Rebuilt Driveshafts?

[bmwman91]

Since I am overhauling my suspension, wheel bearings, swapping in a Quaife diff (teehee) and various other items this winter***, I am also thinking about putting in a fresh driveshaft. The one that is in there has 230K miles and has seen a hell of a lot of abuse, and when I had it out a couple of years ago the U-joints felt a little "notchy". There was no play, but they did not rotate as smoothly as I would think a nice new one would.

Anyway...a new driveshaft is on the order of $800-1000, assuming there are actually any in stock in the US still. Reputable-seeming places like Turner Motorsport and Bimmerworld rebuilt ones for ~$500. These are machined and modified to use replaceable U-joints since the OEM ones are not serviceable. Online research has confused me...some people say that it is fine, and others insist that a rebuilt E30 driveshaft is garbage. Has anyone here bought a rebuilt one from Turner or Bimmerworld and put a few years of hard use on it?

I would certainly prefer not to drop $1000 on a new one if a $500 rebuild is just as good, but I will do what I need to for this rebuild since the goal is buttery smooth operation!






***Yes I know that there is no such thing as winter in the CA Bay Area. People here lose their shit when the weather report says that things will drop below 40 degrees lol.

[DesktopDave]

I haven't done it myself, but I wouldn't hesitate to use a rebuilt unit. It's not like the originals were made of ground pixie dust or forged in the fires of Mordor (as much fun as that might be).

I just picked up a torsen...we should do a head-to-head test! I've heard they're performance on snow pack is poor. I'll definitely get a to test that; we do get winter here, LOL. Around these parts, spring is just around the corner when we see 40 degree days.

[bmwman91]

Thanks for the info.

Where'd you get the Torsen diff from / who built it? It sounds like these mechanical torque-biasing diffs are really great on FWD cars, but RWD folks generally like them too. My Miata fanatic buddy has a torsen in his car and loves it.

[DesktopDave]

Thanks for the info.

Where'd you get the Torsen diff from / who built it? It sounds like these mechanical torque-biasing diffs are really great on FWD cars, but RWD folks generally like them too. My Miata fanatic buddy has a torsen in his car and loves it.

From what I've read, all the late six-cyl Z3 (2.5i, 3.0i, 98-02) carried Torsens if the LSD option was selected, except for the Motorsports models. My diff did not have an "S" painted on it, BTW, but the build sheet did have the LSD option. Little known fact...let's keep it hush-hush, LOL.

[wazzu70]

A rebuilt driveshaft is just fine. I know a number of people who have had them and have had great results.

People around here usually get the driveshafts rebuilt by drive line service of Portland.

[bmwman91]

I pulled the trigger on one a little while ago. It is from Turner Motorsport, which uses Beyer Driveline of Arizona. It seems like a very well built unit, and assuming that I ever find time to do my suspension/driveline overhaul, I'll let everyone know how it works!