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?
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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.
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Originally posted by theroundcow View Postapparently 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.
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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(OO=[][]=OO) For Life
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Originally posted by jbontke View PostI 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.
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Originally posted by nando View Post
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.
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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.'72 2002 pickup | '88 M5 | '89 330is | '89 M3 | '01 Z3M | '11 328xi-t
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Originally posted by Slovik View PostI 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.
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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.
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