I am on my third E boot. Truck has 14,000 miles. This one is starting to look like it's only a matter of time. Ford tells me they will just keep fixing it. Trim issues are low on their list of concerns.
Hi 2.7½I wonder if there's a product that will soften this garbage up to prevent the cracking??
Mine started to crack within a couple months. Was in the dealership for something else and mentioned it to the sales guy. Within five minutes the service guys were ordering a replacement for me under warranty. It's almost been two years on the replacement and it still looks fine.
I had been concerned about the replacement not holding up, so at one point I had contacted Redline Goods to see if they offered a real leather aftermarket replacement. They didn't, but they did say:
"The manner in which we have devised almost all of our products is that once we had a person interested in getting our boots for their car which we did not support at the time, we'd offer them to send their current, stock items to us to use as templates. Shift and ebrake boots we'll have to unstitch, so they will not be returned. However armrest lids will of course be returned intact. You will also receive everything else you send (trim pieces, trim rings, etc.)
"To express our gratitude for such an effort, we do give our leather boots for free, but we require writing an installation write-up (you can find many of those on our site, it's not that much work, just a description of pictures of the steps you took to install them) and sending it to us via email along with some after-installation pictures."
Like I said above, my warranty replacement has held up fine, but anyone who's concerned about it might consider checking out Redline and perhaps see if they still need a template.
Mine still looks great and it bakes all day in the AZ sun while I'm at work. I use the 303 Aerospace Protectant on all my interior trim including the brake boot.Can we not put some of @AzScorpion 's Dee Zee Lucas Damper Conditioner Oil on it and get it to soften up? LOL - In jest but seriously, is there some sort of penetrating oil or conditioner like you put on dash and leather to keep is soft supple and pliable?