Is lift tearing cv's and spacers warping rotors!

[leftyguns21]

2008, V6 155k miles. original owner.

is my lift causing issues with my cv boots or is it just age/miles? i had an OME 3" lift installed earlier this year. a few months after install i went on a long road trip that involved a lot of rough dirt roads. when i returned i noticed grease every where on the passenger side. i figured it was due to all the rough roads and harsh conditions. i replaced the whole axle and been good since. yesterday i helped a friend move, nothing crazy, and came home now the drivers side is leaking. with the lift adjusting the angle is this causing them to fail or is it just old age?

also, a question I have been meaning to ask so i might as well piggy back on my own thread. do wheel spacers warp rotors or is it my driving habits? by warped, i mean when i brake i can feel a pulsation in the steering wheel. i have had these installed pretty much the whole time i have had the car. factory rotors got warped, i had them resurfaced when I got new pads. they warped again a few months later. i just dealt with it for a few years until the pads were done. i replaced all of the rotors/pads with a whole new setup beginning of the year. i did proper break in on them and it was smooth for a bit. a couple months later and now they are warped/pulsating. my guess is, when i get tires rotated balanced Discount might be torquing the spacers/wheels uneven?!? they have a lifetime warranty on the rotors from warping, but I have to ship them back at my expense, im guessing it is pricey so i haven't done it yet. should i ditch the spacers, or is anyone else experiencing this?

 

[oljedi11950]

Yes & no ! Did you check clamps on boots ? Never had a problem with my rotors or pads & I've had both spidies & bora's since owned both . I noticed if I brake hard never a problem but if I pump like old style brakes they wear out faster IMPO .

 

[Inv4drZm]

The CV boots tend to leak after a lift, so it is probably just age. If you replace the boots, the boot clamps, or the whole CV you should be fine for a while.

As for the rotors warping you may have a stuck piston in your caliper heating them up but probably it is caused by uneven pad deposits on your rotors which leads to a pulsing sensation. I don't see how the wheel spacers would have anything to do with the rotors.

 

[TowMeOut]

Both my outer boots started puking grease after a simple shock/spring swap that netted me about an inch of lift. It doesn't take much. I think the boots do get kind of dried out and stiff with age. I threw some tape and zip-ties on them and have been going for about 6 months now with no problems. I think the added lift put just enough extra pull/bend in the boots to break them loose from the axle shaft to allow them to leak. The older the boot and higher the lift, the more likely it will happen.

No idea on the spacer issue. I read years ago that modern rotors rarely "warp". With time the break pad deposited onto the rotor becomes uneven so they grab more or less in different parts and you get the pulsing. I too have gone through the breakin properly and was fine for months or years but eventually the pulsing comes back.

It could be the combination of the pads/rotors along with play in the wheel bearings and/or balljoints. With 155K it's probably about time to break out the credit card and start replacing suspension components. I just did shocks/springs but I'm sure I'll be doing joints and tierods in the not so distant future, maybe swaybar bushings/links too.

Good luck.

 

[theoutbackdream]

Yes, a lift CAN result in the CV boots tearing because of the angles, but age can also be a contributing factor.

I doubt it wheel spacers are causing your problem. You might have a bad wheel bearing or a stuck piston causing the rotor to warp.

 

[mrblah]

spacers can cause warped rotors due to uneven heat transfer if you either:

1. torqued it down correctly, (i.e. torqued it down too much).

or

2. didn't torque it in a star pattern causing uneven pressure

or

3. all of the above.

Believe it or not, your rims act like a heat sink, cooling the rotors. Spacers can cause warpage if not tightened to spec (or at least that's the theory)

As for CV wear, it can occur faster with a lift due to a increase in angles, or you could have caught it on something offroad, or it was too old.

 

[AuSeeker]

I also think you have uneven deposits on the rotor, usually how this happens is if you stop when the rotors and pads are extremely hot and sit there for more than a few seconds with brake pressure applied pad material gets transferred onto the rotor in that one spot, do this many times over a period of time then you have many "spots" of pad material on the rotor causing pulsing, this issue is unavoidable over time because you need to stay on the brakes when stopped, but it only happens if you have overheated your brakes which happens more than most would think especially if you have to stop rapidly because of others driving habits/mistakes and then have to sit there until you can move again.

This may not be the case for you but could very well be the issue.

Most of the time if I have to do a panic stop and have to sit more than a few seconds I will put it into park and take my foot off the brakes until I can move again.

 

[leftyguns21]

ah. thanks everyone. i am going to replace the drivers side axle sometime this week. ill take it in and have brakes checked out/cleaned up. i switched to slotted/crossed drilled hoping for better heat dispersion.

hopefully the cv issue is just due to age and i wont continue having issues