Engine braking

Does anyone use the Tiptronic to downshift and use engine braking during stops? I started doing this around 50k miles and 4 years ago. It's very effective with the diesel engine. (higher compression?)
Lately, I noticed noise and vibration that I discovered was the INNER CV joints, after the boots on both sides tore and the grease was slung out of them. Strange.. I'm suspicious that the reverse loading of the shafts during the process has hastened the demise of the boots/joints.. Maybe it's not a good idea...
I have 155k on mine now. I replaced the shafts ( with Raxles) at around 106k and 4 years ago due to the outer joint boots tearing. Oilhammer replaced torn outer boots at 74k when he did the balance shaft and other work for me.
When I ordered new shafts yesterday, Marty at Raxles was surprised that the inner boots and joints were the problem.. Very unusual..

Inner boot's on my Raxle axles only lasted 50-75K miles. The original inner boots lasted far longer. I never bothered to send them the back or contact Marty since by then I had gotten good at replacing them myself, and they are cheap. I have since replaced a third inner boot, recently (I believe it lasted 100-150k miles).

Oilhammer made the same comment about inner boots. They supposedly don't fail.

BTW, I do not engine brake at all.

johnboy00 said:

Inner boot's on my Raxle axles only lasted 50-75K miles. The original inner boots lasted far longer. I never bothered to send them the back or contact Marty since by then I had gotten good at replacing them myself, and they are cheap. I have since replaced a third inner boot, recently (I believe it lasted 100-150k miles).

Oilhammer made the same comment about inner boots. They supposedly don't fail.

BTW, I do not engine brake at all.

Click to expand...

Interesting, Thanks..

Now I'm wondering why Marty's inner joint boots fail more often than the originals.. He told me he uses the best boots he can find..

I haven't seen others post about inner boot failures, and there are clearly lots of people using his service.