Hi all,
The outer CV boot on my 95 Maxima has developed a crack and is slinging grease in the wheel well. I had hoped the Nissan OEM axle complete with boots etc. would still be available but alas it has been discontinued. My options are a Nissan Value Advantage axle or have the shop just replace the boots by cleaning out as much of the grease as possible and installing new Nissan boots (outer and inner) with the supplied Nissan grease. Does anyone have experience with Nissan Value Advantage parts? My impression has always been they are an inferior choice compare to OEM parts and not to be used for warranty work. Some google searches seem to indicate they are coming from China. Since the car only has about 77k miles on it, has been well kept and was caught early, I'm inclined to have the shop rebuild what I think is probably a superior axle and CV joints with new boots and ask them take a look at the CV joints while it is opened up.
https://partsadvantage.nissanusa.co...manufactured-Parts-Application-Guide.pdf (see pages 2 and 20 for those that are interested).
conventional wisdom rebuild axle or replace?
- Thread starter NissanMaxima
- Start date
If caught early, just reboot. If it's not clicking then I'd assume all will be well when opened up--there's always a chance that it's got bad wear, but IMO it's unlikely.
Is this something that you are planning to swap? If so, then you can reboot. It's not hard, assuming that Nissan didn't do anything odd here. But it's messy as all get out...
Depends on the price difference. On Ford axles, I'd just swap them out as they were so cheap and there were no issues with aftermarket ones. On my Mercedes, the aftermarket ones were junk, caused a vibration. The OEM ones were 1000+ and even the name brand aftermarkets were over $300 so it was just easier/cheaper to reboot the old axle with a $40 OEM kit.
New boots on the old axles, and go forward in peace. The risk of dirt inside the torn boots is overblown, unless you regularly drive in dirt roads, gravel roads, and you've caught it early.
Originally Posted by KGMtech
New boots on the old axles, and go forward in peace. The risk of dirt inside the torn boots is overblown, unless you regularly drive in dirt roads, gravel roads, and you've caught it early.
I've use the value advantage brake pads and they're as good as anything else. Doe AA or AZ not have new cv shafts for a 95? I replaced the cv shafts on my wife's 07 Murano with aftermarket and they lasted longer than the ones from the factory.
The Nissan Value Advantage axles look like a Chinese-made part. I'd try rebooting the OEM ones first, if they aren't clicking or making other noises.
I've seen The Critic go through a few Cardone-reman or Chinese axles on a Rogue or Murano before he found one that worked. I'd certainly trust a Chinese axle over a Cardone reman, just because the case hardening of the joints wasn't destroyed by a regrinding of the joint races.
Thanks all. I knew I would forget something!...I'm going to have the dealer take this one off my hands this time. The cost for reusing the axle/CV joints and just installing new boots/grease/clamps is actually about $70 more than the new Value Advantage assembly but I just can't get past thinking that OEM axle once rebuilt is still going to be better than the Value Advantage assembly and for what it's worth, the technician the Nissan service advisor spoke to agreed although the parts guy said he has no problem with Value Advantage parts but couldn't say where they were coming from or who was building them. (And I don't Service was basing their input on collecting more money since as some mentioned, it is a messy job rebuilding one).
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Try with a reboot. If it does not work out you have not lost that much in trying and can get a new or reman axle.
Since you're in Colorado, I heard good things about CVJ reman. See if you can get thermoplastic boots installed.
Most aftermarket and reman axles use neoprene boots, which are inferior. Torn boots are virtually the only reason for CV failure. Raxles doesn't do axles for the 4th gen Maxima anymore.
If the Nissan Value Advantage axles use thermoplastic boots like real OE axles, get those. If they use neoprene like aftermarket axles, then use CVJ
Sometimes you just have to go with whatever is quickest/easiest/cheapest or sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to have the car ready for work at 05:30 tomorrow, but it seems crazy to me that people would throw away two perfectly good CV joints and an OEM driveshaft just to replace one boot. Over here it is much more common to replace the individual component if the other stuff is still good, so please allow me to ask a genuine question with no snarkiness or rhetoric, just curiosity;
I'm interested to know what causes the different approoaches to the same problem so I wonder if there is a particular reason, such as cost or parts availability or something, that makes the solution of 'a new axle' seem common in NA?
Originally Posted by Olas
Sometimes you just have to go with whatever is quickest/easiest/cheapest or sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to have the car ready for work at 05:30 tomorrow, but it seems crazy to me that people would throw away two perfectly good CV joints and an OEM driveshaft just to replace one boot. Over here it is much more common to replace the individual component if the other stuff is still good, so please allow me to ask a genuine question with no snarkiness or rhetoric, just curiosity;
I'm interested to know what causes the different approoaches to the same problem so I wonder if there is a particular reason, such as cost or parts availability or something, that makes the solution of 'a new axle' seem common in NA?
On my niece's Kia the axle came apart when ball joint snapped so I thought no problem get a new one. The axle wasn't available and no boot available so I went with universal boot, cleaned and greased as well as prayed. Only problem is ABS light is on which I will look at after I get it running. (After axle replacement her sister took car and destroyed it.) Axle makes no noise. If boot is torn just replace boot.
Thanks everyone. I sent in an inquiry to CVJ axle too, so thanks for that Onetor and Slacktide-bitog.
Olas, your questions are reasonable! I'm all about fixing just what needs to be fixed, but in this case the shop cost to do the boots alone was actually higher than their Nissan Value Advantage "plug and play" axle assembly that would come complete with new CV joints and boots so financially, the new axle made more sense. BUT, I was really inquiring here what folks thought about retaining the original axle and just basically having them do the boots on account that I thought the original OEM axle was probably better made and worth keeping despite the slight extra cost and a better decision in the long run. It really pained me to think of scrapping what I think is a good axle and if it weren't winter here I might even attempt boot replacement job myself. I once got one of the Nissan Value Advantage air filters and judged it vastly inferior in construction to the Nissan OEM ones so I took it back and exchanged it. That is my one data point for Nissan Value Advantage but a data point nevertheless. That combined with the parts counter inability to tell me who is making those Value Advantage axles or where they are coming from made me additionally dubious.
I would get a boot kit it yourself use the opportunity to clean out and regrease. I did one ages ago a ‘87 Mercury Topaz in the 1990s, got a kit I still remember the boot was light blue color and very slippery feeling rubber. I paid a little more for it. Took maybe an hour. I drove it for four years after that.
Kind of depends on price . I have done both . Either way , you have to remove the axle . A large part of the work , of the whole project .
And depends on how soon you catch the boot / CV joint slinging grease . And how much water , mud , dirt has gotten inside the boot / joint .
Replacing the boot is a greasy , messy job ! :-(
Never had them go bad , either choice . Usually , by that time , the vehicle gets totaled or I replace the vehicle for other problems .
Try with a reboot? Take the time to pull a shaft and reboot an oem part that failed? More times than not, oem is garbage. See brake systems. I agree whe oem makes sense but not always.
Originally Posted by Donald
Try with a reboot. If it does not work out you have not lost that much in trying and can get a new or reman axle.