Stay away from FEQ axles

[vavJETTAw36]

A buddy of mine apparently got dicked over by a shop (wont name any names since he didnt give them the chance to make it right) and they charged him for axle installs that werent performed (still in his trunk) and an oil change (oil still in trunk). now to the point. I told him just to bring it by and we would quickly swap in his axles.

Got it up in the air and pulled the old axles without unbolting anything else other than axles. Went to swap in the FEQ's and they were just too long. On passenger side, we managed to get it in by removing pinch bolt, TRE, and upper control arms from the upright. The driverside took the same effort but we could not get the upright back to the control arms to go back in!!! Verified trans flange was flush and spline was completely inside the hub and everything was good. It was just too long of an axle to get it installed.

Resolution was to throw some grease in his OEM inner CV with a busted boot to get her home...

Point of story: You get what you pay for. Dont try to cut a few dollars by buying the cheap parts because it will bite you later on. It took us 5 hours to get him off the lift. Took us less than an hour to get the axles out. The remaining 4 was messing with trying to get the axles in and then having to mess with those seized pinch bolts. We mucked up the TRE bolt and pinch bolt threads too... had to fix those. What a PITA.

Rebuild your OEM axles with GKN inner and outer CV joints and call it a day!

[RadicZ06]

Send it Raxles. Done. Rebuilt original parts.

Skip the chinesium local auto parts store replacements.

[88ninety9]

We have a local axle shop that runs specials every now and then, $89. Rebuilt oem axles, lifetime warranty

[kewe24]

That's why people shouldn't cheap out on axles. Oem or raxles or nothing.

[CJ_]

Back when I first got my car I tried a number of different aftermarket axles. The joints were so cheap that the axles would vibrate under any load or acceleration. I tried import direct (vibrated), EMPI (vibrated), a1-cardone (vibrated), then the FEQs. The FEQs were the only ones that didn't vibrate, but the boots were so cheap, they blew after one road trip and ripped up my front brake lines. One of the scariest moments I've had in a car. Driving through town and all of a sudden brake pedal went to the floor, luckily there wasn't a lot of traffic and the e-brake worked a little.

Solution, bought OEM axles from some recycler on the east coast for $450, more than twice the cost of aftermarket axles, but I'll never put another aftermarket axle on my car. Unfortunately my car came with two aftermarket front axles, with all boots blown (surprise), which is what started this whole thing.

[a4kamila6]

Tell his to buy A1 Cardone. 75 per axle I think, life time warranty, zero fitment issues.

To me its either that, used/working oem, or rebuilt oem.

[rollerton]

At some point did you compare the compressed/ extended length of the FEQ vs OEm axles? Sounds sort of obvious, but first thing as soon as I have the old axle out is I compare them. If there's more than 1/2" or so difference in compressed length I say they're not going to fit. I have also seen a CV or two that either didn't seem to articulate at as high an angle as the old CV or seemed to bind when put to the test. Again, no bueno.
However, I have never had a single issue with an Autozone Axle (and I've used more than a bakers dozen personally)- other than an outer boot that seems to have failed sooner than it should. With the lifetime warranty it's hard to pass up.

[vavJETTAw36]

At some point did you compare the compressed/ extended length of the FEQ vs OEm axles? Sounds sort of obvious, but first thing as soon as I have the old axle out is I compare them. If there's more than 1/2" or so difference in compressed length I say they're not going to fit. I have also seen a CV or two that either didn't seem to articulate at as high an angle as the old CV or seemed to bind when put to the test. Again, no bueno.
However, I have never had a single issue with an Autozone Axle (and I've used more than a bakers dozen personally)- other than an outer boot that seems to have failed sooner than it should. With the lifetime warranty it's hard to pass up.

Yes. I wasn't aware of the tolerance but I can tell you it was easily more and half inch. Probably closer to 1 inch.


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