Anyone use "Cardone" remanufactured parts?

Wife's e36 needs new rear axle half-shafts. $350 per axle for new OEM vs. $71 per axle, "Cardone" local Checkers Auto remanufactured brand. I'm thinking at that price, all they do is take in cores and put new boots & grease in them & maybe shoot some spray paint on them. I'm not building a track car here so if the rebuilt is adequate, that's fine with me, just need to get rid of the rumble in the drivetrain & don't want to spend a fortune on it. I just spent $675 for new tires, road force balance & a 4-wheel alignment so have to cut corners when it comes to the axles.

I have narrowed it down conclusively to the inner axle CV joints at the diff, both sides have gobs of slop & just flop around & cause all sorts of rumble & vibration at ~15-20 mph. It's not a driveshaft center bearing or guibo issue.

Hi Don - do they let you handle them or is it a special order kind of thing?

At that price you could replace them every year...

I've had such bad experiences at Autozone, don't know if Checker is similar but would assume so. Parts that don't work out of the box or fail after a few months; anymore I go to Napa and cross my fingers.

What kind of tires did you/she get?

BTW - is it "card - one" or "car-done"? If the latter, I'd be suspicious... and watch for lead paint. :)

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Originally Posted by gale

I have narrowed it down conclusively to the inner axle CV joints at the diff, both sides have gobs of slop & just flop around & cause all sorts of rumble & vibration at ~15-20 mph.

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Are you sure the output flanges of the diff haven't just popped out? There's so little wear ever on the CV joints that I'd be surprised to find one bad, much less two, but the flanges do just pop into the diff. See if you can pop them back in, if the play you're experiencing is in-and-out. More likely for the noise and vibration to be the diff itself, but I'm not there to hear it. Good luck.

we sell cardone at work. theyre pretty good and have a lifetime warranty. they are remanufacted in the USA atleast.

The CV joint unit are not that expensive at wholesale cost... like $20 each... so there is no reason not to 'rebuild' it... I don't think you got anything to worry about.

CV joints as a rule wear the balls out, not the tracks.In Europe we go to SKF and order varying qualities of balls and replace them.Must be an equivalent in US. To quote Hilary,"new balls please!" The balls are £.65 each.

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Originally Posted by Robin-535im

Hi Don - do they let you handle them or is it a special order kind of thing?

At that price you could replace them every year...

I've had such bad experiences at Autozone, don't know if Checker is similar but would assume so. Parts that don't work out of the box or fail after a few months; anymore I go to Napa and cross my fingers.

What kind of tires did you/she get?

BTW - is it "card - one" or "car-done"? If the latter, I'd be suspicious... and watch for lead paint. :)

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Well what do you know -- it was missing a guibo bolt?! Go figure??? The guibo was getting an asymmetric input & letting the front of the driveshaft flop all over the place. I knew it felt like a driveshaft center bearing but was baffled that it presented at 15 mph and not the more typical 35-40. How did I not notice the missing bolt during the 1st inspection? Oh well, problem solved. No rebuilt axles for now but I will keep them on the list for possible future repairs before the next long road trip. I think Cardone is pronounced: "car-DON'-eh" as in "No! Not the kneecaps!"

Since it's the wife's mellow top down fair weather cruiser, I put cushy Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S's on it, stock 205-60-15. They score #1 in their class on Tire Rack's survey. A bit too mushy for me but hey, it's the wife's car & she is as happy as can with them. I'll push them to their limit a few hundred miles from now after they wear off the slimey mold release and the beads are firmly seated & see how they do at the breaking point. I got them at Chet's, free road force balance if you buy the tires from them. $70 for the 4-wheel alignment. Did you know the rear suspension has adjustable eccentrics on the lower arms on e36's? There are fresh wrench marks on the nuts and they said it was out but dialed in right on the money & no more hard pulling to the right (damn you Pirelli's!).

Actually they gave me a much better deal than drop-shipping them in from Tire Rack. Got to keep the local merchants fed and Tim is the brother of one of my bro's at work.

How's your custom intake & M5 header project coming? Give me a call & I'll help you line up the welding at Smitty's. Lunch sometime?

Cheers,
Don