First problem with the STX Brz
 

I had a 2 day event this weekend in Philly. I got the new tires mounted up Friday night, and on my way home it started making a noise under load. So I went back to work to try and make the noise on the lift but no luck.

So we went to the AutoX anyway on Saturday. Corey got 1 run in the car, and thought it handled great. I get in the car for my first run, and the car broke right after I went through the start beam.:mad0260:
It was the drivers side rear axle.

We went looking for rides to complete our runs, Corey got in with Mike in his frs and Don Sleven was nice enough to let me drive his New FRS.

I had a run that was within .5 of Slevin, he ended up in 3rd in Pax for Saturday about .15 out of 1st.

Sunday I was lucky enough to drive Slevin's car again, and had a great battle with him. He ran a 35.888 and I ran a 35.885
I was 2nd in Pax for Sunday :happy0180:

I will say I liked the way the RS3's felt on the car better then the Z2's, I did notice the lack of power compared to my car. Both day's we ended up on the limiter in 2nd gear for a long time, but not worth going to 3rd.

Here are video's from us on Sunday

[ame]http://youtu.be/GRJYGFMThoY[/ame]

[ame]http://youtu.be/OVjUAuD8CM8[/ame]

Simmons

So what happened to the rear axle?

The inner joint broke

interesting.... :/ not something I wanted to hear.. how many miles? or runs?? how expensive is the replacement???

Bill

14,000 miles, I can't tell you how many runs? I usually race every weekend that I can. 2 Pro Solo's with 2 drivers.

$350 from Subaru.

I will have to start to carry spares.

Simmons

Robispec had a failure in the same spot on his car.

Anyone know if those who drag race a lot especially with higher HP cars and sticky tires are experiencing this? @Simmons, are you ever getting wheel hop? Or is this related more to lateral load than longitudinal?

I do get wheel hop sometimes.

I heard of some turbo cars having problems.

Simmons

I wouldn't be surprised if it was related to wheel hop. These cars hop pretty badly unless you launch fairly high.

I know of two local people (one of which I've confirmed) that have broken an axle, both were on A6s.

Hmmmm... I do not like the sound of this. What would make a part like that fail? Is it the added grip?

What "of" the axle broke? aka: Reason for failure? Shaft, Boot, grease.. all of the above?

On our FWD race cars our axles fail because of bind (improper suspension geometry like being too low) or because the lubrication fails, usually because of heat but sometimes because the OEM grease is not up to the cause.

Every axle I use for the race car I strip the boot back, remove the grease and replace with either Redline CV-2 or Amsoil Polymeric NLGI#2 (amazing stuff) and put the boot back in place. On the part of the boot that goes around the axle shaft I insert a small tube (like that from a WD-40 can) in parallel with the shaft to allow the axle to "breathe" which keeps the heat the down and keeps pressure from building.


Example (NOT MINE)

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums...-boot-vent.jpg

Do you have pics of the broken part?

Hundreds of hard launches, made worse by any wheel hop. The guys that autocross S2000's nationally carry spare diffs (and probably axles) for this very reason.

Not yet, I am waiting for the replacement first. The car is still on the trailer.

The boot is Not ripped.


Simmons

This happened to me. I tired to have the dealer replace it but they said "their hands are tied" because they havent seen a broken one yet. I had to buy one for 320$ +3 canolies for the parts guys (true story). I still drove on mine for a few months though, it just clicked on acceleration decel. I think ProSolo with V710's did it.

Easy enough to replace though.

Another user here broke his differential this weekend.

I wonder if this axle issue will affect stock height cars as much, since your axles have a different angle than the OEM meant for.

My car was stock height when mine broke.

Well damn. Blows that idea out of the water.

Also, I am hoping I can continue to do 5k launches on concrete for many years :P

Sounds like aftermarket axles should be developed ...

drive shaft shop makes them.

I had a co-driver at a ProSolo (concrete surface)
Over 25 launches with slicks. Could have taken its toll.

Cannolies?? Sounds like you didn't raise enough hell. :happy0180:

My car has that many concrete launches but on 215 RS3s. They usually spin a little, never a HARD bite

Pretty sure Crawford Performance changed out the axles on their BRZ after having some issues. No clue where they sourced them from but it may be worth contacting them about it.

Probably these:

http://www.driveshaftshop.com/featur...-in-rear-axles

Looks like the Launches and the extra grip are taking there toll indeed!

same exact thing happened to me...driver axle broke on the inner joint.....i took mine apart and seen it was the carrier assembly split in two. i thought it was cause my car was too low too....i ended up raising the rear about a half inch and crossed my fingers the other side isnt on its way too....

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...psbbe9d8b5.jpg


http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps42657470.jpg

Thanks for sharing!

Please let us know if the other failures were also at the cage

Hmmm, that something I should keep in mind....

Thanks for sharing, though.

I have about 50 launches on concrete and 100 or so on asphalt with an RTR setup. No problems thus far. Don't recall ever experiencing wheel hop.

That guy posted on facebook not long after that about the diff saying it was actually the axle that gave out after they looked at it.

My rear axle started to click on Friday.

I had this failure also. It happened to me back in June, I was around 33K miles at the time and around 35 autoX events most with co-driver. Also mostly concrete with 245 RS3s then 255 ZIIs.

Was it covered under warranty?

No, Toyota field rep denied the claim due to "the car being lowered which changes the axle angle." I had the car towed in on my autoX wheels/tires and I won't make that mistake again.

However the dealer was super cool, got the car back to me in 3 days and it was only just over $600 out the door for the DEALER to do it so.

Regardless I think we've found the weak point in the driveline. I'll tale weak axles over weak ring/pinon anyday.

That blows. Makes me wonder if I should put the stock rear shocks and springs on quick. I'm on Koni yellows and RCE yellow springs.

Was the axles clicking or clanking at all before they let go? And did both go or only one side?

It was clicking for a few thousand miles before it broke. I also only broke the drivers side.

I bet I'm also an inch lower than you. I'm on V3s.

Ya I'm only 20mm lower then stock.

I'm almost 2" lower in the rear. If it fails put it back to stock suspension (just springs leave dampers) and I bet warranty will cover it. My buddy is a tech at my dealer (who helped me get the car back super fast for more autoX) told me the field rep local to me sucks and is an asshole so I likely stood no chance of a claim anyway.

Did your carrier assembly also split in two like in the picture above? Wondering if that part of the axle is serviceable to save buying a new axle everytime.Also do you have a list of the part numbers needed to fix this?