"Stage 2" ZZP axles: A..."mild"...quality issue.

So some of you may have read about my streak of good luck this week in this thread...

http://www.grandprixforums.net/life-...abs-49841.html (Life just threw a couple mean jabs :()

Well....I got the car over to the shop my sister's boyfriend works at yesterday to find out what happened. I was thinking maybe motor mount or trans mount, but as we look on the passenger side, I see grease splattered EVERYwhere. I thought, "man....that's an awful lot of grease for a motor mou--OH MY GOD!!" I looked over to see the inner boot on the CV axle ripped wide open, and upon closer inspection, I see pieces from the internals missing. This would explain why the car was vibrating like a 9.0 earthquake just hit it + struggled to move forward when it first happened (and intermittently in between then and when I got it into the shop). When we removed it, the only thing holding the shaft together on the trans end was the little bit of boot left that hadn't torn. The center shaft and internals just fell out of the base. What you see in the pictures is literally all that was left of the internals.













I had no choice but to go with a Carquest replacement for now since it had to be done immediately, and that's where his shop orders stuff from, but needless to say I was not happy. I bought these because I thought they would be as good, if not BETTER than stock. According to the site:

By using only GM cores we start with a strong center shaft and durable splines. That is the main difference between our product and anything you buy from another source (or your local store). We have experimented with other "lifetime guaranteed" axles only to be stranded at the track less than 24hrs after installing them. The shafts made from China metal will twist right in half when using slicks and launching hard! The ZZP stage 2 axles will withstand neck snapping launches without missing a beat. We recommend them for anyone who plans on seeing track time with their car.

.....I've never been to a track in my life PERIOD, much less done it in this car. The car is also bone stock and the axles were only on for around 2 1/2 years. To their credit, they were right about the center shaft being strong, and not twisting. It's just the internals, which THEY "beefed up", that let loose. I had been warned numerous times about ZZP parts. Guess I should have listened.

i'd go punch zoomer in the face lol

zzp wont get a dime of my money,ever!

Yeah screw zzp. I bought their 04+ pillar pod and it was plain sh1t. And when I had questions about their brake setups I got the run around. Very disappointed in them.

Looks like OEM replacement.

Mine were about like that.

We have experimented with other "lifetime guaranteed" axles only to be stranded at the track less than 24hrs after installing them. The shafts made from China metal will twist right in half when using slicks and launching hard!

This cracks me up.

I've had slicks, drag radials, etc. on my car...never had an issue with O'Rielly's reman $40 axles...like I said in the chat man, sorry you had to go through this and be had by ZZP. Another unsatisfied customer...go figure, right?

I beat my car like it owes me money, and I don't ever plan on upgrading axles.

The axle did not "break" it just had a bearing failure in the tripot.

Its an easy fix.... other than the boot, the axle is completely fine. Install a new bearing tripod and boot, and get your stage2 axle back.

if you would have broken a china axle, you would not have been able to reassemble it.

ouch, that sucks.... sorry

but this pretty much closed the door on ZZP for me

zoomer:
You lying ****bags have nothing better to do then lie about people who are great in order to make your own pathetic lives seem better...You're still going to be pathetic. ZZP is still going to be great and grow larger and larger.

Uhhhhh.........I know the answer to this already, but please don't tell me that's an actual response from Zoomer.

Horizon, I know it didn't "break", but the point is the parts that failed are the only parts that are supposed to be BETTER than factory on these axles according to the people who put those parts in.

Originally Posted by RareGMFan

Uhhhhh.........I know the answer to this already, but please don't tell me that's an actual response from Zoomer.

Horizon, I know it didn't "break", but the point is the parts that failed are the only parts that are supposed to be BETTER than factory on these axles according to the people who put those parts in.

Meh, its the price you pay for rebuilt "stronger" parts... you have to take the good with the bad sometimes...

If one axle has a bearing issue, I dont think its enough to get all over zzp saying it is all their fault and that they are a crap company... Was there an error at zzp on this? Probably.. Did you contact them to see if they would fix it? Probably not.

For future reference. You can get Cardone Select axles from Rockauto.com for cheap. The Cardone Select axles are the same axle that Napa sells as their Napa Maxdrive NEW axles. They have a lifetime warranty. You can also get the remaned Cardone axles for cheaper off there also and they are the same as Napa's remans.

Originally Posted by darkhorizon

Meh, its the price you pay for rebuilt "stronger" parts... you have to take the good with the bad sometimes...

If one axle has a bearing issue, I dont think its enough to get all over zzp saying it is all their fault and that they are a crap company... Was there an error at zzp on this? Probably.. Did you contact them to see if they would fix it? Probably not.

I did not contact them because:

#1 I needed to replace it on the spot. I had to have the car back immediately, not wait 2-3 days for their axle to get over to them, wait another 2-3 for them to process the "fix" or replacement, and yet another 2-3 for it to get back to me. And since I had to replace it on the spot, I had to give up the "stage 2" axle for the core.

#2 It is out of warranty, and it's hard enough to get ZZP to replace things that ARE still under warranty, let alone things that aren't.

#3 Even if the above 2 were not the case, I don't know that I'd trust it again. I am certainly not the first case of a ZZP axle going bad. In fact, I still remember the guy from ClubGP that installed it in his shop for me asking, "you know ZZP axles blow up, right" to which I replied obviously not if I bought a set.

As far as being enough to "get all over ZZP", this is not the first issue I've had with them. This was just the worst/most expensive, and became more of a "last straw". This was part of a $700 purchase I made from them of miscellaneous front end parts. Prior to making the purchase, I asked if the "OEM" listed on the tie rods indicated a geniune GM part, or not. Zoomer personally replied with "that's usually what OEM means for us". My fault for even suggesting it might be a GM part. He probably wouldn't have even thought about claiming that had I not presented it as an idea/possibility. Oh, BTW, the driver's side tie rod failed me a few months ago. When I asked who made the wheel hubs they had listed, he said he wasn't sure, but he's pretty sure they're made in Japan, not China.

Looking back at those responses now, I should have known better than to go through with the transaction. How could the owner of the company not be 100% positive what he's carrying/stocking? Why would you guess at what you have? He wasn't. He knew they were lower end/quality parts, and didn't want to say it, so without committing himself to an answer (i.e. using words like "I think", "usually", "probably", etc), he was trying to find a way to make them sound better. You know, kind of like if you look at clothes on Kohl's site, if they're made in China, it clearly says "made in China". But if you look at a shirt on the site of a "designer brand" (Kenneth Cole, Calvin Klein, etc), and it's made in China, they prefer to say "imported" instead. Oh well. Live and learn, I guess.

Well, it's a good thing that is did not come apart while driving down the interstate at 60mph.
Looks like the GM axle was refurbished with chinesees parts.

That is a huge safety hazard. His wording (according to you) would be enough in my opinion to stand in court should anything go down. You asked a direct question, he answered in a manner that leads you to safely assume something. He's in the wrong.

i would of gone with the porche setup jonbob from CCP got for his whipple build..

he broke an axle and went that route which has yet to fail him.

I was going to buy those axles but when I talked to the guy every question I asked him he answer the sentence with; "I believe" or "I think". Sorry in my book if this is your line of work you should "know" and be "sure" So I went elsewhere