aftermarket cv axles

[theroundcow]

my coupe needs new cv axles, theyre clicking and grinding like nobodys business. ive got two i pulled off a wrecked e30, front end damage only...but you know theyre also 30 years old. some threads say not to buy aftermarket and to rebuild the BMW ones. the $300 FCP euro ones are bad or what? any ever bought aftermarket cv axles?

[jbontke]

I don't understand what would make the after market so bad besides cheaper quality metals. If you are not putting down crazy power, aftermarket axles will work fine.

[theroundcow]

apparently its imperfections in the splines of the axle causing them to not insert into the hub. i dealt with a similar problem in college, even had some representative tell me they were in spec when it was a blatantly interference fit.....anyways im burnt out on splines not fitting, the ones that came out should go right back in.

[Northern]

GKN/Loebro are OE. I'm pretty sure what you are talking about when you say "the $300 ones".

[jbontke]

apparently its imperfections in the splines of the axle causing them to not insert into the hub. i dealt with a similar problem in college, even had some representative tell me they were in spec when it was a blatantly interference fit.....anyways im burnt out on splines not fitting, the ones that came out should go right back in.

I bought a set from RockAuto and after beating out one of the old axles and mushrooming the end (using brass!), the GSP axles slid in like it should have. I have pulled a axle out of my "parts" car and it came out easily, but fought me on daily car. Its as if the splice were different?? But the aftermarket GSP axles fit both easily, no slack in the spline. I am still confused about that, but the GSP axles got me on the road.

[15Michaeljoseph]

The GKN ones from FCP are pricey, but I just put a set on my iS and I think they seemed well worth it. Compared one of my new GKNs side by side with a brand new Cardone axle a friend had laying around, and the differences in materials and overall look of the axles was apparent. The Cardone's shaft was thinner and the boots were bigger which likely causes rubbing/ premature failure regardless. My vote is bite the bullet and do it once, with GKNs. Plus FCP has a lifetime warranty just in case, but I doubt you'd ever need it with these axles. The cheaper ones... You probably would, IMHO. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[nando]

I don't understand what would make the after market so bad besides cheaper quality metals. If you are not putting down crazy power, aftermarket axles will work fine.

Basically they fail at an alarming rate even with stock power. There have been tons of pots about this over the last 10 years. You're way better off with 30 year old stock axles, a $20 boot kit and new grease. The aftermarket ones are made with inferior materials, inferior machining, thinner parts, or all of the above.

[jbontke]

Basically they fail at an alarming rate even with stock power. There have been tons of pots about this over the last 10 years. You're way better off with 30 year old stock axles, a $20 boot kit and new grease. The aftermarket ones are made with inferior materials, inferior machining, thinner parts, or all of the above.

Where is the common failure? In the axle shaft? In the joint? I disassembled the "bad shafts" and kept the good parts, tossed the bad ones. And if I were to go to the junk yard and pull a few shafts, how would one know what is OEM vs aftermarket?

[nando]

The only reason they should ever wear out is either extreme abuse, rust, or getting dirt in the CV joint from running with torn boots. Mine have like 280,000 on them (fronts are more like 300,000+).

[e30austin]

i'm all for installing a used, original part, over the chinese/aftermarket replacements. would happily spend $300/each for a quality, GKN unit, though. good chance you'll get another 30 years out of it, like the original. you'll likely never have to think about it again.

[theroundcow]

well i spent $100 in boot kits, i think it replaces 4 axles total. gonna give them a good thorough inspection. this is all to diagnose a grinding in my rear end....

[Slovik]

I bought rebuilt axles from O'Reilly auto parts and they turned out to be rebuilt oe BMW axles with new cv joints and boots. Two years later they are still fine. Using them on my s52 conversion.

[theroundcow]

I bought rebuilt axles from O'Reilly auto parts and they turned out to be rebuilt oe BMW axles with new cv joints and boots. Two years later they are still fine. Using them on my s52 conversion.

dang way to throw a wrench in the gears of this convo! thats awesome though. i bought rebuild kits for the coupe, maybe ill do new ones for the convertible.

[nando]

That happens sometimes. Buy the napa brand or whatever, and get a reboxed BMW or OE unit instead with the BMW logo ground off. It's more luck than anything though.

I do wonder why those parts with the BMW logo ground off are sold cheaper if they're the same otherwise.

[bmwman91]

I bought "new" GKN/Loebro CV axles from ECS for a 2006 TDI I was overhauling earlier in the year. They were trash right out of the box and clunked worse than the old ones with 210000 miles. They were promptly returned. It seems that they were crap "rebuilt" units, except rather than replacing the joints they ground them and had a ton of slop. Despite fitting OK (they were clearly not even rebuilt from OEM ones), they were trash. In that case, I got proper rebuilds from raxles.com for the same price as the ECS ones, a company that does not grind anything and actually replaces all of the joints with new OEM parts. Sadly, I do not know if raxles has BMW parts.

In my E30's case, back in 2016 when I overhauled the suspension & driveline, I bought some Loebro axles from RM European (IIRC) and they were nice parts which have fit well and never made any bad noises. I am not sure if they were new or rebuilt, but they have been great.

So, your results may vary. However, going with cheap "OE equivalent" ones is mor elikely to be trouble than not, IMO. You tend to get what you pay for with these.