2.7Lturbo

had the car up on a lift to diagnose some clicking/clunking ive had for a while! the control arms are fine, but the axles may be suspect. i replaced a CV boot a while ago, but i dont think i ever got it back together right (i took apart the cv joint to repack the bearings and think i screwed it up some how). any ways long story short, the right makes a clunking noise over bumps, and the left makes the typpical clicking noise on a u-turn. its also completly missing its boot. to make matters worse the inner driver side boot is cracked. at this point, i feel like it would be better to replace the axles all together.

my question is what axles do you guys recommend? EMPI has some axles for a good price. what can the OEM axles take HP/TQ wise? i dont want to run into issues with subpar axles breaking. autozone has some axles for as low as 67 dollars per side. the EMPIs were 93, id like to stay around 100 per side for the axles, but the autozone ones are a good deal if they really are OEM quality/performence, as they have a lifetime warrenty

4Driver4

Right side is not CV related.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Agree. I would seriously consider rebuilding the existing axles rather than risk Chinese aftermarket crap. YMMV.

2.7Lturbo

I thought EMPI was a VW company? where is a good place to get quality rebuild parts? everywhere i look they want more for the CV join then the whole axle!

2.7Lturbo

What would you suspect? ive inspected the control arms and TREs, there is absolutely NO play in the tire, can even move when i do the two hand shake test. the control are bushings are showing their age but nothing cracked or damaged. the noise started happening after doing a CV boot and brake job, only other thing i can think of is the rotor not being secure enough bouncing around?

ezveedub

Seems most buy axles from Raxles. I wouldn't use EMPI axles.

2.7Lturbo

Ive seen this quoted alot, but i dont need 700 million hp axles for 500 dollars, I want an OEM replacement that is affordable.

What is your experience with EMPI? my only experience is with air cooled VW and those guys have no ill-will towards them.

jcman

I replaced both axle shaft's "new" last year on my 04 because the boots were torn within a week apart at 70k.

Why did I do this?
Because my 01 with the very slight clicky clicky in the turns got the axles from the 04 with new boots.

How much did the new axles cost?
$104+tax for each at NAPA with no core return.

They have been fine so far on the highway and around town, frankly I don't give a dam where they are made either FWIW.

2.7Lturbo

thanks for the input, im in the same boat, i dont see what value is being added by certain vendors over others to justify the increased price. I am open to discussion if some one can point out a specific reason to go with OEM or certain vendors over others.

jseklund

Just a heads up - and maybe I'm just a Raxles fanboy, but here we go.

When I bought my car, it had 90,000 miles on it and a torn CV boot. I bouth a $90 replacement axle and put it in. 30,000 miles later (which is 5-6 months for me), the inner boot had let go and the axle was clicking again.

Now, inner boot failure is unusual from what I've heard, but I have heard a number of other people tell me the $90 parts fail pretty quickly. In my anecdotal experience, using the car as often as I do, it lasted about 6 months before it was going bad again. I probably could have returned it under a warranty, but I decided to replace with a Raxle part instead - based on the reputation. It cost me about $225 and I've gone probably about 40,000 on that axle with no issues at all. I have since replaced the other axle with another Raxles axle with no problems. They are solid axles.

I had a co-worker who came to me for a VW axle and he was short on cash so he put on the $90 axle for both sides in the front of his Passat. Both his axles failed within a year.

You may get a $90 axle that works great, but for $120-130 extra you will increase your chances of success. Although...it is difficult to justify twice the price if you are short on funds...in which case rolling the dice may be your best bet, and just plan on doing it again in 30-40K.