[V8] cv boots and dirt

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Gravel roads per se won't damage cv boots.  Driving a high rates of speed
over gravel roads could conceivably send stones into the cv joint at high
velocity, and I guess could tear a boot.  I live in rural Maine down the end
of a long gravel road, and in my daily use of my Audis, I encounter gravel
roads of all sorts...some of them are just plain rough.  

I have replaced a few cv joints on my cars over the years, but my father has
also had to replace a front cv joint on his Audi 100, and that car was never
near a gravel road in its life.  I believe that the cv joint can tear by
getting old and dry and then just give up.  I was told some time ago by an
Audi tech that they saw quite a few cars come and go with torn cv boots in
the winter, and they were of the opinion that icy thrown up by wheels at
speed could tear a boot, also.

Roger