LOL

why?

I mean you've already said you want something else, but do you now hate that car? I'm actually often tempted to pick one up as a daily beater.

 

I'm going to call Raxles, America's premier supplier of OE quality CV Axles and CV joints - Raxles Inc. on Monday and see what they can do for me. They appear to have a pretty solid reputation, and the Napa/Cardone ones seem to be hit or miss.

While I've got the front end pulled apart, should I fall down the slippery slope and do some bushings?

 

You'll just want to drive the stang more from lack of power.

 

I used Raxles for my OBXT and they were great. The guy was very helpful on the phone. They're not cheap though, so don't go into it thinking they will compete with Rockauto.

 

No, the resale value has just absolutely plummeted so there is no point in even trying to get rid of it. I don't like that I don't really have the option of ditching it.

Now I wish I had just dropped the necessary coin to fix the NC instead of ditching it.

But at the time putting ~$4k into an 8 year old convertible worth $10-11k seemed pretty stupid. This is the one car shenanigan that has actually boned me. Hard.

 

It certainly wouldn't hurt. I've installed boatloads of whiteline stuff, they seem to be all the rage
I see, but overall the car is still fun? I know the lack of torque, but otherwise...

 

Win! Thanks @skidude, I appreciate the feedback. If you don't mind me asking, what did they end up costing you from Raxles compared to RockAuto or Napa or wherever?

I don't mind paying a bit more for a quality part, I spent far too much time in my youth helping a friend repeatedly replace shitty, cheap *** "lifetime warranty" cv axles on his Integra. I think we replaced 4-5 of those cheap *** reman cv axles in that car in a years time before we gave up and got a set of low mileage used ones. I got real good at swapping them but that does not mean I like doing it.

I was hoping there was maybe a GroupN option, or maybe just OEM replacement rubber. From what I've read the control arm bushings are pretty critical to alignment so it probably wouldn't hurt. Did you end up doing any bushings on the thing when you had it? I know you said you had done some suspension work.

 

I replaced an axle boot, I don't remember which one anymore but likely the inner passenger one (usually the most frequent to fail on these cars), and I swapped the coilovers out for stock suspension. Don't remember doing anything else suspension wise.

 

My R6 was just stolen last month and I'm kind of glad.

On a subaru note, I replaced the spark plugs in my STI and realized that everyone who say the plugs are a nightmare are full of ****. There's much less room on the toyobarus and even that wasn't too crazy.

 

I paid $209 shipped for a front axle for my '05 OBXT. They didn't charge me a core charge, but they did stress how much they wanted the core back, and sent me a confirmation email when they received it (the return shipping label was right in the box with the new axle). I don't remember looking at the RockAuto or Napa prices, as I read the same mixed reviews about them before I actually started pricing the parts.

Note on installation in case you haven't done it before: Replace the axle seal in the transaxle, and be really careful that it's in right, and that you don't damage it installing the new axle. There's a left and right seal so don't mix them up. If you damage the seal you might not notice until the next day when it's still slowly dripping oil, and if it's in crooked it might not drip until the seal is worn out after 100 miles and it's leaving a puddle in your garage. Then you have to do the whole process again to replace a $10 part, swearing the whole time, hoping you don't screw it up a second time. You know, hypothetically.

 

Really? I did a quick search around here. 2013 with 34k on the clock is $17.5 grand. 2014 with 20k on the clock is going for $17 grand. A 2015 with 16k is still 20 grand. I still (kinda) want one, but I have been waiting for prices to drop.

 

Funny you pointed this out. I just took a look and I'm seeing these prices for FR-S, all the BRZ are much more expensive with better options.

hmmm, I 'may' want one myself to DD around while I fix my polished msm turd.

 

Yeah buddy! $200~ is about what I expected from those guys so no harm no foul. I'm still on the fence about doing the ball joint(s) while I've got it pulled apart. They APPEAR to be pretty easy to replace, and they are a $25 part (for the MOOG replacement one anyway)

My only concern at this point is that it might not actually be a CV and could be a wheel bearing instead. Now that I finally have 4 jackstands I feel I can trust she's going in the air on Saturday. I'm sure a bad wheel bearing will present itself pretty promptly.

Funny you should mention this. The first time I did the diff on the Miata I buggered up the seal and slung a shitload of tasty Amsoil all over the muffler and bottom of the car. Yum! I do NOT plan on doing that again, but thanks for the warning. I'll add a trans seal to the list when I start ordering parts

Does all the schmoo come pouring out of the 5MT when you pull the axle out?

 

Wheel bearings usually whine/howl. Not tick. But iono

Pulling out the axle shouldn't result in too much of a mess, but definitely might get a few drops of fluid. It's been replaced btw

 

This has been my expierence as well, although usually my preventative maintenance routine never lets them get that far. I've never had a CV go bad on me so I don't know what to expect. The ones for the Honda mentioned above were all destroyed by the time I got to them, I never got to hear them progressively go bad

I've already mostly changed it once before. I went a little crazy and did all the fluids when I got it home, because I have that particular brand of sickness.

 

haha, that's a good sickness and I encourage it.

 

Yeah, it is. It'd be more fun if I'd do a header, put a more street oriented set of coilovers, and do a proper Flex Fuel kit from Delicious or Moto-East. I would highly suggest you do that if you get one. Fixes the torque dip and header + E85 is ~30whp.

I bought my 2015 BRZ Limited in Nov '14, the MSRP was nearly $29k. So ensure you aren't comparing an FR-S with no options to a BRZ Limited w/ Homelink mirror or something. That's a nearly $5k price difference when new.

The BRZ limited gets the dual climate control, Alcantara/leather seats, heated seats, and a few other bits. I mainly wanted the leather and heated seats.

Oh and #BRZmasterrace Because SCIONs are for skinny jean wearing hipsters.

 

In comparison, when I had my '13 Mustang GT Track Pack. I traded it in for $500 less than what I paid after owning it for 7 months.

And it was a special order (base, no options, 6 spd, Track Pack). I miss that car.

 

I dunno. Just searched local ads for FRS and BRZ. Didn't even look at options, just price.

 

and my Raxle box is on the big brown truck out for delivery today. I give it a 50/50 chance of being wrong due to the 2004 midyear change on WRX axles, so in my case that means 80% chance of failure. That also means 9 days of return shipping and another 9 days to get it back to me...