So after researching countless threads regarding the CV joint failure, I have been unable to find what the exact cause of the failure is in the first place. Lots of threads on diagnosis, pitting, swapping joints, aftermarket axle discussions but not much on the why.

I know the inner CV housing goes bad, typically on the driver's side. From what I've read this is because this side has more torque going through it, which drives the bearings which causes the pitting on the housing. It seems replacing the joint, even with a OEM replacement, often leads back to the same issue miles later. Has anybody ever determined why exactly even the OEM units are failing?

It would seem to me that the inner race on the housing does not have the proper surface hardening to withstand the bearings pressing on it. Does anybody know if Honda employs a surface/case hardening on the housing or through-hardening? Has anybody tried surface hardening just the inside surfaces of the housing? Cause if its a surface/case hardening then remanufactured CV joints, where they grind off the surfaces to present a new surface for new bearings to roll on, would quickly lead to the same problem since they've effectively ground through the surface treatment, i.e. surface pitting --> vibration on acceleration. But if the OEM heat treatment is sub-par anyways...

Just trying to figure out if I should pony up the cash for the OEM units, but after writing this I realized some reman axles and looking at a proper heat treatment is probably a better bet, lol.

Edit: or I guess we could also get an OEM housing and try looking at getting softer bearings and replacing the bearings more often.

 

Its just normal wear and tear/mileage. There is nothing subpar about the oem units. Swapping cups and adding spacers are methods to prolonging replacement which can be expensive. Most get well over 100k miles before enough wear is present to warrant any cup swapping or spacers. At that point you employ one of those methods, get another 50-60k out of them, then employ the other and get the same. I got 230k out of my shafts utilizing these methods before I had to just outright replace the cups, and even then I just stole them from another used set of shafts with low miles, still running same axles.

**Do not use cheap aftermarket CV, they vibrate. When guys move to beefier after market options its because they are throwing down heavy boost and modded or Nissan Z/Ford rear ends.

 

Alright. I guess I'll just pull off the joints, check them over and swap them using better grease if things look OK on the other side. Just gotta find the time for it, lol.

 

I know its a pain and messy. If you don't want to do it, just go for the spacers this time. They are about $100. Just make sure you get the ones that are the two piece design so you only have to back out the flange bolts and slip them in, otherwise your not doing yourself any favors on time/ease.

 

I think a lot of the wear in the cups accumulates from grease that has been in the cups for 20 years (in some cases) over many miles and accumulating contaminants. So I reckon swapping the cups is a great idea because you'll very likely fix the problem and renew the grease too.

 

i can tell you exactly why. the oem honda grease doesn't perform well in protecting the surface of the cup.

if you use redline grease, you will not get this damage, at least not for 100,000 miles.

i've seen the damage from 70,000 miles of oem honda grease (everyone has). and i've seen 100,000 miles of redline grease, removed cups and observed no damage, just a slight indentation.

everyone should replace the oem honda cv grease, considering there is grease out there easily attainable that will protect the cv cup, and the honda grease is proven not to be able to protect for the long term.

 

First ive heard of this. Who proved it? Ive been around a while, and usually "get the memo" on stuff like this. We talking your own deductions ...or has there been a broad consensus among S2000 owners that ive simply managed to evade all these years that Honda CV grease is causing undo premature wear?

 

This is a likely culprit as well. Searching back old threads show instances of CV joints failing as early as 20k "babied" miles and possibly why OEM replacements pit quickly. At the very least a high pressure, Moly grease like the Redline grease wouldn't hurt while in there anyways.

 

In the course of reading hundreds of posts spanning almost two decades over multiple days, it seems like not much thought has been put into the underlying WHY it's failing, or at least it's not discussed much or not readily searchable. The basic mechanics of the pitting has certainly been worked out and most of the discussions have centered on treating the symptoms and less the root cause.

I think the pitting has occurred with such regular occurrence that it's been taken as "normal wear and tear". CVs are normal wear and tear items but it happens with such frequency and at relatively low mileage on the S2K that it makes me feel like there is more to it.

I'm not sure whether the Honda grease is too thin or not but at the very least, a thicker, high pressure Moly grease as mentioned above can't hurt.

 

They're case hardened.

Re-grind axles fail quickly for that reason.

I also suspect grease as the most plausible cause of accelerated wear on Honda axles. Honda seems to be the only brand to have this issue consistently. I don't think their inner joint design is different than others.

Or perhaps Honda's hardening treatment sucks and they're too stubborn to fix it.