Last July, I replaced both half shafts on my 90 GXL due to a bad inner CV joint. Actually, a band had snapped off an inner CV joint boot months prior, which eventually lead to the CV joint going bad. I bought new half shafts at Rockauto -- SurTrack MZ-8028. Would have preferred Mazda, but they no longer sell half shafts for these cars. Started noticing some vibration a couple month ago, but thought it was the wheels out of balance. Put the car up on the lift a couple weeks ago for an oil change and while doing a suspension/drive train inspection noticed that the CV joints had some looseness in them. I mean a significant looseness like maybe 0.030" to 0.060" (my estimate) and not just one CV joint, but all of them. These half shafts have less than 10k miles on them. What kind of crap is Rockauto selling? Has anybody had a similar experience with Rockauto half shafts? Any recommendations on good half shafts? .

 

No experience with Rockauto half shafts on my FC, but I did purchase half-shafts from them to replace those in a '03 Protege5 and an '03 Sentra that my kids drive. Of course both cars are FWD, so apples & oranges comparison, but we've put at least 20K miles on each car since they I installed them with zero issues. Don't recall which brand CV/half shaft assembly I purchased; but I think the ones in the Sentra were SureTrack and the ones in the Protege5 are Moog's.

 

Just to be clear, the half-shaft was not manufactured by Rockauto, it was manufactured by SurTrack. So the only useful comparison that can be provided is from people who also bought the same half-shaft from SurTrack, not just any shaft from Rockauto. Rockauto is a marketplace for products made by others.

My advice would be to contact the company and see if there is any warranty available, perhaps you can receive replacements or a refund. I would look for good used ones around you too. Anecdotally, I have two sets of factory half-shafts. The set on my car is to my knowledge original, and they have no slack at 380 000 km. The other set is used pulled from a car with about 150 000 km, also no slack. Used ones are still a viable option (if you can find them near you, of course).

 

they do come with warranties

either bring it local for rebuild or try another one, they are sold all over the place for NA applications its the TII ones that are sketchy you usually end up with a NA axle

 

Yeah, apparently they come with a limited lifetime warranty with a page of preconditions that must be met.

After searching Google, I found a lot mixed reviews on new CV axles. Apparently, they're all (APWI, EMPI, Cardone, Surtrack) made in China. Some using inferior quality steel, some not. It's a crap shoot. One guy wrote that Cardone axles last him about a year.

I have a set of Mazda axles. I'll probably put them in sometime this Spring.