-----To preface the story-I'm N/A and I don't drag race my car. Daily driver, enjoy fast driving on backroads, and a little drifting here and there------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ok, to start I had purchased the DSS stage_ axles- they were the only available for the car at this time. A few months later, I broke one- sent them both back and they fixed one CV. My alignment guy said they were too short and that caused the failure. Ok, they broke again, sent them back and DSS sent me a new set that was too long to fit the car. Ok, sent those back, got a new set, and pretty much every CV broke on them, inside and out. I scavenged CVs of my stock axles and pieced it together while deciding what to do. While DSS did honor their warranty, I had to pay expensive shipping back and forth and even if a CV was worn out it would not be replaced unless completely broken. Their customer service was always kind on the phone, but I just wanted stuff that wouldn't break.

Ok, so now I decided to get their Stage3 (which now they call stage5) set and pay full price for it. This set has its own hub so it can accommodate a larger CV joint. When I assembled the hubs, I realized to wheel studs were way too long and had to be cut. Ok, fine. Also, the axles were so long I had to lower my ride height and there is absolutely no room for the shaft to slide in and out of the CVs. Ok, fine they didn't break yet. But after 6months and 8k miles, the included hub and wheel bearing was destroyed. Yes the axle nut was torqued and periodically checked to 220ft/lbs.

Called DSS and they want $175 per hub for a replacement which seems like highway robbery to me. Hubs are not warrantied- and thats fine- but they shouldn't cost over $100 bucks a piece. Just thought I'd share my experience with everyone.

 

dang that sucks, i had dss stage 3 axles on my itr and the driver side broke while leaving a stop light in normal drive conditions.

 

I while back I saw Alex Pfeiffer at a drift event when he drove the S2000. I was like "How do you keep that thing together?" Comptech diff housing, cryo'd gears, OEM axles w/ spacer. He said they used aftermarket performance axles, but the OEM were better.

 

I was about to say.. after all that hassle, I would go back to stock.. I would have gone back to stock after the 2nd set broke

 

Wow...that sucks to hear...I had a set on my "to purchase" list. Guess I'll cross them off and stay with oem.

 

If I was to do it again I would get spacers and buy remanufactured ones from a place that guarantees them for life. Carquest does this and they said the distributor is going to start making them for the S. I didn't want to rip on them b/c atleast they are friendly and they did warranty their product. Good cust service, just not the best product. They put me over the edge by charging me so damn much for a hub they make in-house.

 

i had dss axles on my turbo protege and they sucked. i put them in even before i put the turbo on because it was my DD and had to do the install little by little. i was just about to leave for an atlantic city trip from the philly area and i got about 10 miles from my house and the passenger side took a crap!
these axles were supposed to handle 400hp and they were destroyed with 130? thats pretty sh***y to me. having this experience makes me leary of buying the inline pro rear conversion kit because its got dss axles

 

The weird thing is is that the collar was the part that was cracking, and it LOOKED so much beefier

 

Why did you upgrade the axles? I thought the stock ones were plenty strong for track abuse.

 

I like to replace everything I break w/ something stronger. Sometimes it works out, some times it doesn't