As most of us have experienced, my front upper control arm boots have perished last year. I can see there is still a fair amount of grease around the joint as well as some road grit getting inside.There is no play or noise whatsoever. I was wondering, since it is so accessible, isn't there a simpler way to wrap some kind of thin rubber sheet around the upper joint while securing it with 2 thin plastic ties as a very temporary means to keep more debris from getting inside? I've read about the boots that are available for replacement, and I know this is not the way to go for a permanent fix, but as I do so little driving, (presently 16,000 miles ) and these joints are fairly robust....Is this feasible for the short term when I don't drive in the rain, and I do less that 1,000 miles per year? Any thoughts? Thanks all. PS How about one of those Split Boots?

 

I used the split boot "fix" on the C/V joints on my old VW. Didn't have to remove the driveshaft as the split boot design fits over the joint in situ. Good for a temporary / longer term solution. Did eventually remove and clean the C/V assembly from road debris.

 

I've used split boots for decades. They last 100,000 miles and ten years as long as they are installed properly.

 

Thanks Cee Jay. Should the existing joint be cleaned up and regreased before installing the split boot or could it just be installed over the existing joint as is?
Where do I find the appropriate size split boot for our upper control arm ball joint?

 

I've not bought any lately (ten years? More???), but yeah, I sprayed the points with carb cleaner lightly to get the outside dirty gook off without spraying away all the existing clean grease. I'd wipe them a bit the fit the big end and inject grease through a tube into the small end before clamping.
They sell them by end size and length. They cover a range, so it's not super critical.

 

I found two boots in bad shape, so I wrapped them with shrink wrap tape. Add a little heat, and they shrink onto the parts.

 

I have also used what we called "F-4 Tape" in the US Air Force. It's a self-sealing silicone tape that completely adheres to itself to make a complete seal around whatever it is around. That worked very well, but I haven't had any of it in over twenty years.

 

3M has this type of tape, forgot the name but used it to waterproof some assemblies years back.
WJ

 

Well, ****. It's called "F4 Tape" and also 'Self Fusing Tape'.

F4 tape on the 'zon

F4 tape on the 'zon

 

Gosh CeeJay,
I assumed that F-4 tape was a generic name and just wanted viewers to understand that 3M manufactured a similar type.
Thanks for the specific clarification!
wj

 

This does sound like any easy approach in lieu of a bigger job if replacing the boot. I just wonder how the silicone tape reacts to the grease. Is it advisable to clean up the site and add additional grease or leave it as is?

 

We used F-4 tape on jets to seal fuel lines on drop tanks. Never had a problem. So I'd figure if it's used on JP4 jet fuel, a little grease wouldn't do anything to it.

 

Thanks Cee Jay. I noticed that there are various Silicone Flex tapes available. Will most of them do the same job as the F-4 product? The only reason I'm asking is that the F-4 product link on Amazon shows a red tape and I thought a black tape might be less noticeable.

 

I never noticed a difference in the Air Force products, whatever color we got from Supply is the color we used. They all had the same NSN (national stock number) so they all met the same MilSpecs.
I agree to use black though, don't want shiny orange spots showing off.

 

hmmm... this has me thinking that using a different colour will make it easy to see degradation/need for repair... I might just waste some time under the car and tend to all the boots. Thanks for the tips!!

 

I found the Rescue Tape in black on Amazon. I called the Bond It Factory and was informed that Rescue Tape and the F4 military tape is the same. When I have some spare time and the temps cool down, I'm planning on cleaning the two upper control arms before applying the tape. My car has very little mileage, so the road debris is minimum, however I want the cleanest surface possible before applying the silicone tape. I'll report back after completed.

 

I am about to try the same "shade tree mechanic" temporary fix using two layers, self-sealing silicone tape under wide gorilla tape and zip ties after cleaning whatever surface grit is there and packing grease. Theory being this will be compliant enough to function for a while. I'll post how it goes. No noise or play anywhere at this point.

 

Thanks, @Cee Jay . Just ordered some. I appreciate your input on this site. Always helpful. @bocatrip I purchased these silicone boots on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/322223246698 From Bulgaria and take awhile to arrive, but great vendor. Honest guy. Haven't used them, yet, and now I'm going to try Cee Jay's suggestion first.

 

. Just received my rescue tape yesterday. It’s only 1” wide and I hope I can negotiate it around the front ball joint where it will adhere to the joint. Supposedly it shrinks after applied which hopefully will be a tighter fit.

 

Don't pull it very tight around the subject, it does bond to itself. It must be pulled a bit to 'activate' though, but you can then let it relax a bit. At least that's the way I used to use it 30 years ago.
You can even bond two pieces together on a tabletop, let it sit for awhile and then you have 1-3/4 inch wide stuff.