Wonderful input there.


I have been noticing a very slight vibration on acceleration for a couple of weeks which prompted me to start looking into the problem before I went and spent a bunch of money on things I didnt know was specifically wrong.

It just started being horribly noticable the day I originally posted. It was also rather sudden. I could feel the moment it became "bad".

BUT, since you read my first post so well, you DO obviously realize that I am not looking for a cheap fix. I can, and will pay for a full OEM replacement if that is my best option. But like 99% of the people in the world, I dont want to spend money needlessly. I am not excessively mechanical, so I do not know what is good and what is not. God forbid I should ask.

I was simply asking if aftermarket is "safe" to purchase. Is it usually reliable. Is a remanufactured CV joint the way to go. Is a reman. axle the smarter option. Suck it up and just get Honda OEM? I dont know. I have never had to do a cv or axle in any car I've ever owned before. If it's a fair price like Boofster says, I may just do that.

I want to thank Stratocaster for his first post. It was very reassuring after the dealer service rep (who I obviously do not give much faith) said they have had an S2k in for aftermarket axles that did not work right and the warrenty they give for aftermarket parts is not as good and would not cover it, etc etc. I was just looking for other opinions as well. I think it's fair for me to comment on more posts saying "just do the swap" when I already said I was unable to.

But yes, once I get my car back from this repair (whatever I end up choosing to do), I will preemptively swap the cups right away so I wont have this problem again. Thanks.

Thanks for your post Boofster. I'll look into that.

 

I have remanufactured Cardone axles in my car and they work great. They were $200 a piece once core was returned.

Honda wanted $750 an axle which is just nuts.

 

I had the vibs for a couple of months before I switched mine.

I'm wondering if you might have something else going on causing the vibs to rather suddenly become "bad"???

 

I may have had them for months but just didn't start taking notice until a few weeks ago. The roads around here are pretty rough so a lot of it I originally attributed to that. It really triggered in my mind when I was driving on a freshly paved road and started to accelerate and could feel it vibrate even though the road was smooth. It stopped when I let off, so that immediately told me something was wrong and got me started looking.

It might be that one of the riders (whatever it's called) inside the joint cracked/broke. I was also wondering if it just "settled" into the pit on the joint which would explain why it felt so odd when it happened. I cant even explain what it felt like. It just felt like something got loosened and then it would vibrate worse than it ever had on acceleration. I've looked underneath and there is nothing leaking, and no free play on any of the axle.

It could be something else, but my common symptom is that it does not vibrate at all until I get to about 26-30 mph. If I am light on the throttle, it is a very slight vibrating and gets worse the harder I accelerate to where if I even get to 1/2-3/4 throttle, it is shaking as if it's going to bounce off the road.

I'm currently waiting for a callback from my dealer on prices for aftermarket axles.

 

I just bought some aftermarket Cardone axles from here

www.car-stuff.com

They are only $80 a piece after you get the $96 core back, I think ground shipping was even free. However, I don't have the axles yet, I haven't installed them so I can give no review. I was told by many people that the remanufactured ones are pretty much just as good as OEM. I wish I could help you more, but personally I feel that they probably are just as good.

But part of my reason for buying them is that I race the car (drag/autox/track all of it), I just busted one of my stock axles at the drags. I figured that if I upgraded then my axles would no longer be a weak point. I don't want my diff or tranny to be the weak point, so I'd rather keep replaceing $80 dollar axles for a little while.

Of course if you bought these axles from this site and brought them in to Honda they would offer no warrenty at all.

 

I just today bought a brand new set from a place called CV Restoration, LLC in Jessup, MD. They come w/ a 1yr warranty. No one and I mean NO ONE (AutoZone, NAPA, etc.) had them in stock or knew when they would come in. I for them for $143/ea. Here is their eBay page. They're doing more ATV axles these days because that's where the money is (according to the guy who rang up the order) but they still have a few sets in stock. Their website is www.thecvman.com