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Just want to vent, Meyle CV joints.

12K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  ylwagon  
#1 ·
Decided to rebuild my Wagons Passenger side CV joint.
No biggie, have done this a few times before.
Decided on the mid priced joint manufactured by Meyle, a German company (Ha) at about $100 with shipping from a well know supplier of VW parts.

Part arrives, remove old axle and remove old joint.
Start to reassemble the new one. I'm thinking to myself ''These parts look like junk'' No better than the Chinese knock offs I can get from autozone.
CV joint splines are roughly machined with a poor finish. Nothing like the originals in quality.
Associated hardware is at best 'poor'
CV boot clamps are not Oetiker, but some sort of knock off that you have to cut to size.
Plastic bushing, is unfinished and rough looking.
Catchment ring is too flimsy and deforms when installing.
Bolt, don't get me started. It's not the typical V6 Allen socket bolt but a 27mm Hex. It's marked 8.8 (high strength) but can you trust them?

Decided I had to get the car back together as it's my DW daily. Went together ok but have a bad feeling about this.
The boot clamps just don't feel right, like a poor alternative.

I have used this companies parts before but this joint seemed like it was not up to the usual German production standards.

We will see after some use.

Decided to dig the box out of the trash, looks like Meyle parts, then I notice a little decal 'Made in PR China'.
Nothing against the Chinese, but I always try to use German parts. I feel betrayed :( Should have just saved $50 and bought the knock off version from autozone :(
 

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#2 ·
Ouch! I would've been pretty upset if that was what showed up at my door. Do you have any vibrations with the new one? I put a remanned joint on mine once and it had obvious balance issues. After that experience, I'm sticking with either boot replacements + thorough cleaning of the originals, or raxles if replacements are needed.

Never would have guessed a chinese made part from meyle.
 
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#5 ·
The Chinese will manufacture a part to any given standard, and the price points will differ accordingly. Just because they do make shitty cheap things doesn't mean that they cannot manufacture to higher tolerances and quality standards. It just means those parts will cost more.
 
#7 ·
And, they will occasionally take the money for the higher quality part and give you dog food with melamine in it. Apologies to our Chinese members, but there seems to be little in the way of business ethics over there. I can easily see an American distributor asking "Those axles were great, but can you cut $5 off for the next batch?" And they DO, rather than lose the sale - but find somewhere to economize to make up the difference, even if the part is now crap.

For example, I assemble a lot of bird cages. These are almost universally made in China for "American" brands. For the exact same style and model number, each time I assemble one, the quality is lower than the last batch.
 
#6 ·
From the Meyle site: "MEYLE parts are produced at our own production facilities or by trusted partners of an international production network. Our team of qualified engineers provides professional support for production processes at sites worldwide – from the making of the production tools to delivery of the final MEYLE parts."

The way of the world; all about the profit.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the comments guys,
I know it's the way of the world, just pissed me off trying to be all good and purchase German parts.
Oh well, we will see how it holds out.
 
#9 ·
I just ordered from Raxles today for my driver's side. The boot's been torn about 4 months now, and still no clicking, but I figured it was time to replace.

I will be hopefully doing a control arm / TRE job fairly soon, and I'd much prefer to use German made parts. I think I'll try to get Lemfoerder as from my understanding they're still made in Germany, but I'm sure they'll cost a bit more.
 
#10 ·
Lemfoerder parts are good. I recently received bushings from FCPEuro, and they mistakenly sent one Meyle HD bushing. You can really tell the difference between the two brands, Lemfoerder seems much more solid. I have used Meyle HD TRE's on two cars, boots never failed but one developed a lot of play, did last close to 100k though.
 
#13 ·
It's marked 8.8 (high strength) but can you trust them?
Probably not. Many Chinese products have a "CE" mark on the box, a European system which usually means the safety of a product meets standards common to the European market, and that there are technical files to prove it. The Chinese are well known to use "CE", then say "Oh that means China Export"! Somewhere I had read of timing belt kits that included cheap iron "grade 8.8" bolts that broke and lunched the engines.
 
#14 ·
Somewhere I had read of timing belt kits that included cheap iron "grade 8.8" bolts that broke and lunched the engines.
I was thinking just the same as I tightned the last 180 deg on the axle bolt. Almost tempted to purchase a genuine one from the stealership and replace the one that came in the Meyle package.