I drove about 10 minutes in one of the biggest dust storms I’ve ever drive in. There was this huge cloud of dust and high speed wind sweeping across the city and visibility was extremely low. I read that dust is bad for CV boots and was wondering if driving in a dust storm can damage CV boots? I just had them replaced 500 miles ago. Are wet roads filled with oil, dirt and grime worse for CV boots than simply dust?
Dust is bad for CV-joints. Not CV-boots. CV-boots are there to protect the CV-joints. As long as the CV-boots are intact, you have nothing to worry about.
Tester
I might pull the engine and cabin air filters and tap the dust out of them.
Stay away from Phoenix right now…
CV boots are the least of the worries. Severe dust storms can drive small particles into engine components, brake calipers, alternators, and even joints. Anything with a pinhole is vulnerable. Severe dust storms can even remove the paint down to the bare metal.
Having said that, if the car is running fine and never stumbled you need not worry.You can have the boots checked if it helps you sleep better, however if there’s a torn boot its was torn before you drove through the dust storm. But it would be a really good idea to find the torn boot if there is one.
It would be a good idea just to pull over and park until the storm passes…
You might take it to an automatic, touchless car wash that washes the undercarriage of the car, too. That will most of the dust off. I don’t know what the dust source is, since dust is worn down rocks and rocks are mineral deposits, it is possible that the dust could be corrosive. You need water to start the corrosion, but only in small enough quantities to wet the dust but not wash it off. The car was would get rid of it rater than activate it.