worked quite well and managed to do the whole thing from jacking the car to removing the jack in about 20-30 minutes... this was in the pouring rain (sons MOT was due the next morning and he failed to give me warning).I still whole heartedly highly rate these things and will continue to use them. For almost a £100 saving per boot, you can't complain!!One last thing, there is definitely a knack to doing them, but once you master it, they're brilliant!

Easy to use if not a bit fiddly! Plenty of grease and glue ! Make sure you buy more cv boot clips in small and large and These did snap in first try and make sure you measure boot on joint and against old boot several times before cutting x but great value for money- now to see if they last-on my l200 off road !!

Great item saves a lot of hassle A++

Ordered for DIY replacement of the CV boots on my Ducato campervan having been let down/fobbed off four times by a regular garage, and - now that the job's done - they're definitely great value for money, coming in at about 15% of the price I would have paid. But ...First of all, the claim that they'll fit a drive a driveshaft of up to 35mm diameter is (excuse the pun) stretching credibility to the limit. Yes, I was eventually able to get them to fit and get them stuck, but it was a pig of a job trying to simultaneously maintain enough stretch to close the 20mm gap while also trying to press the T&G edges together long enough for the glue to set; and I was only able to do this by disregarding the instructions and instead following the (widespread!) internet advice to start at the wide end and work down to the smaller diameter. Even so, it took me more than an hour to glue each boot - about 15 minutes for the first 10cm and close to 45 minutes to do the last 2cm, working 0.5cm at a time.Secondly: the instructions say there's no risk of tearing/ripping when you stretch them. Well ... I managed to tear them three times. Fortunately, two of those were on practice sessions with the off cuts, but the third time was while trying to get that narrow end closed over on itself.And thirdly: the clips for the narrow end were definitely not made for a 35mm shaft, never mind one with an extra 2mm of rubber to clamp. The very most I could squeeze out of them (by flattening two of the barbs) was 34mm - so really only good enough for a 30mm shaft. I had to order the right sized clips to get the job finished, adding a small extra cost but a lot of extra waiting time.Oh - and the quantity of grease supplied is pretty miserly - one 30g packet per boot. The "proper" boots I'd previously ordered for the mechanic to fit came with 90g each. In practice, I used about 60g for the transmission end, and the full 90g at the wheel.For now, I have four new boots nicely secured on the vehicle and ready for inspection. Given the way I had to abuse them to get enough stretch to fit around the shaft, I'm not expecting them to last as long as the originals, but time will tell. On the otherhand, when they have to be replaced - whether that'd be in five or ten years - I'll probably psyche myself up to do the job myself again (in the summer, and with help, and with the right size clips ... )

Product did exactly what it claims to do and works well. I was sceptical about how strong the glue would be and if it would hold properly - but it's actually super strong and seals the joint perfectly. Trimming the boot to size was easy as I used the old boot as a size guide and then a sharp blade to remove the excess areas. Take your time with the glue - don't try and glue the whole length of the joint at once - you'll never manage to locate the whole thing before the glue dries. I glued about 20mm at a time and took it slow and steady. Make sure everything is clean before you start - I used brake cleaner to de-grease the boot before I glued it. The addition of the CV grease in the kit is a nice bonus and then the metal retainers go on with relative ease - I did invest in a tool to tighten these clips and for £8 it did a proper job. A nice alternative to a £200+ garage bill to have the hub off and should pass next MOT. Be safe - Don't forget to use axle stands and not just rely on a hydraulic jack is always my advice as you need to pull and push the car a bit whilst fitting. Took me a total of 1 hour to fit.