I've got 85k miles and my front inner boots on the axles are starting to leak and spray grease. No noise yet. I'm having a heck of a time trying to find replacements besides going for the $800 axles at the dealer.

I do NOT want cheap < $100 crap that is going to break on me. I do track days and rallyx with my car and do not want to have them crap out on me sooner than necessary. That means brand FEQ is out of the question.

EMPI (according to Turn In Concepts) is supposed to be good but they only have sedan fitment.

I talked to raxles.com and they show one size for both sedan/wagon. We are currently in communication on NASIOC but the wagon sizes are not coming along. I'm perfectly fine with the $400 price tag because it sounds like quality.

Are there any local options for axle replacement? This MUST be for a wagon.

 

IMO the axles I got from Napa have been serving me well, just by looking at them the boots are thicker and seem of higher quality. Lifetime warranty too.

 

I've heard from a few people that run the axles from Napa and such have been happy. Those axles also have lifetime warranty I believe, too.

 

I noticed your profile says 03... does that mean you had the axle that had male-female ends?

My year, is switched to the male-male ends.

 

Yeah mine was male to female iirc

 

+1 for Napa axles Lifetime warranty FTW

I've broken 2 axles on my truck from doing 4x4 boosted launches and they always take them back no questions.

 

You are awesome... but which NAPA are you going to? The website says "for normal use only" but as in everything else in life it's all about who you're talking to.

 

Lol just having fun thats all

I've gone to the Belmont store once and Redwood City one the 2nd time.

 

I delivered parts for both those locations and both places are pretty chill...younger guys at the belmont place, fewer in stock parts but everything can be ordered

 

maybe no need to worry about wagon-only axle P/N - as per the EMPI product finder, it's the same axle for sedan or wagon, as long as it's not an STI. 80-5526 is the EMPI #, ~$80 each on amazon, shipped. GL

 

So here's what I know about EMPI... Turn In Concepts over at NASIOC knows that sedan vs wagon is different. They love using EMPI because they are inexpensive yet have performed well on their race car.

However, they know that EMPI is sedan spec, which SOMETIMES works with wagons only if the specific unit used happens to be a "shorter one" in the batch. In their shop, when customers with wagon come in they put the EMPI in and if it's too long swap it till they find one that fits.

That doesn't work for me in a mail order situation.

 

Unless you swap control arms and such to sedan spec, don't bother with sedan axles.. My buddy had napa replacement axles on his rally car and it held up wonderfully.. And with a core to turn in they're cheap.. I wouldn't worry about breaking one until it happens, if it ever does.. You'd probably break your 5 speed before an axle.. Just get an oem replacement from Kragen/napa/auto zone...

 

When the front axle on my 02 wagon went out I got a re-manufactured one from these guys for around $100: MW Enterprises, quality remanufactured Subaru Axles
It's basically a core-swap, they send you an axle and you ship yours back once its out and they refund you the $20 deposit or whatever it is.

I did some research back when I was looking for axles and I found that they had a long record of doing good work and some people I've come to respect on the forums also held them in high regard.

I've heard people have success with the Napa/O'reilly lifetime warranty axles too. I figure for $10 more I'd rather have one rebuilt by a specialist who will stand by their work, but if it is urgent I wouldn't hesitate to use a Napa brand one.

 

BUMP. My 06 wagon needs new axles, and I'm having a hard time finding any reasonable alternative to the $400 OEM unit. Wagon people.. HALP!

 

Same axles as my 04 wagon? If so, I have one of the napa ones sitting in my garage... still in the box.


I'd recommend used stock ones but the higher end auto parts store ones are generally just fine barring the occassional one that doesn't fit quite right.