Cardome Axles

[MWLoyale]

I found reman cardone axles on summitracing for 37$ plus $10 core. It seems overwhelmingly cheap. I just wanted some opinions on the subject.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaz-60-7007/overview/year/1996/make/subaru/model/legacy/submodel/outback

[idosubaru]

What are you looking for? Quick and easy and make a buck? Save a penny? Long term reliability?

 

That’s a great price, go for it if you don’t mind some risk and the annoyance of shipping cores and failed replacements.

 

Or if you’re just flipping stuff and need it out the door as quick as possible, these are a good fit.

 

$37 + shipping core - for that price I can reboot an OEM axle and have better axles, better boots, better grease, higher success rates,

will last the life of the vehicle and no shipping. I don’t see the reason to get lower grade everything at the same or more cost.

 

A percentage of them will have issues. google whatever brand to see issues - except OEM and new offerings that just don’t have publicity yet.

 

New gen used OEM axles are a dime a dozen, last the life of the vehicle and have nearly 100% success rate. anything else is a waste of my time. But I realize some people are okay with risk and changing axles a few times it needed.

 

GLoyale says if you properly grease and spread the grease before installing aftermarket axles they’re okay. He’s a shop and needs volume, I’ll pass on supporting that market. At that point my time is better off rebooting an OEM axle.

 

If you don’t mind that and replacing a certain percent then go for it. And that’s why you’ll hear good reports. good reports are anecdotal and fail to recognize failure “rate”. No one is saying “every single one fails” right out of the box. It’s mathematical. They fail far more often

And Have higher rates of issues over time.

 

For some reason people avoid food or restaurants that make them throw up 20% of the time but don’t avoid axles that throw up 20% of the time. It’s simply because they don’t do axles as often as they eat. If they did they’d see this.

[1 Lucky Texan]

remans have ALL had a portion or all their case hardening ground away so cheap oversize bearings can be dropped in.

 

not a good recipe for longevity.

[GeneralDisorder]

OEM reman axles are $193 each. Well worth the entry price. There are no other good options unless you want to order OEM new axles for $399 each. And honestly even that isnt a bad price. I just ordered a front axle for a Nissan Juke and it was $685.

 

GD

[1 Lucky Texan]

GD, how are Nissans these days?

 

the ones I've had/maintained in the past seemed to have good iron, but electrical issues.

[GeneralDisorder]

They seem to be junk with lots of problems unfortunately. Also difficult and expensive to repair. That Juke we put an axle in had 57k miles on it - axle was so bad it came in on a tow truck. I just did some diag to a Nissan Rogue that seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Driver door handle didn't work from the outside, broken clock spring, plastic interior leprosy.... cant say I find them attractive either.

 

GD

Edited March 3, 2018 by GeneralDisorder

[Fairtax4me]

Nissan... ugh...

 

Aftermarket axles, crapshoot. I've tried a few recently just to see if any of the current options are any good. After trying a cardone, and another brand that I'm blanking on the name of, and both starting to make noise within a few weeks (on plain stock customers vehicles) I started looking at New axles instead of reman.

Napa listed one for about $85 online and when I got to the store the new guys tried to charge me $120 for it. My usual salesman wasn't there that day. It was made in China, and I couldn't tell the difference between that on and the one I saw for $60 at a local parts store I now use for most of my shop supplies. I went back to napa the next day and talked to my usual salesman and he made the price $75. Worth a shot, so I now have a New Napa Chinese axle, and a New "AutoExtra" brand Chinese axle on two different vehicles for about 4 months now. Dunno how long they'll last but it's better than the previous two reman axles so far. Can't always convince customers that it's worth it to pay for me to rebuild an axle at $200. They would rather have it fixed in an hour for $100 (with a $40 axle) and be on their way. But I make it clear that I don't provide warranty coverage on aftermarket axles. If it starts making noise in a week, they're paying me another $100 to R&I another axle.

 

I still prefer to reboot OEM axles if I can, but lately the junkyard supply in my area has gone to mostly aftermarket pull-offs and I don't bother with rebooting those. More than likely I'll start pushing the dealer reman axles since they've come down in price a bit in the last couple years.

[GeneralDisorder]

I stopped doing Chinese "new" axles after installing 8 bad ones in a row and eating the labor. I chewed out my supplier's sales rep and his response was "I don't blame you, I wouldn't buy them either, and I can't recommend them to any of my customers for Subaru's"....... I won't even do it anymore. Only time is if the customer brings it to me (usually they have already bought it) and only after they get a stern warning about the LIKELY failure immediately or shortly thereafter and the ABSOLUTE failure of the boot within about 20k miles. Only then will I do it if they wish to take that risk and I make it clear IN WRITING that there will be no recourse through me. 

 

GD

[Mike104]

You should never regret buying quality

[idosubaru]

I can't recommend them to any of my customers for Subaru's"

GD

Do other auto manufacturers have the same aftermarket issue or is it worse with Subaru because of ground clearance/angles or something?

[GeneralDisorder]

I think it's worse because of factory angles, and ground clearance. But also because Subaru is a small player in the automotive market. Parts aren't as lucrative for the aftermarket. Not enough customers to make a big enough angry mob.... really IDK but its sucks.

 

GD