so i had my front struts done a lil' over a month ago at a repair shop that was recommended by my dad.When i got the car back immediately i noticed a small crack on my fender. SImilar to the one shown below, which is of my mom'* car.

My dad said not to flip, as it is common for that to happen when old cars are jacked up. It wasn't a big deal, so i let it slide. But today, when i went to do my front brakes I pulled off the driver'* side wheel and found what was shown below:


Has anyone ever seen a break that clean on a CV boot? My dad thinks that it was something the shop did while putting on a strut, but just didn't bother to say anything about as i guess they thought I'd never notice. I'm divided onto whose fault it was, but I know that the boot was fine before the repair since we had the wheel off previously to rotate the tires {unfortunately we don't have the pics to prove that}.

So what does everyone think? The cause of normal wear...or shop carelessness?

the crack should not have been caused by jacking the car.....

what else could it be from? my car and my mom'* car has the same crack in the same place and are both around the same year - both cracks were noticed after having repairs done that involved jacking/lifting the car

I have that same crack on my car dont know what its from because it was there when i got the car :(

I've jacked alot of cars and I've never seen it cause a crack like that. The boot seems hinky too.

My old 93' has seen plety of jacks lately but not that crack.

My old boots cracked just like that, and that car hasn't been to a shop since I owned it other than getting an alignment.

The body structure of your car should not allow the fender to crack like that. If the fender cracked because the car was jacked then you need to question why the supporting structure of your car is weak. Your car driving down the road and hitting bumps etc in the normal day of driving flexes the chassis more than jacking it up.

CV boot, very normal. You can not guess when one is going to let go. it is constantly turning and moving. Each time your car moves that boot spins and flexes, when you turn the wheels, especially hard, that boot is stretched and has a lot of pressure on it.

Both of these items while unfortunate are very normal.

ay, well i know either way the CV boot is gonna need repair...and soon. So how much can i expect to pay for parts & labor? Also, how long do u think I have to fix it? I know its should be done ASAP {especially since it may have been like that for a month already} but depending on the cost of the repair it may have to go a little longer since $$$ is tight.

Perhaps there'* something i can do to try to increase the "life" of the busted boot until it is fixed?

Nope..nothing can be done. They don't make band aids for them.

If the grease has been out of it for a while then you probably want to replace the axle or halfshaft as it'* called. Axles run about $60 these days. Takes any reasonable shop about an hour or less to do the whole job. It'* quick.