Axle problems

[fhopsk]

I had a shop replace my driver side front outer axle boot because it looked like it might tear soon and i had to drive from California to Oregon to move. 4 weeks after replacement and a few weeks after getting to Portland from the bay area the boot is slinging grease. As soon as i noticed i brought it to a shop here and they want to replace the entire axle because they wont warranty the axle failing if they just replace the boot. Ive had tons of issues with my front axles with this car. My right front boot was replaced then axle broke. Then got a new (non oe/oem) axle and that broke. Then i got a OE/OEM front right axle and its been fine so far so im thinking ok just out a new axle in the left side. The shop here is telling me they cannot find any axles that are oe/oem so they all they can do is replace the boot and not give a warranty on the axle.

1. Are there actually no more axles for these cars that are oe quality?
2. Should i just replace the boot again and hope it stays on?
3. What about replacing the joint itself? It looks like theres oe joints on ecs tuning. Ive got no idea if the joint is even damaged but this similar thing happened to my right side. Boot leaked and I replaced it. Then i got stranded when the axle broke.


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[strophius]

You didn't say what year your car is, but I see ECS Tuning has some remanufactured ones available. I used to live near the Portland area, I would recommend Matrix Integrated if you want to go the shop route. They can usually get parts and always treated me well when I lived there.

No clue on aftermarket axle quality, I've only used OEM for that. I would check local yards too. Portland has a good pick-n-pull yard I used to frequent a lot. There is also a decent one in Sherwood.

[fhopsk]

2001. And actually my car is currently at matrix integrated where they say there are no available axles for my car. 2001 a4 quattro manual


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[strophius]

Oh dang, then you may have to go the remanufactured or pick-n-pull route. I actually did run an FEQ aftermarket front axle on my '01 for about 3-4 months due to my OEM one needing a boot replacement. However, after that 3-4 months I decided to just do the boot on the OEM one and swapped it back in.

Didn't have issues while the aftermarket axle was in, just more piece of mind I guess.

[BlazinB5]

GKN is the OEM supplier for axles on our car. I've heard plenty of bad stories about non-OEM axles causing issues, vibrations/quality, etc..

FCPeuro has them on their website.