Daskuppler Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 Hello Everyone! I have a 2014 Forester N/A with what I can only assume is at least one bad front CV axle. I get a rather bad clicking coming under turning. Anyway, what is a decent brand to use for a replacement? usually I use remanufactured axles from NAPA but they don't offer any. NAPA only has new Cardone axles for $204 each. Subaru wants $390 on their parts website and probably even more in a dealership. I have heard Cardone has gone the way of cheap china and aren't worth much as a new set. So I ask, what would you put on? The vehicle is driven pretty hard (light offroading, heavy acceleration/braking, hauls weight, etc. It has 93k on it so I'm a little disillusioned with OEM, especially looking at an $800 bill to do it myself. Cheers, Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 1. Regrease and reboot yourself. I’ve got a 100% success rate rebooting noisy axles. I do some calculus to determine whether I think they’re worth it, it’s not a one size fits all solution. usually just need fresh grease like a noisy door hinge or trailer bearings. I trashed a pair of fronts off-road in CO - drove thousands of miles home with wild clicking and vibrating so bad I had to keep changing speeds to get home, rear view mirror vibrating so bad it was unusable - i couldn’t see out of it. Rebooted and good to go 10 years later still. if it saw sand like beaches or significant aggregate - then I don’t do it. 2. Replace with Subaru new. 3. Used Subaru axles are everywhere. This is what I typically do, so this should be #1 on the list. Yours is so new that there’s simply no better option. Easy to find OEM used (look at the color and design). I have 2014 Forster axles but they’re so cheap and available everywhere it’s not worth the time to remove and ship it. I’ve bought dozens for $35 give or take $10 and the OEMs should last the life of the vehicle. Reboot it before install with Subaru boots and fresh grease. You have a 10x better chance of a used Subaru OEM axle lasting 100k over any aftermarket garbage aftermarket axles are trash. Reviews are anecdotal so that’s why you see some people claiming an axle is good. Resist that newb urge to feel like you found the good axle! There’s a load of reasons that’s anecdotal I can’t begin to explain it all. I’ve seen them click, vibrate, blow up catastrophically, they’re trash. They have such a low success rate - even if you get a good one out of the box how long will it last? They’re low grade for daily drivers and a complete waste of time for lifted or off road Subarus. They can’t handle it. I’ve seen good aftermarkets that “worked” on one car get installed on a lifted Subaru and vibrate and click and blow to crap when an OEm axle installed and worked just fine. If you still want to try one - reboot that trash right out of the box with the right amount quality grease and that can. Maybe it’s northeast winter chemicals and wouldn’t matter elsewhere (I don’t know) but aftermarket boots don’t last as long as Subaru around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 (edited) Subaru OEM. Always Subaru OEM. There is no other choice in this matter. You think OEM is expensive? I had to get an OEM axle a few years back for a NISMO Nissan Juke (Joke) with 55k miles. Towed in because the axle was undrivable. $760 from Nissan. Subaru genuine (NTN) axles are cheap and last a long time. This is the price you pay for perfection. GD Edited June 28, 2021 by GeneralDisorder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronemus Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 Subaru sells remanufactured axles that are a good value - a fraction of the cost of new with identical performance; I've used them with no issues. Aftermarket axles are trash, and Cardone are the worst, bottom-of-the-barrel trash. Your only good choices are new or remanufactured Subaru axles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daskuppler Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 Sounds good. I'll call Subaru and see if they have any remanufactured ones. There were none available on the website. I have an extra vehicle so I can always pull them and have them rebuilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 They no longer make reman axles. They discontinued that program. And they never had them for 14's anyway. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daskuppler Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share Posted June 29, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, GeneralDisorder said: They no longer make reman axles. They discontinued that program. And they never had them for 14's anyway. GD That's indeed what the stealership said. I found a local company that would rebuild them for me for 179 a piece. They will be done tomorrow. Do you know why they stopped the program? It seems everyone did since you can't buy them ANYWHERE. Edited June 29, 2021 by Daskuppler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 10 hours ago, Daskuppler said: That's indeed what the stealership said. I found a local company that would rebuild them for me for 179 a piece. They will be done tomorrow. Do you know why they stopped the program? It seems everyone did since you can't buy them ANYWHERE. Pointless product for them to carry in the first place. Would a high end restaurant carry the same product they serve but cooked somewhere else by someone else, a little cheaper, to appease some lower cost customers? LMAO. They have new axles, reman didn't fill any non existent inventory. Probably had inconsistent volume, or possibly inconsistent margins, quality control, supply, and the price point was somewhat in no-mans land - lower than new but not competitive with other options available to DIY folks. Except for a very small number of DIY folks and shops doing high volume, it was a useless part to offer. It had zero alignment with the overall business model of dealerships and dealership trends over the past 20 years+. Every auto manufacturer has been moving away from "rebuilding" for decades. It's not part of the business model driving the automotive market at all. They don't rebuild anything - calipers (which are easy as pie), resurface rotors, power steering pumps (also EASY), power steering racks, no electrical components which are easy to rebuild - starters, starter solenoids (which only ever need $13 contacts/plunger), alternators. It's more surprising if a reman offering shows up than disappears. Makes total sense to me. Do I wish they still carried it - yes. Would I buy some in the future - likely. But from a business, and automotive history/trends, sense it's more surprising they offered them in the first place than that they quit offering them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 On 6/28/2021 at 5:19 PM, Daskuppler said: That's indeed what the stealership said. I found a local company that would rebuild them for me for 179 a piece. They will be done tomorrow. Do you know why they stopped the program? It seems everyone did since you can't buy them ANYWHERE. Poor success rate, poor profit margins, and difficulty in obtaining good rebuildable cores. You should have bought new one's. Rebuilding is not appropriate for your use case. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 +1 for boot replacement on the old axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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