Why do the dust boots seem to rot out so fast? They become so brittle, i know of other cars w/o this problem. And the struts in the maxima were replaced about 1 year ago too. Are they really cheap or something?

 

I've seen some Max's over 4 years old with high miles with good boots, and I've seen some, mine inclueded that have torn apart is as little as 3 years and 40K miles.

KYB Replacement dust covers may last longer then OEM, there also cheaper.
The part numbers that fit our cars are:
SB108 - Fits the rear
SB103 - Fits the front
You need 2 of each, total should run you around 60 bucks.

 

Call up TireRack and order They're $12x4 = $48 + $8-10 s/h = $56-58 My total was $56.16

 

When you say the struts were changed about 1 year ago were the strut boots changed also at then time? The OEM strut boots are pretty thin and sometimes you get lucky they will last along time and sometimes you don't. Replacement boots are thicker and better quality than OEM boots and "should" last longer. That's one of the things we always try to sell customers when we did struts, not because we were trying to jack up the final cost but because it was worth it.

 

Ditto for mine, torn at about 40k. My guess is somebody in Nissan purchasing went with a lower cost supplier and the products basically failed. Times have changed--back in 1998 Lucent went way out of their way to use USA made parts/labor, and the issue came up in a shareholder meeting. Today their products simply say made in China. Chinese parts are up and coming, it doesn't necessarily mean cheap. Sometimes USA and Japan don't necessarily mean it's good either. But common sense says a dust boot should last longer than 40k. Think about the one that protects the CV joints--it starts letting dirt in that early, that adds up to $$$ in repairs.

 

Thanks guys for all the info, I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one with this issue.

-alex